George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽Sep 18, 2023

Ask your Fox-watching friends if they’ve seen stories about Rep. Lauren Boebert publicly groping with her date and vaping at a public performance of Beetlejuice, all with kids present. Bet they’ll look at you blankly because Fox has simply not aired the story since it broke according to media watchers.

Fox knows Boebert is in a district she nearly lost in 2022, and that the road to the House majority might run through Colorado’s 3rd. The network isn’t “fair and balanced.” That’s a joke. Fox is warped and twisted, just like the party it services.

Pro-tip: change the content controls on home cable systems so technologically challenged folks can’t access Fox. You might just save them from being sucked in further.

Show threadMaxilo OveritSep 18, 2023
@georgetakei We need the DNC to either a) have a national strategy to un-tie right wing media from the GOP base's brains, or b) put back the legal requirement of being actually fair and balanced into all news licenses.
Show threadrthonpm
@aka_quant_noir @georgetakei The problem is that as a cable provider, the Fairness Doctrine would never have applied to Fox. As a cable only channel they don't broadcast over public airwaves so they don't require a broadcast license.
Sep 19, 2023 at 11:06amWeb
Show threadMaxilo OveritSep 19, 2023

@rthonpm @georgetakei Maybe not as it was. An upgraded Fairness Doctrine could be more robust. It could apply to more media, regulate more conduct, and treat access to the public eyeballs with an eye to electoral manipulation.

Also I've been saying for years that America took the wrong road when it licensed our broadcast frequencies. We should have demanded free air time for political candidates as part of the deal, then prohibited political ads enriching all these corporate TV news orgs.

Show threadrthonpmSep 19, 2023
@aka_quant_noir @georgetakei The problem you'll run into trying to expand outside of licensed airwaves is a big first amendment issue. The FCC controls broadcast airwaves, which a return of the Fairness Doctrine could at least strike a blow at right wing radio, but areas outside of its remit are going to prove very difficult.
Show threadMaxilo OveritSep 19, 2023
@rthonpm @georgetakei There are many obstacles, legal and otherwise. Ensuring good faith and fair play may require a few changes to the balance in the 1st amendment jurisprudence. I don't even think anyone is going to start down this path in my lifetime, but I still like to put these ideas out there.