Free Press

New FCC Commissioner to Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine. Not.

On March 3, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

President Obama nominated Julius Genachowski today to become Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Genachowski is a law school classmate of Mr. Obama’s, a former FCC staffer, media executive, and most recently, co-founder of technology investment firm Rock Creek Ventures.

Hurry up and confirm him so we can get his Fairness Doctrine Party started!

In the meantime, listen to Monday’s interview with Tim Karr, campaign director of Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Tim clues us in on what to expect from the new FCC Chair.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[17.2MB 14:59 download MP3]

Liberadio(!) Podcast: March 2, 2009 with Francie Hunt, Timothy Karr, & Media Matters Smackdown

On March 3, 2009, in Podcasts, by Mary Mancini

Summary: Guests include Francie Hunt, Stand For Children, Timothy Karr, campaign director for Free Press, and Elbert Ventura, research fellow for Media Matters for America.

Part 1 – Dodging a Bullet – News, to do list, and Lydia Lenker. [15.2 MB 13:14 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Independence Day – Martina McBride
Cannonball – The Breeders
After Hours – We Are Scientists

Part 2 – A Vas Right Wing Conspiracy – Rep. Karen Camper has the Thatchers to take the fight for control of our reproductive health to the mat. If Republicans truly want the government out of the lives of ordinary people then they will pay attention to HJR132. Snip, snip! And a Republican caller finishes the sentence, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but…” [19.6 MB 17:07 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lovely Day – Bill Withers

Part 3 – Interview with Francie Hunt Francie is the organizer for the Nashville chapter of Stand for Children, which is pushing for an innovative teacher quality program. She tells us what Stand does, what the program entails, and why its so important the our goal of turning public schools into palaces. [20.2 MB 17:37 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Pure – Lightening Seeds

Part 4 – It’s the Empathy, Stupid – Wait. That didn’t come out right. A listener has an interesting take on empathy which leads to a interesting discussion on who is responsible for giving a hand up to the least among us. Plus, Mary experienced a severe lack of the big “E” when she went down to the TNGOP sponsored “Tea Party” rally at the State Capitol, and the rally itself may not have been as spontaneous as some would like us to believe. [10.7MB 09:22 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Ooh La La – The Wiseguys (album: The Antidote)

Part 5 – Interview with Timothy Karr – Tim is the campaign director of Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. He helps us take on the Fairness Doctrine (and identify who is really behind manipulating the issue) and tells us what we can expect from the FCC now that there’s a Democrat in charge. [17.2MB 14:59 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Part 6 – Media Matters for America Smackdown – The one where Elbert Ventura, research fellow at Media Matters for America, quizzes us on CPAC, reviles the revisionist Republicans and their Right-washing of history, and giggles about Andrew Breitbart’s myopic take on talk radio, and dreams of a sitcom starring Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken. [14.7MB 12:51 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Drivin’ Me Wild – Common w/ Lily Allen (Album: Finding Forever)

Part 7 – The Tea Party Debriefing – Conversations about big, important issues – like the ones we’re having about the economic stimulus, empathy, and giving people a hand up – are hard. And, unfortunately, it’s the most cynical of us that prey on their fellow Americans in times of crisis and use these conversations to divide the country and shore up their base. Plus, keep an eye on those Photo ID bills flying through the General Assembly. [25.6MB 16:00 download MP3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tagged with: Andrew Breitbart • Elbert Ventura • Francie Hunt • Free Press • Media Matters for America • Stand for Children • Timothy Karr

Hey, Fairness Doctrine, Are You Still Here?!?

On February 24, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

On the heels of the Tennessean’s full page spread (link is to Ginny Welsch’s take, links to other opinions are found to the right of her article) on the validity of the Fairness Doctrine, Free Press – one of the largest nonpartisan media reform organizations in the United States – releases a policy brief, The Fairness Doctrine Distraction [pdf].

Highlights include:

We encourage the Congress and the administration to leave the debate over the Fairness Doctrine in the past and pursue policies that have sound legal, economic, and public interest footing.
It is true that a small handful of Democratic legislators have publicly entertained the idea of bringing back the Doctrine. However, no legislation has been introduced to do so since the party retook the majority in congress. Furthermore, President Barack Obama has stated unequivocally — and repeatedly — that he does not support restoring the Fairness Doctrine. Acting FCC chairman Michael Copps has made clear his opposition to the Doctrine as well.
The Fairness Doctrine, while originally well-intentioned, is not wise public policy.
Underlying the calls to bring back the Fairness Doctrine is a false assumption that its repeal in 1987 was the main cause of the rise of right-wing talk radio.

The rise of right-wing radio was spearheaded by a then-much-more entertaining Rush Limbaugh’s capitalization of the need for nationally syndicated content, which was brought on by the “unprecedented consolidation” in the radio industry in the 1990’s, “an explosion of mergers” following the relaxation of ownership caps in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and an increase in the number of broadcast licenses issued during that time by the FCC. As I wrote a few weeks ago, bringing back the Fairness Doctrine will not fix the imbalance on the airwaves. Attention paid to whether or not the consolidated companies who are licensed to broadcast over the public airwaves are serving the needs of their communities, will.

More highlights:

The Fairness Doctrine is not, as Mr. Limbaugh wants you to believe, responsible for regulating broadcast requirements for “local content,” “diversity of ownership,” and “public interest” rules…The categorical opposition to all FCC policies that can
imaginatively be lumped together with the Fairness Doctrine should draw deep skepticism.
The very FCC that eliminated the Fairness Doctrine maintained that serving the local public remained a key obligation: “even as the commission deregulated many behavioral rules for broadcasters in the 1980s, it did not deviate from the notion that they must serve their local communities.”
Media ownership rules are also not censorial. There is nothing partisan about increasing the number and diversity of media owners. Indeed, both William Safire and the National Rifle Association, along with the ACLU and the National Organization for Women, have argued in favor of media ownership limits.
Broadcast rules are almost uniformly â€œpublic interestâ€ rules.

More info at FreePress.net.

Tagged with: Fairness Doctrine • Free Press • Ginny Welsch • Tennessean

LIBERADIO(!)

with Mary Mancini & Freddie O'Connell

New FCC Commissioner to Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine. Not.

Liberadio(!) Podcast: March 2, 2009 with Francie Hunt, Timothy Karr, & Media Matters Smackdown

Hey, Fairness Doctrine, Are You Still Here?!?

Radio Show Info

The Network

Recent blog posts

Recent Comments

Looking for something?

Visit our friends!

Archives