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Barney's avatar

Reagan started this shit

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Henry Williamson's avatar

Great post. A bit of an oversimplification. The Clinton signed, bipartisan Telecommunications ACT of 1996 played a pretty major role in the media industry consolidation and concentrated control in a few corporate hands, prioritizing profit over public interest.

"The doctrine wasn’t some politically correct suggestion. It was the law of the land. Starting in 1949, the FCC required broadcasters to cover controversial public issues and present contrasting viewpoints. If someone attacked you on air, the station had to notify you within a week, provide transcripts, and give you free response time. Most stations found it easier to avoid controversial topics entirely rather than deal with expensive FCC hearings that averaged $60,000 per case."

Also clearly a flawed doctrine to begin with if on-air journalists avoided controversial topics rather than deal with the regulators.....

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