I had an idea about the media - Shoot the idea down or boost the idea up - Comments wanted.

[Stinky The Clown]

This whole recent dustup about the Nevada debates and Fox and candidates saying no and candidates saying yes, got me to thinking .......

The cablenewz channels are pretty much untouched by the FCC and any latter day 'fairness doctrine' might well be hard to impose on them ..... plus it would take some pretty Herculean will in the Congress to get it done.

What if we just bypass Congress. Every cable system is under the control of your local government - usually the city or the county. That means that pressure is easier to bring to bear on the parties who can actually make things happen.

Is it even reasonable to think that an organization with all the statistics and data and proof and records - like, say, media Matters - could compile that data in a way that grassroots people could use it to aproach City or County Council and ask for a local version of the Fairness Doctrine?

I think of it in much the same way that the newspapers are dropping Coulter's column. Not exactly the same, to be sure (government/cable vs private/newspaper), but close enough for the analogy to stick.

Imagine a world where, in your county, Fox news isn't even on the cable lineup.

Can this be done? Is it reasonable? Is it even legally possible? For me, this is just a raw idea I'm throwing out there for everyone to chew on.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Worth chewing on for a while, at least.

[ben_meyers]

2. Great Idea

Would that apply to Olberman too? Careful what you wish for.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. See, Olbermann has something that Fox doesn't ......

.... the truth.

[ben_meyers]

7. Who decides what the truth is

What agency of government, national or local, would we want to decide what the truth is? So you push to get rid of Fox and another group pushes to get rid of what?

[Sparkly]

9. There are such things as facts.

Does your belief system preclude them? :shrug:

[Scribe]

3. No Government Control

over any news medium is fine with me. I like having Fox news on my cable system. Why would I wish to see only channels with which I agree?

[blondeatlast]

4. Can it be done? Yes. Is it reasonable? Depends who you ask.

Legally possible? I don't see why not; much like any business, it's keep the customers satisfied or see ya later.

I like the idea, but it would take an ENORMOUS grassroots swell to make it feasible. OTOH, I'd prefer to see FAUX, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Beck et al rendered impotent and it seems that slowly it is happening.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Consider this ......

If all we ask for is fairness, one part of that is something I've **always** felt we needed. Clear identification of news and clear identification of opinion. In fact, If all the cable channels would do that tormorrow - and then report the news honestly and unfiltered - they woud be free to spew whatever 'opinion' they wish.

[blondeatlast]

8. I'm old enough--and I think you are too--to remember when the news was inherently objective.

Walter Cronkite, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner, Huntley and Brinkley (I actually met Brinkley as a very small child at one of my parent's parties).

They weren't pretty but damn could they be trusted to deliver it straight.

But I digress--I like that idea if we can't have an objective press (and I think that is no longer possible, sadly enough).

Just be honest that you are spewing spin and that today's TP came from a tax-exempt Heritage Foundation e-mail and go on about your business.

I've often thought that the only way to regain a press with a sense of the critical responsibility they hold for democracy is to shame them for being utterly corrupt and possibly worse, damn lazy. I no longer think it's possible.

I've tried explaining watching Cronkite to my immigrant husband after watching CNN and he just can't even comprehend what I'm talking about even though he knows who Cronkite is.

[Left Hook]

10. Wouldn't work.

Direct TV and Dish Network are private companies. Consider those as well.