Topic: Media
We’re feeling the effect of treating mass Libel and Slander as protected Free Speech right at this moment. My opinion on how the prospective return or permanent abolition of the Fairness Doctrine is being felt right now as birthers and paranoids are created by Right Wing Mediaby Russell G. Davis
(centrist)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
When the Democratic leadership caved in to demands not to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, they set the stage for the onslaught of mad incoherence we're currently experiencing from social conservatives. For those of you who don't know, the Fairness Doctrine was a requirement for the licensees of public airwaves to present controversies in a manner that was fair, equitable, and balanced. This was in effect for decades with the only ill effect being that people like Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes couldn't turn licensed public airwaves into one sided opinion factories. It was the accepted way the broadcasting business operated for decades.It was not censorship.
And we need to be clear on the fact that libel, slander, and death threats are not protected forms of free expression. It is quite right that anyone who makes a death threat should get a visit from local law enforcement. And indeed, people have had to pay huge sums of money if they lose a slander case. It's a sad when we can sued for slander and lose our assets if we cannot afford enough legal muscle, but Fox News's daily broadcasts regarding Obama's birth certificate and "Death Panels" in the health care bill are considered to be true by many of our more easily deceived citizens.
Sadly, too many people believe what they hear on A.M. Radio and Fox News.
People who are our friends and family are being taken in by a massive con job perpetrated by the some of the worst elements of our mixed capitalist system, the health care profiteers. They believe the talking points coming out of Frank Luntz's carefully practiced, extremely malicious and manipulative playbook. They watch Bill O'Reilly and Glen Beck and listen to Rush Limbaugh and believe what they're told regarding a government bureaucrat deciding life or death issues. The cruel irony that they won't see is that if they succeed in what they are attempting, the health insurers will thank them for their dutiful service protesting against progress by dropping coverage for the faithful when they get sick. I can hear it now-
"Thank you for being such a passionate anti-socialized-medicine activist, but that cancer's a pre-existing condition and we won't cover it!"
Propaganda and marketing are powerful tools and the extemely powerful and callous forces in charge of that part of our system are not going to ever voluntarily give up that power. This is the power to make good hearted old ladies, whose only mistake is trusting Glen Beck, show up at town hall meetings in favor of policies that increase emergency room waits, insurance executive compensation and infant mortality.
So here we are, Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, and Democratic President in the White House, and the best we can do on two urgent needs (Health Care and Climate Change) that have overwhelming public support to take action on, is to come up with two weak, compromised and probably initially ineffective bills that have the potential to be important first steps in dealing with these problems. But because of the venomous right wing noise machine, recently empowered by the very Democratic Congress it routinely demonizes, we might not even be able to take those first steps.
We are seeing the damage slander and libel can do when it disguises itself as news and news commentary. And, to drive home a fact that should be obvious, libel, slander and death threats are not protected forms of Free Speech. I don't think a sitting President has ever sued commentators for slander, but if we can't get the Fairness Doctrine back, I think President Obama, Senator Reid, and Mrs. Pelosi should consider it!
This excrement on our airwaves would go away tomorrow if we had the Fairness Doctrine Back! So of course, Sen. Jim DeMint (R. S.C.) has proposed the Broadcaster Freedom Act of 2009 to protect large scale libel, slander and death threats by huge international telecom companies and their right wing commentators, and it is currently in committee. It would be a nail in the coffin for the Fairness Doctrine. But if Barry and Harry and Nancy can't even kill this atrocity of a bill in a Congress they control, and put an end to the nonsense we are seeing from gullible but vocal social conservatives, what hope is there for Democrats?
Or maybe they think that Glen Beck is about to treat them and their policies fairly in a little while, in a few minutes after his "joke" about poisoning Nancy Pelosi.
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People need to wake up and see this lying fraud for who he is, an America hating, Saudi King bowing, dictator loving, former cocaine addict, racist Kenyan usurper dirt-bag Chicago thug!
sorry russ, but some issues cant be relegated to rightwing pinheads. obama's original birth certificate is supposedly "on file" and being kept in some vault somewhere - the only one released was an official document issued jan, 08 or 06 - the one anyone can find online. but why not show the original and put an end to this discussion??? no, something aint kosher, my friend.
and obama has lied and shown himself to be the corporate /bankers stooge he is. he's not ending the war, he's simply carrying out the endless war agenda set by cheney and the PNAC. he voted for amnesty for the telecoms that illegally spied on US CITIZENS - and now they are still doing it, with bambam's blessings. he has voted to fund the endless war every time the pentagon sneezed out a budget request. he's not centrist, he's an empty puppet of those who are actively eating our constitution for dinner - what happened to stopping the torture?? and closing guantanamo??? bambam is a damned liar and is proving it. he bailed out billionaire bankers, for chrissake!! what more do you need to know about this bastard?? and russ, you know me. i aint no right wing loopy. but i really would like to see this clown's birth certificate, not some hokey hawaiian bullshit that anyone can get simply by saying so.
"For those of you who don't know, the Fairness Doctrine was a requirement for the licensees of public airwaves to present controversies in a manner that was fair, equitable, and balanced."
I wonder how Government Intervention in the Radio Airwaves is not an encroachment on Free Speech and yet Government Intervention in Print/TV is protected? It seems politically convenient considering the liberal bias in the other two areas. Broadcasters only concern should be the consumer as with any business, and this is measured by ratings. If liberals can find a radio personality that actually draws listeners, he can rant and rave all he wants --it is his protected right as laid out in the First Amendment. It is absurb, especially now with the internet, to think that radio personalities have some sort of mind-control over the people and there is no avenue for the people to research ideas or claims on their own. The information is out there, how you get it should be up to you.
BTW, how is the birther argument different from the truthers that claimed 9/11 was a gov't conspiracy. Both arose from the Internet into the mainstream and then the news networks. The Birther Argument has been around since 2007 when Obama became a candidate, only now is it getting mass media attention because it became mainstream. Fox News and most conservative hosts tend not to give credence to the Birther argument if you haven't noticed, despite a lack of evidence to the contrary.
Posted By: Russell G Davis
Date: 2009-08-12 13:08:12
For thier due dilegence and refusal to live in reality....
Tell the contestants, what they've won!
(drumroll)
You have won.....
One TINFOIL HAT!!!!
Yes, the lovely Monica is modeling the new Reynolds Tinfoil Hat, guarenteed to keep your thoughts safe from alien mind control rays. That's the Reynolds Metals Tinfoil Hat, ask for it by name at your local supermarket.
Randy has a valid point in his arguement that radio is the only medium to be targeted by the Fairness Doctrine. Why not protect us from all forms of media? Aren't TV, the print media and the internet each larger and more powerfull than the AM dial?
I'd like to add another; Who would be deciding 'fair'? Would it be fair if Cheney were to be on that board? I think not. How about that board... would they be elected or appointed? Would we have any right to appeal their rulings? And in a world full of grey, would there be a shade that would not require an opposing view? Again, who would deside this?
I agree whole-heartedly with your arguement that untrue, demeaning and threatening speach is crap! The problem seems to me to be more of a social one, and that won't be directly addressed by the legislature. WE are the only solution to that.
sure, lump ALL the conspiracy theories together and presto change-o! you debunk them all with one stone. come on, fellas, you can do better than that.
millionaire investor Larry Silverstein had bought the entire WTC complex not 6 weeks before, insuring it for $3.5 billion. His premiums amounted to a few million and he collected $4.577 billion, not bad for a few years of litigation. During an interview with Silverstein, he admits the fire department commander decided to "pull it", clearly referring to WTC 7 ( http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/pullIt3.wmv ). "In the same program a cleanup worker referred to the demolition of WTC 6: '... we're getting ready to pull building six.'" (http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/wtc6_pull.wmv) It took silverstein's spokespeople almost a year to figure out how to spin it.
from http://www.wtc7.net/pullit.html
An alternative interpretation of Silverstein's statement is that "pull it" refers to withdrawing firefighters from the building. However, according to FEMA's report there were no manual firefighting operations in Building 7, so there would not have been any firefighters to "pull" -- at least not from inside the building. WTC 7 collapsed approximately 7 hours after the collapse of WTC 1. Preliminary indications were that, due to lack of water, no manual firefighting actions were taken by FDNY.
That Silverstein would admit that officials intentionally demolished Building 7 is bizarre for a number of reasons. Silverstein Properties Inc. had already won an $861 million claim for the loss of the building in a terrorist incident. FEMA's report states that the cause of the building's collapse was fires. Presumably FEMA and the insurance company would be interested in knowing if the building was instead demolished by the FDNY. Moreover, the logistics of rigging a skyscraper for demolition in the space of a few hours would be daunting to say the least, particularly given that demolition teams would have to work around fires and smoke.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
wtc 7 most certainly IS the smoking gun. i lived in NY 50 years, had 2 friends worked in the high steel of twin towers, told me ALL sky scrapers are wired for demolition but the charges arent placed until plans are made to pull them down. there simply wasnt enough time to set those charges in one day, nor were there any reports of anyone in wtc 7 by noon, let alone a team of demolition experts. the debunk site that supposedly has official pics and clips of the south side of 7 is bogus, since the clouds from bldgs 1 and 2 hardly moved all that day. 7 is close to 1 block NORTH of 1 and 2. even if you could see the south side of 7 burning, as supposedly those videos show, that smoke is dark. very dark. which indicates oxygen-starved fires, burning at temps way too low to affect steel.
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