When Conservatives Forget the History of the Fairness Doctrine

Paul MatzkoNate Hochman, a fellow at the Claremont Institute, is trying toconvince conservatives that the Fairness Doctrine was fair. It is a bold thesis given longstanding conservative antipathy towards government regulation of media. But Hochman blames that antipathy on kneejerk libertarians, who invoke " shallow Reagan-era slogans about small government and individual liberty. " Perhaps, but I can tell you with certainty that the author is falling prey to a shallow understanding of the history of broadcast regulation.It would not be entirely fair to criticize a recent college graduate like Mr. Hochman for not knowing what he doesn ' t know; I myself knew little about the Fairness Doctrine until I wrote abook about it. But this isn ' t a college term paper and the bad policies stemming from this ignorance of the history of broadcasting threaten the future of free speech online.Let ' s start with something the author gets right. It is true that conservatives weredivided over the Fairness Doctrine in the 1980s, with Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh opposed butNational Review publisher Bill Rusher,American Conservative founder Pat Buchanan, and Phyllis Schlafly in favor. However, the conservative divide ran along the fissure between those with a substantial presence in broadcasting and those without.An activist such as Schlafly —for whom broadcasting was a relatively small part of her operation—might value the driblets of free airtime she could claim under the Fairness Doct...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 2, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Paul Matzko Source Type: blogs