Wednesday, June 17, 2020
From an extremely different era 8
Spiked UK continues carrying the torch, comparing today's totally synchronized world tyranny with the '30s. I've made the same comparison often. In the '30s, and even during WW2 with strict official censorship, a much wider range of opinions was available on major media, and varying opinions were treated objectively.
The FCC's Fairness Doctrine made diversity MANDATORY in radio. A station that carried editorial material for one side had to carry the other side as well.
Here's an example that recently appeared on American Radio History. A 1933 brochure from WHB in KC, touting both jazz and Father Coughlin, without tinfoiling either one. Coughlin lost his popularity later because FDR was ACTUALLY IMPROVING THINGS, not because he was censored. No politician in US or UK can possibly be guilty of IMPROVING THINGS now. All politicians eagerly bid up the holocaust killcount in "Debates" that are really auctions. And FDR was ACTUALLY IMPROVING THINGS because counterforces were allowed to exist, and allowed to run candidates. Negative feedback is necessary for life. Positive feedback is death.
Newspapers didn't have a Fairness Doctrine, but they had real competition in most places. Every town with more than 400 people had one paper, and towns above 2000 had two papers. Each paper was openly and proudly labeled with its partisan preference, so you knew what you were buying. Consistent brands, no Gotchas. After 1960 all papers converged to Deepstate.
Labels: Alternate universe, Equipoise, Pluponents
¶ 5:19 AM
