Media: Less Than Equal

The airwaves through which radio and television signals pass are owned by the public. They go right through our yards and houses, our schools, our businesses, and this is why there has traditionally been a great empowerment of public concerns in radio and television. It's why we have PBS, why stations used to frequently test the emergency alert system, and why stations were made to give equal time in politics. Equal time means that if a republican gets so much air time, a democrat would get as much air time. This protects everyone from undue influence in the media.

Even editorial pieces written by station managers invited and allowed for opposing views. The end result is that Americans are guaranteed to have two sides to a story, and can decide for themselves on issues because they didn't have to go to some extra effort to find out if there even was another side to a story. We've been watching a continual breakdown of the Fairness Doctrine over the last three decades.

In the mid 1980's the mainstream media was in the hands of about 55 different corporations. Now that number has been reduced to 5 as deregulation of the industry allowed for monopolies to be developed in the industry. At one time corporations were limited in how many media outlets they could own. In fact, the original, NBC, the National Broadcasting Corporation was forced to sell off some of their holdings so that fair competition and not monopolies would bring about a more fair and honest result from things like television news, which had emerged as a heavy hitter in shaping public opinion. The sell off resulted in ABC, the American Broadcasting Corporation, and the market kept expanding because of limitations on how much of the fourth estate could be earned by any one corporation.

Equal time must have died a silent death in America, there was no eulogy or anything, no outcry heard for the passing away of fairness. While I certainly began to notice that it was missing at some point, I never knew about the deregulation of the industry, a development that should have been announced by that industry but must have paid it little attention, especially in recent years. Today 9 out of 10 radio talk show hosts are conservatives. My analysis here is a very simple one. Conservatism could not win in America if it had to play fair. It could not win because most Americans, the majority, are not filthy rich.

It's time to take back the airwaves folks. We should all be as mad as hell, and none of us should have to take it anymore.

For more about the issue of equal time, here's an interesting article from AlterNet:

AlterNet: MediaCulture: Right-Wingers Are on the Defensive About Talk Radio Dominance