Text 29344, 161 rader
Skriven 2007-07-31 09:18:18 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Freedom of Speech
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Joe Farah has nailed it once again. This excerpt from his latest "Whisteblower"
issue is too good not to pass along.




between the lines Joseph Farah
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WND Exclusive Commentary
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The day 'New Media' was born
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Posted: July 31, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


Everyone recognizes today we are in the midst of a media revolution.

But has anyone considered when that revolution began? What was the opening
salvo? What event triggered the amazing communications explosion we are
witnessing?

I think I know the precise day "the New Media revolution" was born - and, no,
it was not the date Al Gore invented the Internet.

Specifically, it was Aug. 4, 1987 - 20 years ago this Saturday. And I'll bet
there won't be a commemoration anywhere in America or around the world - except
maybe at my house.

What happened on that date? Something momentous. Something wonderful. Something
that changed the world for the better.

It was on that date the Federal Communications Commission abolished the
Fairness Doctrine by a 4-0 vote, ruling "the intrusion by government into the
content of programming occasioned by the enforcement of (the Fairness Doctrine)
restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters ... (and) actually inhibits
the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment
of the public and the degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast
journalists."

It was a great day for freedom, liberty and open and lively political debate.

But, of course, it did not occur in a political vacuum. Two months earlier, on
June 19, another great day for the First Amendment, President Ronald Reagan
vetoed a bipartisan bill overwhelmingly approved in both the House and Senate
that would have, for the first time, made the "Fairness Doctrine" a matter of
law, not just the guideline of a regulatory agency.


Ronald Reagan

In doing so, Reagan said, "The framers of the First Amendment, confident that
public debate would be freer and healthier without the kind of interference
represented by the 'Fairness Doctrine,' chose to forbid such regulations in the
clearest terms: 'Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press.'"

That took place 20 years ago. Do you remember what the world was like two
decades ago?

In 1987, three major broadcast networks presented the semi-official newscasts.
You could choose between ABC, CBS and NBC. But there was really no choice at
all. All three evening newscasts were remarkably similar - almost as if they
were produced by the same team. And indeed it was.

That team was called the New York
<http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56918#> Times. The
front page was show prep for all three network newscasts.

Of course, you could choose to get your news from your local newspaper. But
there was little competition there either. Even if you were one of the rare and
fortunate consumers to have competing dailies from which to choose, the news
was, again, remarkably similar, almost as if it were produced by the same team.
And indeed it was.

There was one main source of national and international news for those papers -
the Associated Press. Some papers used supplemental news services such as ...
the New York Times.

There was no talk radio, to speak of, in 1987. The AM dial was moribund.
Programmers dared not deal with controversial topics for fear they would have
to provide government-mandated "balance" from opposing views. That made for bad
programming and lots of red tape and expense. So radio stations simply avoided
controversy - sticking to news, traffic, commercial programming, safe stuff.
Music had pretty much all moved over to the FM dial.

But something dramatic was right around the corner - a momentous development
that would breathe new life into AM radio and the nation's political debate as
well.

The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the Federal Communications Commission
from 1949 to 1987. It required radio and television stations to air all sides
of important or controversial issues and give equal time to candidates running
for office.

It had been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 in the Red Lion v. FCC
case.

But in 1986, a federal appeals court recognized the obvious - that the Fairness
Doctrine was not "law" and could be overturned without congressional approval.

How did Congress respond? Both houses passed a bill the next year that would
have established the doctrine as the law of the land. It received 3-1 support
in the House and 2-1 in the Senate. Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms both
supported it.

But President Reagan, God bless him, knew better. He vetoed it and Congress did
not override the veto.

This was not some spontaneous decision on his part. He had been thinking about
it for a long time. He had worked in radio and television for much of his life.
He had selected members of the FCC who were constitutionalists and
freedom-minded people who detested the Fairness Doctrine.

But even following the FCC's momentous decision 20 years ago this Saturday, the
Fairness Doctrine was not dead - not totally.

In 1989, the House of Representatives again easily passed a law incorporating
the Fairness Doctrine. President George H.W. Bush threatened a veto, and the
Senate backed down.

Notice how quickly the media landscape changed - and how dramatically. Later
that same year, Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio talk show took to
the airwaves. The impact was phenomenal. Whereas there were some 75 talk shows
on radio stations across America in 1980, by 1999, there were more than 1,300.

Something else was triggered by the explosion of voices on talk radio - new
voices on another medium.


Within eight years of scrapping the Fairness Doctrine and six years of the
debut of Rush Limbaugh, another major media voice arose - Matt Drudge. Within
two more years - an even decade since the death of the Fairness Doctrine -
WorldNetDaily.com was born.

Not only did the explosion of new voices affect a broadcast medium once
regulated by the Fairness Doctrine, its force carried outside to the Internet,
to satellite radio and to cable TV where the Fox News Network was born in 1996.

I'm telling you something no one has ever told you before - that Ronald
Reagan's insightful, inspired stroke of the pen touched off a media revolution
that is far from over 20 years later. That's why I dedicated my latest book
<http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56918#>, "Stop the
Presses! The Inside Story of the New Media Revolution,"
<http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=2040> to his memory. The New Media
Revolution is his cultural godchild.

I'm sure there will be few if any public celebrations this weekend to mark
Reagan's boldness and vision. I doubt my colleagues in the Old Media will be
rejoicing with me over what this great man ignited. But maybe some members of
the generation too young to remember Reagan and his accomplishments will have a
new appreciation for the man and his principles.

-- 
John
..
My Blog: Mad Gorilla's Jungle:      http://madgorilla.terapad.com/

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