The U.S. radio airwaves are government property, owned by the taxpayers and licensed to private entities on the condition that broadcasts will somehow serve the public interest.
Since 1987, protection of taxpayer property has been eroded by reactionary and politically partisan interests who have steadily bought up licenses with the intention of denying access to the public airwaves to an honest, equitable, and balanced cross-section of the American public.
With the demise of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, and protections against defamatory personal attacks in 2000, media conglomerates have filled the publicly owned airwaves with ethnic, religious, and sexual slurs from divisive, profane, and sometimes anti-Semitic egotists like Howard Stern, Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh.
Focus on the Family now defends this cesspool of indecency — fearful that President-elect Barack Obama and a new Congress will restore regulations requiring that the taxpayers’ airwaves be used fairly and not abused by potty-mouths.
