Is There a Problem with Broadcast News

The short answer to this is yes. There has been a problem since the Fairness Doctrine was repealed. This doctrine forbade broadcast news from making one-sided opinions. It was expected to simply report the news. When opinion was unavoidable, the network was required to have an expert with an opposing opinion available for rebuttal. It was this doctrine that makes us long for the days of Walter Cronkite style reporting.

In 1987 the FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine. Congressional Democrats passed a bill to reinstate the doctrine, but President Ronald Raegan vetoed the bill. That was the end of the doctrine and the beginning of the news becoming a form of entertainment and political maneuvering. Just a few years later Fox News was born. Then came CNN and MSNBC. Since then, there has been an avalanche of news/entertainment networks.

These networks target a demographic they think will make them the most money. A demographic that buys the items the network’s main sponsors sell. Their sole job is to keep this demographic happy and interested by reporting events the way they want to hear them. The word chosen to describe this process is spinning, and the people doing it are spin doctors.

I do not get my news from networks that are all-news networks. There is not a single one of them that isn’t spinning the stories to make their demographic happy. I look for other sources.

I do not believe there is an overall conspiracy to brainwash us. I believe, like most things, it comes down to dollars and cents. The purpose is not to dominate the world, it’s to make money.