On Eve of Democratic Sweep, Schumer Supports “Fairness Doctrine”

The Hill reports today that:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday defended the so-called Fairness Doctrine in an interview on Fox News, saying, “I think we should all be fair and balanced, don’t you?”

CEI has always opposed the doctrine, noting that placing the government in charge of determining what is “Fair” and what isn’t in what is supposed to be a free press runs counter to everything we hold sacred about our democracy.

Not only that, but with media becoming more and more atomized—more and more people are turning to blogs, web-based video, and news outlets from around the world thanks to the Internet—we should be worried about freeing up the media to reach more people, not giving power to a bureaucrat to decided what’s fair and what isn’t.

The idea that fairness is even achievable is dubious. Fairness, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. As a libertarian, I feel the media is extremely unfair to my ideas, even when it’s perfectly balanced between Republicans and Democrats. I’m sure the Greens, the Constitutionalists, the Socialists, and others feel the same way.

Just as free trade beats “fair trade” a free media is much better than a government-controlled “fair” media.