What does it look like when the State controls the airwaves? America becomes the new Cuba with the Fairness Doctrine.
People on both sides of the aisle will allow that most of the media, and pretty much all of Hollywood, leans quite unabashedly to the Left. News programs, opinion pieces, PBS documentaries, late-night shows, the list goes on and on. We Conservatives may find that annoying to some degree; but we consume it all with a grain of salt and live our lives despite the imbalance.
But there is one segment of entertainment and publishing that the Liberal mindset has not swallowed — that’s Talk Radio. There were several attempts; it just so happens that there hasn’t been a solid, steady, profitable market for Left-leaning commentary during drive-time, etc.
But there is for Conservatives. In fact, there is so much of a market that there are dozens of large- and small-market shows all over the country, and advertisers are having a hard time choosing among them, because the fans of these shows are ‘sticky’; that is, these are people that will tune in every day so as to not miss anything.
Unfortunately for the Democrats and others on the Left, this means there is a large audience of steady listeners who have been consuming information, opinions, and commentary that is not built on the Official Left-Leaning Talking Points (see Al Gore for your copy). The failures of the Left to duplicate this phenomenon has only driven them even further up the wall. The answer they have come up with (since competing in a capitalistic market didn’t work for them) is to create a law that would require ‘fair and equal time’ to opposing viewpoints.
The way this would work is that after Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, possibly Dennis Miller, and numerous other smaller Conservative commentators do their show (often about three hours of the day), the radio stations airing this content would be required to spend the same amount of time with more Liberal hosts — presumably the same kind of people who the market has discarded because the advertisers found that no one was listening when those shows aired. So, those radio stations that would like to include Conservative content which is making them money right now would have to take a hit by losing the same amount of time (and advertising dollars) by being required to play content that there is no market for.
When faced with this, most everyone interviewed has admitted that they have no doubt — Conservative talk radio will disappear because these radio stations would rather play 24 hours of weather, traffic reports, and 80′s elevator music than have three hours in their broadcast day during which no one will listen (to their commercials).
This law is not expected to any effect, however, on television, newspapers, and print — because no one is currently ‘offended’ enough to lobby in Washington to have the content of those mediums censored.
Just another perk America will enjoy when there are no more checks and balances among the Senate, House, and Oval Office — when both are on the same side of the political fence.
You get what you vote for. Not what you are promised.
H/t to MoonBattery.com
Tags: fairness doctrine, talk radio
