The Fairness Doctrine

Civics 101

NHPR

Society & Culture, Government, History

4.2 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What can we do with these invisible magnetic waves in the sky? Today we explore what we can say on the air. Are radio and television stations allowed to air their opinions in addition to the news? From 1949-1987 all broadcast media was beholden to the Fairness Doctrine; a law that enforced impartiality and civil discourse. So why did we have this law? How did it work? Why did it end? And finally, what are the arguments for and against bringing it back? Our guest is Larry Irving, who was counsel to the Telecommunications subcommittee when the doctrine was codified into law (and subsequently vetoed) in 1987. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And time to pieces of chicken meat too. That's what makes this such a grand suit.
0:11.2	A lavish emphasis on chicken.
0:19.0	Hanna, our show may be transmitted through podcast apps on the internet,
0:24.8	but we do work for a radio station.
0:28.5	That we do. NHPR, our tagline is news from New Hampshire and NPR.
0:34.9	Do we have a slogan though?
0:36.7	You know, I don't think we do. We are a proud public radio station.
0:40.3	We've got news and programming all day long.
0:43.0	We've got lots of bird themed gifts during pledge drives.
0:46.4	And we make a lot of podcasts, but I don't think we have a slogan as far as I know.
0:50.4	But you listen to the radio a lot, right?
0:52.8	I do pretty much whenever I'm in the car and it's mostly public radio when I do.
0:56.9	Okay, do you ever hear anything like this?
1:01.3	Jack, I spent the holidays flying back and forth across this country and I'm worried.
1:06.6	The place seems all out of focus. See the shining sea.
1:09.9	We've both flown many times, Hanna, coast to coast, but we see a different land below.
1:14.7	You see the bad aspects of American society. They're there.
1:17.8	As a critic, I write about these aspects all the time and I don't mean to minimize them,
1:21.7	but there is so much more.
1:24.2	No, I do not ever hear anything like this.
1:27.8	What is this? Is it a debate of some kind?
1:32.1	Sort of. It's a clip from CBS's 60 Minutes in 1978.
	...

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