A Call for the Return of the Fairness Doctrine (Ben Franklin Would've Written this Under a Clever Pseudonym)

In 1987 The FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine, a measure in existence since the inception of the Federal Radio Commission (an FCC precursor) and throughout the entire history of the FCC until that point. The Fairness Doctrine required, well, fairness, by mandating the expression of different viewpoints on any frequency licensed by the FCC, which is all of them. Not coincidentally, Rush Limbaugh came on the air in 1988, and the talk radio industry that has sprung up without the burden of fairness is at least 90% right-wing. So since over 80% of Americans get their news from talk radio and similarly uninhibited and biased cable news stations, we currently have a very uninformed electorate in the US (Statistics in this paragraph come via the speech Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave at Brown on Oct. 20th).

In 1731 Benjamin Franklin wrote in his "Apology for Printers" that printers should "chearfully serve all contending Writers". "Printers" he wrote "naturally acquire a vast Unconcernedness as to the right or wrong Opinions contain'd in what they print; regarding it only ast the Matter of their daily labour." I interpret this to mean whoever wants to get their material printed should be able to, regardless of the printer's personal opinion. That certainly isn't happening these days (in the news networks that are analogously responsible for disseminating information), especially since the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine. Like Thomas Jefferson said: "I would rather have a strong free press and no government than a strong government and no free press."