The 'Shareness Doctrine': Because fair is fair

In 1901, the first successful transatlantic radio transmission was a signal from Guglielmo Marconi's assistant, who was in England, to Marconi, who was in Newfoundland, Canada. The transmission was one letter in Morse code: "S".

Today, this leads many Democrats to ask one burning question: Why did Marconi and his assistants plot to exclude the other 25 letters?

This brings us to a recent report released by The Center for American Progress that says 91 percent of talk radio is conservative, with the liberal view taking up just 9 percent of air time, and something must be done about this Marconic tragedy.

The report, titled, "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio" is now being used by some Democrats as evidence of a need to restructure ownership rules and reinstate the Fairness Doctrine – just in case talk radio listeners don't have access to PBS, NPR, USA Today, New York Times, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Time, Newsweek, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, 90 percent of squawking Hollywood actors and the vast majority of college professors.

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The government (read: you and I) already finances NPR and PBS, and in case Democrats in Congress haven't been paying attention, these aren't exactly entities known for their right-wing rhetoric. Where's the reciprocal "fairness" of the government giving money to a notoriously conservative television and radio network? If there's one thing we're shown at a young age, it's that "fair" is a one-way street in Washington, and thanks to a looming Fairness Doctrine, that one-way street could be about to be repaved, extended and will somehow probably end up being named after Robert Byrd.

All this talk of "fairness" is strategically limited to talk radio, where, on a national level, liberal voices are about as popular as Trent Lott at an NAACP meeting.

Up to this point, the left's forays into syndicated talk radio have been a directionless disaster, the likes of which haven't been seen since Fred Noonan turned to Amelia Earhart and said, "I thought you brought the map."

Back when Air America was beginning and in its pre-bankruptcy days, we read and heard many people, some of them conservative columnists and radio talk hosts, saying that if we wished to avoid another Fairness Doctrine, everybody should do their best to support Air America to ensure its success. This is a misguided approach, as I don't believe that doing something I don't want to do just so an entity won't remove certain freedoms is the proper way to go about it.

Calling for the artificial support of a particular entity just to keep the government from implementing another unconstitutional law is, in a manner of speaking, appeasing despotism. In other words, it's way too Jimmy Carter-ish for my taste and is like burning yourself at the stake to avoid being tried as a witch.

That said, here's a modest proposal. I'll go ahead and support a "Fairness Doctrine" – as long as the "fairness" extends across-the-board. Let's call it a "Shareness Doctrine." After all, "fair" isn't fair unless everybody's forced to participate. What do I mean? Well, for example, another recent study found that around 90 percent of journalists donate in some way to Democrats and/or left-of-center causes.

In the name of fairness, we should demand our news emanate from equal sources or at least politically balanced ones. If half of all reporters are Republicans and half are Democrats, the odds that we'll have more "fairness" in reporting are greatly increased.

And while we're at it, what about university faculty? We need a "Shareness Doctrine" for those who teach on our college campuses as well. On many campuses, liberal professors outnumber conservative professors to a degree not seen since the battle of Thermopylae. Is this "fair"? I didn't think so.

Then it's on to Hollywood films and network television shows, whose lean to the left is so profound that, if it weren't counterbalanced by the overstuffed wallets and purses of their creators, they would topple. The list of unfairness that needs addressing goes on and on.

Until that happens, expect further Democrat pushing for a return of the Fairness Doctrine, with the first order of business being to order the descendants of Guglielmo Marconi to broadcast at least six of those 25 letters he heartlessly excluded, starting and ending with L, I, B, E, R, A and another L.

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