Political Commentary

Bring Back The “Fairness” Doctrine

That’s what Bill Clinton says he wants:

“With regard to media consolidation, the rules were relaxed too much,” Clinton said during his Million Dollar Hamptons fundraising marathon this last weekend.

“Anti-trust law should apply. I think we shouldn’t have abandoned the fairness law; if a media outlet were pushing a particular political point of view…then you had a right to demand the opposite point of view. The airwaves belong to the public, not to anybody, particularly not to Fox News.

Only one problem, Bill. Fox News doesn’t use the airwaves. It’s a cable/satellite channel. And the “scarcity” argument for regulating content never made that much sense, even with over-the-air radio and television. It was alway theoretical, and never really mattered in practice, particularly with the advent of UHF. After all, any metro, and most rural areas have multiple television and radio stations. How many major newspapers do they have? Guess it must be a newsprint scarcity.

Also, I guess he didn’t get the memo that the latest Dem talking point is that they don’t want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine–they just want more “responsibility” on the part of broadcasters. And of course, the notion of “balance” is absurd, and only makes sense to those simplistically stuck in a one-dimensional political world view, with only “left” and “right.” Most issues have more than two sides to them, on different axes.

Political Commentary

Bring Back The “Fairness” Doctrine

That’s what Bill Clinton says he wants:

“With regard to media consolidation, the rules were relaxed too much,” Clinton said during his Million Dollar Hamptons fundraising marathon this last weekend.

“Anti-trust law should apply. I think we shouldn’t have abandoned the fairness law; if a media outlet were pushing a particular political point of view…then you had a right to demand the opposite point of view. The airwaves belong to the public, not to anybody, particularly not to Fox News.

Only one problem, Bill. Fox News doesn’t use the airwaves. It’s a cable/satellite channel. And the “scarcity” argument for regulating content never made that much sense, even with over-the-air radio and television. It was alway theoretical, and never really mattered in practice, particularly with the advent of UHF. After all, any metro, and most rural areas have multiple television and radio stations. How many major newspapers do they have? Guess it must be a newsprint scarcity.

Also, I guess he didn’t get the memo that the latest Dem talking point is that they don’t want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine–they just want more “responsibility” on the part of broadcasters. And of course, the notion of “balance” is absurd, and only makes sense to those simplistically stuck in a one-dimensional political world view, with only “left” and “right.” Most issues have more than two sides to them, on different axes.

Political Commentary

Bring Back The “Fairness” Doctrine

That’s what Bill Clinton says he wants:

“With regard to media consolidation, the rules were relaxed too much,” Clinton said during his Million Dollar Hamptons fundraising marathon this last weekend.

“Anti-trust law should apply. I think we shouldn’t have abandoned the fairness law; if a media outlet were pushing a particular political point of view…then you had a right to demand the opposite point of view. The airwaves belong to the public, not to anybody, particularly not to Fox News.

Only one problem, Bill. Fox News doesn’t use the airwaves. It’s a cable/satellite channel. And the “scarcity” argument for regulating content never made that much sense, even with over-the-air radio and television. It was alway theoretical, and never really mattered in practice, particularly with the advent of UHF. After all, any metro, and most rural areas have multiple television and radio stations. How many major newspapers do they have? Guess it must be a newsprint scarcity.

Also, I guess he didn’t get the memo that the latest Dem talking point is that they don’t want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine–they just want more “responsibility” on the part of broadcasters. And of course, the notion of “balance” is absurd, and only makes sense to those simplistically stuck in a one-dimensional political world view, with only “left” and “right.” Most issues have more than two sides to them, on different axes.

Space

Triangulation

NASA has a new graphical element. Keith Cowing is underwhelmed. Me, too. Lots of good comments from the readers. I liked this one:

‘Market tested research’ lands NASA with a triangle with tiny words on each corner?

They tested this where? The planet Triangulus?

Of course, I think that the lack of an inspiring logo is actually toward the bottom of the agency’s problems. But I think that this is symptomatic (even, if I can use a word, emblematic) of a general lack of imagination there, on all fronts.

But at least, as Keith illustrates, it’s already starting to inspire the crew for today’s flight.

War Commentary

Born An American

Natural Americans are born all over the world, but they don’t all get to live here. Michael Totten has a fascinating (and gruesome) interview with an Iraqi interpreter:

MJT: Is there a solution to the problem in this country?

Hammer: Nuke Iraq.

MJT: Be serious.

Hammer: I am serious. If you screen all Iraqis, 5 million of them would be good people. Clear them out, then kill everyone else. Syria and Iran would surrender. [Laughs.]

Right now they see 100 corpses every day in the streets. It

Media Criticism

I Can’t Think Of Any

Somehow this kind of thing only seems to go one direction.

By way of comparison, who are the conservative reporters who are torpedoing their own careers by fabricating stories about Clinton or Reid or Pelosi? I can’t really think of any. The only conservative reporter who comes to mind is an extremely minor one by the name of Jeff Gannon whose “offense” was to ask a softball question of Bush during a press conference. If liberal reporters were similarly slimed for asking questions of an opposite nature (i.e., questions designed to make Bush look bad), we would not have a White House Press corps.

Career-ending journalistic insanity — mostly attributable to the war in Iraq — appears to be almost exclusively a phenomenon of the left. If you know of some prominent counterexamples, though, please set me straight.

Of course, just statistically, there are probably a lot more liberal reporters than conservative ones, so that might be a partial explanation. But I’m sure it’s not the whole one…

[Update in mid-afternoon]

Instapundit has a roundup of Beauchamp-related links, including this one by Don Surber, who wonders why there’s such a sellers’ market for lies on the left.

Media Criticism

I Can’t Think Of Any

Somehow this kind of thing only seems to go one direction.

By way of comparison, who are the conservative reporters who are torpedoing their own careers by fabricating stories about Clinton or Reid or Pelosi? I can’t really think of any. The only conservative reporter who comes to mind is an extremely minor one by the name of Jeff Gannon whose “offense” was to ask a softball question of Bush during a press conference. If liberal reporters were similarly slimed for asking questions of an opposite nature (i.e., questions designed to make Bush look bad), we would not have a White House Press corps.

Career-ending journalistic insanity — mostly attributable to the war in Iraq — appears to be almost exclusively a phenomenon of the left. If you know of some prominent counterexamples, though, please set me straight.

Of course, just statistically, there are probably a lot more liberal reporters than conservative ones, so that might be a partial explanation. But I’m sure it’s not the whole one…

[Update in mid-afternoon]

Instapundit has a roundup of Beauchamp-related links, including this one by Don Surber, who wonders why there’s such a sellers’ market for lies on the left.

Media Criticism

I Can’t Think Of Any

Somehow this kind of thing only seems to go one direction.

By way of comparison, who are the conservative reporters who are torpedoing their own careers by fabricating stories about Clinton or Reid or Pelosi? I can’t really think of any. The only conservative reporter who comes to mind is an extremely minor one by the name of Jeff Gannon whose “offense” was to ask a softball question of Bush during a press conference. If liberal reporters were similarly slimed for asking questions of an opposite nature (i.e., questions designed to make Bush look bad), we would not have a White House Press corps.

Career-ending journalistic insanity — mostly attributable to the war in Iraq — appears to be almost exclusively a phenomenon of the left. If you know of some prominent counterexamples, though, please set me straight.

Of course, just statistically, there are probably a lot more liberal reporters than conservative ones, so that might be a partial explanation. But I’m sure it’s not the whole one…

[Update in mid-afternoon]

Instapundit has a roundup of Beauchamp-related links, including this one by Don Surber, who wonders why there’s such a sellers’ market for lies on the left.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!