My video lecture on the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial “Fairness Doctrine,” part of the Business Ethics Cases series.
Contents:
1. The early days of radio and a tragedy of the commons.
2. What is fairness? Two competing answers.
3. The argument for the “Fairness Doctrine.”
4. The argument against the “Fairness Doctrine.”
5. Related issues: whether politics is special, whether the medium matters, scarcity, unintended consequences, and abuses of power.
Supplements:
* Tom Beauchamp, “The FCC’s ‘Fairness Doctrine'” [pdf].
* Summary flowchart of the arguments pro and con [jpg] [pdf].
Go to the Business Ethics Cases series. Full playlists at YouTube.
Go to the Philosophy of Education lecture series.