That’s how long ago the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine was abolish. It should come to no one’s surprise that it was abolished under the Reagan Administration.
For those that do not know, the Fairness Doctrine essentially forced TV News to present BOTH sides to a story in an unbiased manner. There are many people reading this who were not even alive when this was abolished which means they have always had biased news in their lives. It amazes me how rarely the Fairness Doctrine is brought up when it comes to the destruction of our news media and ways the Right has tried to undermine our democracy and shift this country’s attitudes toward the Right.
What is equally infuriating to me is when I hear people on the Left endlessly waffle from one rather insignificant topic to the next that they should focus their efforts on, and ultimately never getting anywhere. Enacting some type of new Fairness Doctrine should be near the top of the list of things the Left should be pushing for. An unbiased news media is the foundation that a democracy is built on. The news media is how the general public becomes educated on what is happening and that simply can’t happen when they lie endlessly like FOX News so famously does (other stations do as well, but few do it as well as Fox does). But the Left doesn’t focus on things like the Fairness Doctrine because it admittedly isn’t a “sexy” topic. It doesn’t get people’s attention. And it isn’t something that can get solved in a few weeks. The lack of focus is frustrating.
Anyways, this topic put me on a tangent that nearly no one will read, but people love to react to what is happening this instant, but rarely ever think about how we got to this point. These bamboozled Fox News watchers didn’t simply wake up one day and believe all the shit that network spews out. The Right plays the long game on things and having an army of brainwashed listeners takes years and even decades to develop. The Left needs to learn this strategy.
Fairness Doctrine reinstated and enforced on anything claiming to act as news would definitely go a long way towards fixing the political hellscape fascist billionaires have created in their endless greed. Their strategy works off of fear and nationalism, you won’t be able to replicate it on the Left and still retain an audience of freethinkers, the propaganda is designed to wear people down and make them dumber than when they initially tuned in. Only authoritarians seek to erode the meaning of words for their own gain like the Right does on Fox, the best longterm strategy the Left has is education and voter-participation. - Things the Right undercut and underfund every chance they get.
This is what peak propaganda looks like.
It only took 36 years.
That’s how long ago the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine was abolish. It should come to no one’s surprise that it was abolished under the Reagan Administration.
For those that do not know, the Fairness Doctrine essentially forced TV News to present BOTH sides to a story in an unbiased manner. There are many people reading this who were not even alive when this was abolished which means they have always had biased news in their lives. It amazes me how rarely the Fairness Doctrine is brought up when it comes to the destruction of our news media and ways the Right has tried to undermine our democracy and shift this country’s attitudes toward the Right.
What is equally infuriating to me is when I hear people on the Left endlessly waffle from one rather insignificant topic to the next that they should focus their efforts on, and ultimately never getting anywhere. Enacting some type of new Fairness Doctrine should be near the top of the list of things the Left should be pushing for. An unbiased news media is the foundation that a democracy is built on. The news media is how the general public becomes educated on what is happening and that simply can’t happen when they lie endlessly like FOX News so famously does (other stations do as well, but few do it as well as Fox does). But the Left doesn’t focus on things like the Fairness Doctrine because it admittedly isn’t a “sexy” topic. It doesn’t get people’s attention. And it isn’t something that can get solved in a few weeks. The lack of focus is frustrating.
Anyways, this topic put me on a tangent that nearly no one will read, but people love to react to what is happening this instant, but rarely ever think about how we got to this point. These bamboozled Fox News watchers didn’t simply wake up one day and believe all the shit that network spews out. The Right plays the long game on things and having an army of brainwashed listeners takes years and even decades to develop. The Left needs to learn this strategy.
Sorry for the rant.
Fairness Doctrine reinstated and enforced on anything claiming to act as news would definitely go a long way towards fixing the political hellscape fascist billionaires have created in their endless greed. Their strategy works off of fear and nationalism, you won’t be able to replicate it on the Left and still retain an audience of freethinkers, the propaganda is designed to wear people down and make them dumber than when they initially tuned in. Only authoritarians seek to erode the meaning of words for their own gain like the Right does on Fox, the best longterm strategy the Left has is education and voter-participation. - Things the Right undercut and underfund every chance they get.