Some time ago your long-suffering reporter did a comparison of the three major cable news networks and I found one hell of a difference in what they were broadcasting.
MSNBC and CNN stayed true to their left-wing and middle-of-the-road ideologies but FOX News was broadcasting way out to a right field Twilight Zone... as were radio hosts Alex Jones, Rush Limburger, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Dave Ramsey, etc.
Now there's a reason things are so screwed up on the air-waves!
They used to have a fairness doctrine:
- What it was: The Fairness Doctrine required that TV and radio stations holding FCC-issued broadcast licenses to (a) devote some of their programming to controversial issues of public importance and (b) allow the airing of opposing views on those issues. This meant that programs on politics were required to include opposing opinions on the topic under discussion. Broadcasters had an active duty to determine the spectrum of views on a given issue and include those people best suited to representing those views in their programming.
- Additionally, the rule mandated that broadcasters alert anyone subject to a personal attack in their programming and give them a chance to respond, and required any broadcasters who endorse political candidates to invite other candidates to respond. However, the Fairness Doctrine is different from the Equal Time rule, which is still in force and requires equal time to be given to legally qualified political candidates. (The fairness doctrine is not the same as the equal-time rule. The fairness doctrine deals with the discussion of controversial issues, while the equal-time rule deals only with political candidates.)
Then in 2011, this rule was thrown out the window at the request of certain media outlets... and nothing has been the same since!
Radio and Television are now sliding over into territory formerly occupied by the Internet with their Community Blogs and Social Review and Networking sites and Discussion sites.
This, in turn, has caused a wild west show to erupt on certain radio and TV outlets that is dragging Americans down to the lowest common denominator and totally polarizing the electorate!
Although Fox, as well as a lot of the Right-Wing Radio hosts, are mostly responsible for this mess... unless there is some sort of Fairness Doctrine re-established in American broadcasting... the only way I can see it headed is further down the rabbit hole!
The way I see it anyway!
P.S. On Fox News tonight I heard some foreign doctor with a heavy accent telling the listeners NOT to get a vaccination against COVID because it was too dangerous! Think about that for a while!!!!!!!
