As I am quietly sipping my Kaffe on this quiet Sunday morning, I am thinking about how information, maybe misinformation, has changed our lives.
When I was growing-up in the 50's and 60's, there was no internet or Twitter or talk radio or cable TV. Three networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS dominated mass media. There was a doctrine in place called the Fairness Doctrine enforced by the FCC which required broadcast media to provide "honest, equitable, and balanced" coverage of issues of public importance. I don't mean the mythical "fair and balanced' definition that FOX pronounces. The notion was that obtaining a broadcast license carried responsibilities with it that required the notion of 'public good.' You may be now asking yourself, where is that today?
In 1987, the FTC (under Reagan) did away with the Fairness doctrine. It was one of those purge things to get rid of 'unnecessary' regulations The very next year, Rush Limbaugh started his gig on talk radio... but I digress. It was not replaced nor is there any likelihood that a replacement will see the light of day.
There is also another notion enforced by the FTC called the Truth in Advertising Regulation which requires that all advertisements must be truthful and not misleading, and when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. Try to digest that without choking as you watch late night TV.
All of these thoughts percolated in my brain when I read recently that well-funded right-wing groups, many affiliated with the NRA, were buying up web site names to create sites to advocate resistance to the quarantine regulations in the states that had the audacity to regulate the spread of the Covid-19 virus. I thought isn't that a fine kettle of fish. Anytime, you disagree with a policy, use your money to create a propaganda campaign no matter how biased or void of facts it might be.
I am thinking when I become emperor wouldn't it be nice to merge the Fairness Doctrine with Truth in Advertising and have a new "Open Air Doctrine" so the average person who doesn't have hours of time to research every nuance of every issue knew he was being broadcast or printed truth and opposing positions were getting equal time.
Of course it is pretty easy to see why this won't happen. Not my coronation as emperor, but an open air doctrine. As long as one group thinks they are winning the propaganda war or more bluntly, lying does pay, they will not support any effort to air facts and truth. Maybe a better question might be why we have created such a large group of citizens who can be manipulated into thinking that HRC did run a child porn ring out of a pizza parlor or Sandy Hook was a hoax, or drinking Clorox will cure Covid-19. But that is probably fodder for another day and another conversation.
Enjoy your Sunday while I get my second cup of Gevalia.