Imagine how publicly-funded elections would completely change the money-in-politics issue.
Yeah, for the worst.
I remember when we used to have 'Equal Time" rules, which meant that every news cast, some Marxist nutcase in his 20th year at university was mumbling incoherently for five minutes because, you know, equal time.
.
Bullshit. No such thing ever existed.
I believe he's referring to the fairness doctrine.
"Fairness Doctrine
The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the Commission's view—honest, equitable, and balanced."
This meant you had to either speak on both sides of the argument, or have someone from each side speak to their respective arguments. Very clear violation of the first amendment.
Nope. Also wrong, didn't work that way. It required that licensees present a diversity of viewpoints, which had wide latitude which was open to the broadcasters' interpretation. And it required that if a broadcast was a personal attack or criticism, then the attacked party could have air time to respond. The Fairness Doctrine was championed by Republicans concerned over the influence FDR was having with his "fireside chats". Although it was rarely invoked, one time it was was in 1954 after Edward R. Murrow's "See it Now" broadcast its scathing exposé of Joe McCarthy. The Wisconsin Senator requested air time to respond and CBS gave it to him -- the whole hour.
I worked in broadcasting both during the Fairness Doctrine and after it was abolished. The difference in my stations' operation was ----- absolutely nothing.
Thanks for clearing that up, I still see it as unconstitutional, in violation of the 1st amendment, which is pretty clear.
Actually not clear at all. I added in a line at the end that addresses that directly --
even if it had required a single argument to be presented on all sides there's no "violation of the First Amendment" therein. The 1A ensures that a view can't be silenced by the government. If you're presenting all views ------- then obviously no single one of them has been "silenced". On the contrary it's been aired.