A Brief History of the Fairness Doctrine

Creation

The Communications Act of 1934, which created a system of granting licenses to radio stations, included a provision stating that the stations must act “in the public interest.” Starting in 1929, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) interpreted this provision to mean that opposing viewpoints should be given equal time. This eventually developed into the Fairness Doctrine. The FCC claimed that an amendment to the Communications Act in 1959 codified the Fairness Doctrine into law.

Constitutional Challenges

In the 1969 Red Lion Case, the Supreme Court upheld the Fairness Doctrine because they claimed that there were a scarcity of stations to cover the news.  Note that this decision came during a period in which the court was issuing a large number of liberal, activist opinions.

A law seeking to impose the Fairness Doctrine on print media in the Miami Herald v. Tonilla was declared invalid in 1974.  Then in 1985, the FCC said the Fairness Doctrine was not in fact codified into law by the 1959 amendment and in 1986, the D.C. Circuit Court upheld the FCC ruling.

Abolition

In 1987, under President Ronald Reagan, the FCC formally abolished the Fairness Doctrine, stating that it violated the first amendment and there was no longer a scarcity of stations to cover the news. In 1988, Congress passed a bill to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that was vetoed by President Reagan. Today, with many different radio stations as well as satellite and even internet radio, it is difficult to argue that a scarcity of opinions are available on the radio. With network and cable TV news, the rise of the internet, and print media from across the nation that is now readily available on the internet, it is simply outrageous to make the case that a scarcity of opinions exist with regard to overall news.