“Listen to me
Listen, listen
Listen to me”
“Listen to Me” - Buddy Holly

A simple little love song that Holly released before his tragic death, “Listen to Me” ended up the title song of a tribute record made to celebrate the work of Holly on what would have been his 75th birthday in 2011. Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame sang the song on the tribute album.

All too often, we seem to be seeking someone to listen to our opinions, our viewpoints, our angle on life.

A meme that has been recycled by both sides of the aisle discusses the Fairness Doctrine, a policy put in place in 1949 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The story from one side says, “if you want to prevent the liberals from spouting their FAKE NEWS, then we need to re-establish the Fairness Doctrine that forced both sides of an issue to be covered by media.”

From the other side, you read, “Removing the Fairness Doctrine led to the rise of polarized and misinformed media like Fox News. We should re-establish the Fairness Doctrine!”

Both of these have some semblance of truth, but both get plenty wrong.

First, the Fairness Doctrine was removed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and his FCC. A Democrat-led Congress sent two bills to codify the doctrine into permanent law, but he vetoed the bills and there were not enough votes to override the vetoes.

However, what the Fairness Doctrine actually did is misunderstood significantly. First, it applied to broadcast channels. That means radio stations and television stations sent over a broadcast signal. In other words, cable channels and satellite radio would not have been affected, and they’re often the target of the complaints from both sides.

The doctrine required that a broadcaster had to devote “a reasonable portion of broadcast time” to both sides of controversial issues. The logic behind Reagan’s FCC was that the advent of cable channels had made the need for such a rule, to protect equal access to once-limited broadcast channel time and space, null and void.

One thing that did come from the removal of the Fairness Doctrine that is somewhat acknowledged by the memes is the advent of polarized talk radio. Previously, talk radio was notably balanced and brought both sides of the issue to light.

Radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh became nationally aired almost immediately afterward, and polarized talk radio has been a significant movement ever since.

A recent commercial from Governor Kristi Noem hits on another issue that isn’t quite what it seems.

She features Riley Gaines, a former swimmer from the University of Kentucky, speaking out on women’s sports. Gaines has made a post-collegiate career of doing just this, doing ads for Rand Paul, Hershel Walker, and a host of other Republican Governors as well as speaking at Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC).

The whole story behind the situation is that Gaines tied Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, for fifth place in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Noem’s commercial, as well as Gaines’ own advertisement of any speaking she does, makes it appear as if she was denied a championship or an opportunity to even compete because she was swimming against a transgender athlete.

Four swimmers beat both her and Thomas this spring in the 200-meter freestyle finals.

While one can hold an opinion one way or another on an issue, presenting full, factual information is vital. There are usually ulterior motives behind hiding certain pieces of information, and no one will force Noem or Gaines to give the full story, sadly, likewise, neither side will likely give the full story in their discussion on the Fairness Doctrine.

When too many are spewing half-stories that fit their narrative, does anyone really want to listen?