Fairness Doctrine

One of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) most controversial policies, the Fairness Doctrine obligated U.S. broadcast licensees to seek out and present contrasting viewpoints on controversial issues of interest to the community in which the license was held. The commission reasoned if such programs were aired in sufficient amounts by a licensee, then the public interest, convenience, and necessity (PICN) would be better served, thus improving the likelihood for license renewal. The goal of the Fairness Doctrine was to foster discussion of important community issues, but it was ultimately set aside by the FCC because it was said to contravene that goal.

Set forth as FCC policy in 1949, the commission declared:

The Fairness Doctrine appeared to gain statutory status in 1959 when Congress amended Section 315 of the Act (which exempted legally qualified political candidates appearing in bona fide news programs from equal time requirements):

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in its Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC decision, June 9, 1969: “The Fairness Doctrine… and political editorializing regulations are a legitimate exercise of congressionally delegated authority.”

In the years after Red Lion, broadcasters claimed the policy had an inverse effect; rather than fostering debate, it “chilled” discussion of controversial issues such that broadcasters avoided controversy, fearful that they would be required to air opposing viewpoints, thus losing available commercial airtime. In 1984, Fairness Doctrine critics and a sympathetic FCC began gathering information to support a change, [Page 228]and the FCC soon announced that, although it would not repeal the Fairness Doctrine, it no longer served the public interest, and in 1987 the FCC announced it would no longer enforce the policy. Congress attempted unsuccessfully to enact the Fairness Doctrine into law in 1988, and the D.C. Court of Appeals ordered the FCC to repeal the final corollaries to the Fairness Doctrine in October 2000.