I don't remember how it was before when the fairness doctrine was in effect. My knee jerk reaction was that the govt. shouldn't be messing with speech content, but I just did a little reading and see that the courts have already ruled on that:
Quote:
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A license permits broadcasting, but the licensee has no constitutional right to be the one who holds the license or to monopolize a...frequency to the exclusion of his fellow citizens. There is nothing in the First Amendment which prevents the Government from requiring a licensee to share his frequency with others.... It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount.
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Anyway, this could all be a trial lawyer's dream and could come back and bite the democrats in the butt. Wouldn't the doctrine apply to the big three TV broadcasters as well.