Joe Biden appears to have won the presidential election. The Democratic Party has held the House and appears to have made some gains in the Senate.
Among the actions in their first 30 days, they need to restore the Federal Communications Commission’s 1949 Fairness Doctrine, which required FCC-licensed broadcasters to present contrasting views on controversial issues.
The Fairness Doctrine was revoked in 1987. Now it needs to be codified in federal law to secure its future! As a society, we talk about how divided we are as a nation and how we grow more divided each passing year. This was by design. “Choose your news” is a very large part of that problem.
Many in the Democratic leadership have talked for years about how important the Fairness Doctrine was to ensure a healthy public debate on serious topics. If working toward reducing the divisive nature of our country is in their goals, the best place to start is ensuring a real public debate by reducing the noise. The Fairness Doctrine is the first step of this process.
Jeff McDonald
South Portland
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