Unfair Sinclair
If nothing else is clear about the Sinclair broadcasting company's plans to have all of their TV stations broadcast an anti-Kerry propaganda film this close to the election, it is obvious that the American public is poorly served by Ronald Reagan's abolition of the Fairness Doctrine in broadcasting. Considering that the airwaves are a public trust which broadcasters are allowed use of so long as they serve the public good, it is shameful that the FCC is prepared to stand idly by while this abuse of not only the airwaves, but of our electoral system, occurs. Presumably the FCC can't order that the documentary not be shown, as the Supreme Court has ruled in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) that prior restraint on publication is unconstitutional. However they could certainly offer an opinion on conditions under which stations could have their licenses revoked. Not that one seriously expects Colin Powell's son, Michael, to use his FCC chairmanship to stand in the way of the Bush re-election bid. BTW, there is some discussion over at The Left Coaster as to whether or not Sinclair will offer equal time, and what Kerry should do if such an offer is made.
For many years media critics of all ideological stripes have voiced concern about the danger to public discourse inherent in concentration of broadcast power in the hands of large corporations. While much of the early concern focused on the inherent conflicts of interest in a so-called news outlet being part of a diversified corporate parent, there have long been voices questioning how damaging it is to our democracy to have the fourth estate so baldly co-opted. While many of us had thought that Rupert Murdoch had pretty convincingly taken the cake (n.b. always a pleasure to use an American idiom evoking an african-american social ritual in referring to the Australian mogul...) in this election cycle (if you haven't seen Outfoxed you should do so before the election), we apparently have a dark horse candidate making a run for the roses.
The next time you find yourself yawning over such technicalities as percentage of market share allowable to media companies, number of outlets allowed within a single market, etc., remember that this is not an issue of the government infringing on some free market and somehow distorting it to the detriment of gutsy entrepreneurs (for surely the conservatives will try to paint any government clipping of big media's wings). Au contraire, this is the government standing up for the people's right to have a limited natural resource exploited for profit only under the condition that those making a profit accept the mantle of social responsibility that comes with this access to America's living rooms. It's time that we demanded that the government be more concerned with the health of our democracy than they clearly are with the health of the profitability of companies like Fox and Sinclair.