VIEWPOINT Facts reveal need to restore a media Fairness Doctrine
BY DORIS AIKEN For The Sunday Gazette Doris Aiken lives in Schenectady and is the president and founder of RID, Remove Intoxicated Drivers. The Gazette encourages readers to submit material on local issues for the Sunday Opinion section.
The Gazette’s recent editorial proclaiming “No need for Congress to restore the Fairness Doctrine,” citing the many avenues now available for all opinions to be heard, sounds reasonable — until the facts are examined. Television and radio stations are mostly owned by corporations with their own point of view: largely conservative. President Obama did appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show (a closet conservative) to enlarge his viewing audience ratings. Obama accepted his invitation, as a party leader headed for the White House had to do. He was just the “star” for O’Reilly’s entertainment format. What you didn’t see or hear was Lyndon LaRouche, a seven-time losing candidate in the Democratic primary campaigns for president. I saw him once last year on SACC public-access TV, when he was explaining the Libertarian platform. The Libertarians are the thirdlargest party. Were their candidates heard in the electronic media? Do you know what they stand for? Where are the leaders of medical marijuana and those who advocate the decriminalization of drugs? Aren’t they available for debate on national television and radio programs? ALCOHOL OVERDOSE What about the fight against drunk and impaired driving, and underage drinking? Do you know that drinking alcohol fast, especially in minors, can kill in a matter of hours? Why don’t we all know what to do with “passed out” alcohol victims the same way we know what to when observing choking? Have you seen or heard on talk shows and news shows a discussion (and outrage) about the thousands of minors who die of alcohol overdose each year — 4,000-plus? I know of only one, the Maury Povich show in 1996. RID (Remove intoxicated Drivers) threatened to picket his studio in Manhattan if the corporate owner of his show tried to cancel the planned program. The show went on, with parents of teens who died or nearly died of alcohol overdose. RID received nearly 400 letters from anxious parents who did not know about alcohol overdose. I remember Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio pleaded for a return of the Fairness Doctrine. He wasn’t heard from much, after that became part of his presidential platform. The premise that information from the “do-gooders” is boring and would cause audiences to turn off the program doesn’t hold water. There is nothing boring about the demise of four college students as a result of a three-minute ride with an intoxicated “designated driver” who was served beer on a college campus near Utica. It might be boring for the alcohol advertisers to view special programs under the Fairness Doctrine that allowed parents to know why children shouldn’t drink (aside from the 21 drinking age). It’s because the myelin sheath that leads to the brain is still thin in teens. It thickens with age, and is then better able to keep drugs from the addictive center in the brain. The myelin sheath is thickest at age 22 and remains thick until age 39, when it begins to thin. The dreadful specter of multiple sclerosis begins to emerge. I have to tell you this because no commercial or public TV or radio is willing to take on this topic, feeling the possible loss of alcohol ads. If teens begin drinking at age 14, the typical starting age, the likelihood of them becoming addicted is greatly increased. The fastestgrowing age group in Alcoholics Anonymous is teenagers. WAY TO APPEAL Now, without the Fairness Doctrine, there is no way to appeal media denials of program coverage. I feel lucky to have a family- (not corporate-) owned newspaper with solid reporting of various opinions and events. But most people get their news from television, radio and the Web. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Kucinich are right. We need a return to fairness on TV and radio. It doesn’t matter how many channels or radio stations are available. If serious matters and events are not aired, what’s the point?.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar02700
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