Love is Hate. Peace is War.

From what I understand about the Fairness Doctrine is it would not apply to “news reporting”. So-called journalists would likely be presumed unbiased, therefore complaints about what CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. “report” would just be ignored.

If Republicans had any guts, should an BHO-Pelosi-Reid government hell come about, then they would force the Fairness Doctrine be applied in Education and in Entertainment.

Based on the chronology, I doubt Reagan felt it “would work for the Right,” although there is no argument that it did. Back in ’87 I don’t think anyone imagined a show like Rush’s could even have sufficient local popularity to stay alive on one station, let alone hundreds.

It’s interesting to ask why it has been so enormously succcessful for the Right, and not the Left. Is it what some contend, that the Left has always had the MSM, so talk radio is a redundant platform they don’t need? Or, is it that the Left isn’t as politically active as the Right, and is not interested in 3 or more hours a day of political talk? Or is it that the Left simply hasn’t found its Rush Limbaugh yet, and once that person arrives Left leaning talk radio will take off?

1980s
In 1984, Limbaugh returned to radio as a talk show host at KFBK in Sacramento, California, where he replaced Morton Downey, Jr.[4] The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine — which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast — by the FCC in 1987 meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, “Ronald Reagan tore down this wall (the Fairness Doctrine) in 1987…and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination.” [9]

On August 1, 1988, after achieving success in Sacramento and drawing the attention of a former president of ABC Radio, Edward F. McLaughlin, Limbaugh moved to New York City and began his national radio show. His show debuted just weeks after the Democratic National Convention, and just weeks before the Republican National Convention. Limbaugh’s radio home in New York City was the talk-format station WABC-AM, 770 AM, and continues to this day as his flagship station.[4]

I don’t know what year it was done away with, but my guess is Rush Limbaugh’s radio show was hardly on anyone’s radar screen at the time, if it existed. There is no doubt Rush benefitted from its abolition and his meteoric ascent would not have been possible without it.

I know some conservative talkers like to make a big deal out of this, but I’ve never believed there is any real likelihood of its being reinstated. I think this is one of those genies that, once out of the bottle, cannot be put back in. There certainly would be 1st Amendment challenges flooding the courts.

And, to quote an artist who appeared on this site earlier in the week (Gil Scott-Heron), “The Revolution will not be Televised.” If this somehow got pushed through Rush would use his platform (prior to his show being cancelled) to encourage everyone to buy a ham radio, then he’d use those airwaves to plot the revolution. This would not only backfire, it would likely result in wholesale action against legislators.

I don’t disagree that some lawmakers are stupid enough to want this, and when I put the words “stupid” and “lawmakers” together in my mind an image of Nancy Pelosi instantly appears. But I can’t imagine one could even get a plurality of Democrats to support this. “Fairness Doctrine” sounds too obviously Orwellian to garner much support.

I’m not so sure that’s the case. Many Republicans opposed dumping the Fairness Doctrine at the time because they felt it would open radio to be another liberal hen house.