It's all Morton Downey, Jr's fault

[fitzy24]

kick azz!!!

[take57]

Originally Posted by boulevardofdef

I haven't seen the film yet, though I plan on watching it. But I hope it at least acknowledges this: The Fairness Doctrine, which guaranteed balanced TV and radio coverage of political issues, was struck down by the FCC in August 1987. Morton Downey Jr.'s show premiered only two months later. That's not a coincidence -- Downey's show could never have aired with the Fairness Doctrine in place. If Downey hadn't existed, somebody else would have quickly done the same thing and we'd have ended up in the same place.

You make an excellent point, except the FCC didn't make that decision in a vacuum. Put that one on St. Ronnie.

[Labonte18]

They didn't even mention the fairness doctrine.. It really was a pretty straight bio on Mort's life and career and death.

I actually thought it was pretty good.

As to the fairness doctrine.. The only reason that democrats despise that it went away is because despite them having most of hollywood locked up.. They can't get anyone to tune in to shows. Remember Air America? That was supposed to be the answer to Rush Limbaugh.. I could yell at the north pole and have more listeners than they had. The New York station didn't even rank in the ratings. Unmeasurable ratings.

[Delahanty]

It was slow-moving at first, then picked up the pace.

I never considered Downey a groundbreaker. Cable didn't offer many options back then. His show was a circus but, for the most part, they were all in on it. You could usually see everyone chuckling or stifling smiles. I don't even remember the show's cancellation. I just noticed that it was no longer there.

As an aside, I read that his wife (widow) wasn't pleased with the movie, and that he and their daughter planned to counter some things on another (radio?) show.

Oh, and something else: Roy Innis must have been a boxer at one time lol. They showed him slugging Al Sharpton, doing that springy little "dance" that boxers do, after he jumped to his feet. Which reminded me of the time Innis jumped to his feet after a skinhead called him an Uncle Tom on another circus back then--Geraldo Rivera's show. That precipitated a melee in which Geraldo's nose was broken after someone tossed a chair.

[boulevardofdef]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

As to the fairness doctrine.. The only reason that democrats despise that it went away is because despite them having most of hollywood locked up.. They can't get anyone to tune in to shows. Remember Air America? That was supposed to be the answer to Rush Limbaugh.. I could yell at the north pole and have more listeners than they had. The New York station didn't even rank in the ratings. Unmeasurable ratings.

I read a really interesting analysis a while back of why that is -- I'm sure I couldn't find it, so I'm not even going to try, but it stuck with me. It was written by a guy who said he'd made a point for years to listen regularly to both conservative talk radio and liberal talk radio.

He says if you listen to liberal talk radio, it's all, "Come on, people: Reduce, reuse, recycle," and "Are you doing enough to raise awareness of police violence against black people?" It's hours of the hosts giving listeners the impression that they have a responsibility and they need to be more thoughtful and sensitive and conscious of issues. It's a big guilt trip.

In contrast, conservative talk radio is all about validation and victimization. In this world, the listeners are always right, and sinister forces are conspiring against them.

People don't like to be told they have a solemn responsibility to rethink their pre-existing attitudes. They like being told they're right, and that they're on the right side of a battle. That's why liberal talk radio fails and conservative talk radio has been a huge, influential success.