The Fairness Doctrine, one of the most famous and controversial media policies ever debated, suffered a final death-blow recently when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permanently struck it from the books. Often mistaken for the “equal time” rule for broadcasting political candidates, the doctrine’s purpose was more progressive than requiring two sides to a debate. It stipulated a two-part mandate that broadcasters must cover controversial issues of public importance, and do so in a way that represented contrasting views.
While the Fairness Doctrine’s effectiveness is debatable, it encouraged broadcasters to be mindful of programming biases. Now that it’s officially erased from the rules, we can pause to consider the decades-long saga of this oft-maligned and misunderstood doctrine. For its history reflects a number of surprising ironies in our nation’s approach to media policy.
Few people realize that the Fairness Doctrine resulted from “deregulation.” In 1949, despite public pressure for more aggressive media regulations, an earlier ban on broadcasters’ political editorializing was lifted. The Fairness Doctrine was a concession to widely held concerns that giving commercial broadcasters so much political power would lead to unchecked partisanship and one-sided arguments.
The doctrine’s legitimacy was unanimously affirmed by the Supreme Court in its 1969 “Red Lion” decision, which determined, “It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount.” The First Amendment’s purpose, the Court argued, was to preserve a vibrant marketplace of ideas rather than defend broadcasters’ monopolization of the nation’s discourse.
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http://hnn.us/articles/final-farewell-fairness-doctrine
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