Difference between revisions of "Mainstream media"
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* [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] | * [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] | ||
Revision as of 03:20, August 2, 2007
The mainstream media consist primarily of those media organs that existed in the United States of America prior to 1987, and especially any of those media organs that continue to exist today.
Background of the definition
In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to revoke, and cancel their enforcement of, the Fairness Doctrine. That doctrine mandated that if any opinion considered "controversial" were ever discussed on the public airwaves, the station over which that opinion aired was required to give equal time to any person wishing to reply. However, the FCC never set a standard about interpretations of current events that might be disputable, nor even examined that issue.
With the revocation of the Fairness Doctrine, radio and television stations were now permitted to air any opinion or interpretation of the news, no matter how "controversial," without regard to the giving of "equal time."
On August 1, 1988, a new radio commentator named Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting in national syndication. The alternative media was born.
List of mainstream media organs
The mainstream media are operationally considered to consist of the following organs:
- The New York Times
- The Washington Post
- The Boston Globe
- The Philadelphia Inquirer
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- The Los Angeles Times
- The San Francisco Chronicle
- USA Today
- The Wall Street Journal[1]
- All major, standard-newspaper-format dailies that have existed since before the Fairness Doctrine repeal.
Fox News is not "mainstream media" within this definition, because they are opposed to everything that most MSM executive and city editors stand for. One need only compare the programming decisions and editorial positions of Fox News on one hand, and the consensus of Mainstream Media organs on the other, to reach this conclusion. Also, the Democratic presidential candidates will not appear on presidential debates hosted by Fox News, but they will appear on all the other debates hosted by the Mainstream Media.
References and notes
- ↑ The inclusion of The Wall Street Journal might strike some media observers as strange, until one remembers that, though its editorial board is conservative on most issues (except for immigration), its city room is definitely liberal in orientation and coverage of the news.