14 August 2008

NB #3: Seattle Times, MSM, & Fairness Doctrine

Post #3 is up over at Newsbusters:
Seattle Times Feels Threatened, Calls for 'Net Neutrality'
This isn't the first time we've addressed this topic (see here & here). The long and the short is that conservative talk radio (the only place conservatives used to be able to find a home) and the internet have wrested control of the "marketplace of ideas" from the liberal, old-guard media.

This is a good thing.

The smart public recognizes what the MSM has done to news reporting with their consistently liberal-biased reportage and coverage. Now, with the democratization of news and opinion writing brought on by the internet, they are losing readers and ad revenue.

MSM, RIP.

*UPDATE 14 August 10:42am PST: It seems my post was a timely one. Today Rasmussen released polls showing that the 47% of those polled want some sort of "fairness doctrine" for radio and tv and 31% want to see one for the internet.

While I now make a living "exposing and combating" liberal bias in the media, the last thing I want is the government to impose some sort of rules to govern the balance. This is not China (or Russia, for that matter), after all.

Recent polls have shown that a significant majority of Americans see a liberal bias in the media, one that favors Barack Obama, and increasingly, one they do not trust. The results of this poll are probably a response to something that has been building for years--especially coming, as it does, in the aftermath of the media cover-up of the Edwards scandal.

There are disturbingly large numbers of conservatives in favor of some sort of government imposed "Fairness Doctrine." My suspicion is that once they realized exactly what the implications of this would be (government regulation of speech), the would back off their poll responses.


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