Nothing in my post is innacurate or wrong. point by point
Technologies:
The Communications Act of 1934 gave corporations the right to "license" and own the public air waves for free. The FCC still gives away the licenses that authorize radio and television broadcasters to use
public airwaves. In other words, the public technically owns and pays for what the private corporations profiteer off of.
This is well known to a student of history; there was a debate about it in the 30s and as a result of owning public airwaves corporations and their subsideraries and child companies were
required by law to report news. They got around it by doing a poor job on the news and continually lobbying congress to weaken said laws.
One perfect example of this is the in 1996 when Congress handed over to broadcasters the right to broadcast digital television on the public airwaves, which was estimated to be worth 40-70 billion dollars, for nothing. Even Bob Dole expressed outrage at this act and made it a campaign issue. There was not even an auction for distribution of licenses as there has been for cell phone usage and so on.
Conservatives and PBS:
Conservatives have already called on NPR to provide more "conservative programs," even in congress. I have seen on C-SPAN conservatives asking NPR to balance their programs.
Since both PBS and NPR receive money from the government they would obviously be targets to attempt to "balance" these programs more to the right as conservatives like Bill O'Reilly compare NPR as being to the left of "North Korean state media."
As for
Democracy, this is about the public reclaiming tax payer assets and regulating corporations who old monopolies on information. This is more about regulating corporate monopolies than it is about "free-speech," the goal is more free-speech.
They do this in Britain and Canada to some degree where the public has more control over their air waves and all candidates are required to have at least some amount of time on the networks, which I believe are directly paid for by taxes, such as the BBC.
This isn't
anti-American as Thomas Jefferson said that Americans ought to be able to hear all sides of an issue, and then make a properly informed decision regarding issue. He would have no problem with regulating corporations.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson even wrote repeatedly that corporations and banks should be abolished.
Thomas Jefferson is as American as apple pie.
I'm not sure how I feel about the fairness doctrine because conservatives would try and dismantle NPR and PBS (Bush has already cut funding for PBS and NPR has steadily been declining in quality, neither are really "leftist outlets" as bill o'reilly claims), but I disagree as well with the claim that regulating corporations is equatable to anti-free speech, even though the corporations have benefitted from tax payer assets.
I support what is called an "audience network"
During its time slot, the Audience Network would air a variety of cultural, political, entertainment, scien*tific or other programs that it produced or obtained. It would periodically inform the public about the organization's activities and discuss media reform is*sues. With its financial resources, and its access to airtime, Audience Network, at both local and national levels, could also provide central production facilities and act as a time broker for other non-profit groups that wished to professionally produce and air programs.
The structure of the Audience Network organiza*tion would be similar to that of the successful Citizen's Utility Boards (CUBs), which represent the interests of utility consumers at the state level. Audience Network would represent the interests of its members before the FCC, the courts, and Congress itself — wherever broad*casting policy is being made. Any citizen over the age of 16 could become a member of Audience Network by contributing a modest amount, say $10 annually, to the organization. Members' contributions would consti*tute Audience Network's basic source of funding; the group would require no expenditure of tax dollars.
The Audience Network would be governed demo*cratically. Members would elect delegates who would in turn elect a board of directors to decide what projects and programming the group would pursue. A power to recall delegates would further ensure accountability. Because the public must take the affirmative step of joining and thereby funding Audience Network, the organization is assured active participants and would rightly fold if adequate membership was not forthcom*ing. Based on the CUB experience, that seems unlikely. Other mechanisms, whereby directors and delegates can serve only limited terms and are required to survey the interests of their members, will also assure that Audience Network will not become a lazy or wasteful bureaucracy, but instead an organization that is re*sponsive to the needs of those it represents.
The Audience Network, in short, could serve as a self-funded, independent ongoing communications link among viewers and listeners. According to a sur*vey conducted by the Annenburg School of Communications, the public demands no less. Three-quarters of those polled felt that "broadcast time should be set aside for ordinary people to show their programs and views." “It would appear," the study concluded, "that were the opportunity available, a sizeable portion of the population would try their hand at television communication.” Congress should reflect the will of the people and give the public that community opportunity. A modest portion of the public’s airwaves should be returned to that public in a systematic, yet flexible manner of uses. Let the audience give itself what it wants and needs.
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/1315-The-Audience-Network.html
Basically, the audience network would give access to Americans the airwaves they already should own. It would ge given an hour of prime-time television and one hour of drive time radio every day, and its programming would be driven democratically by membership open to all for a small public fee.
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/1315-The-Audience-Network.html