What Is Fair?
A commentary by the Publisher of FAIRisFAIR.org

Vol. I, Issue 1
October 2004

You may or may not have heard of something called "The Fairness Doctrine." Back in 1949, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tried to promote a policy that required broadcasters to give equal time to all sides of issues of public importance¹.

Today it seems the concept of fairness has gone right out the window. An increasing number of cable channels and radio stations may make you think there are more news choices, but they're actually run by an ever dwindling number of companies. ClearChannel, Viacom and, most odiously, News Corporation control more and more news outlets that you thought were independent.

As if the decline of independent news wasn't bad enough, the descent in the quality of news is even worse. "News-ertainment," is the new standard.

I'd like to say that's the worst of modern journalism's problems, but it's not. A growing number of conservative talking heads are dictating what is news and what isn't. Some loud mouth talk show host spouts off rants about the way things ought to be and the rest of the media laps it up. Right wing pundits thrown around ad-hominem attacks and build up straw men like each one gets them a free steak. Meanwhile, the liberals let them get away with it. They won't stoop to the conservatives level.

We will.

Welcome to FAIRisFAIR.org. We're tired of liberals being the better man and refusing to dignify reactionary screed with a response. We'll respond in kind. We'll give as good as the bad guys do. We're taking back the main stream media from the claws of the conservatives. We're making up for all the lost equal time that the media has been spending on covering baseless right wing attacks.

It all begins now.