Fairness?

AWR knows he is not being honest in this piece.

Radio spectrum is a limited public resource, and corporations have an interest in promoting their political agenda using the medium. It is not unreasonable to seek some degree of balance on our public airwaves. Most left-wing radio provides a balanced perspective, because leftists are willing to debate their opponents directly. Right-wing radio tends to eschew this type of debate because it points out how ludicrous the GOP platform really is.

I wish that the Fairness Doctrine were not needed - if corporate radio owners were responsible and did not abuse their monopoly on radio spectrum, it would not be - but given the abuse of our public resources by these moneyed interests, I would not be opposed to some form of fairness being mandated.

This is not a matter of freedom of the press, so much as it is a matter of how the public square has been defiled by one-sided corporate control of radio. Comparisons to non-broadcast media are fallacious.

Particularly idiotic is AWR’s attempt to liken radio spectrum to political power in Washington. We already have a system for ensuring fairness in government, which is our right to vote. Radio spectrum is not allocated on the same basis, so making such a comparison is just plain stupid. Broadcasters who fulfill their obligation to the public would not feel any impact from these regulations.