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29 Fed. Comm. B.J. 207 (1976)
Fairness Doctrine: The Early History

handle is hein.journals/fedcom29 and id is 215 raw text is: FAIRNESS DOCTRINE: THE EARLY HISTORY STEVEN J. SIMMONS* I. THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE: A CONTEMPORARY DEFINITION In its contemporary form, the fairness doctrine is the name given to two requirements imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on radio and television broadcasters throughout the United States.1 The first, the part one requirement, demands that broadcast licensees devote *Assistant Professor, Program in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine. Copyright @ 1977 Steven J. Simmons. All rights reserved. This article will subsequently appear in a book by the author entitled The Fairness Doctrine and the Media to be published by the University of California Press in early 1978. 1The doctrine is also imposed on cable television system operators who originate programming under their exclusive control, 47 C.F.R. 76.209, 76.5 (w). As stated by James Hudgens of the FCC's Cable Television Bureau, If a cable operator acts like a broadcaster, he's regulated like a broadcaster. If he originates programming that is under his direction and control, then the fairness doctrine applies, interview with James A. Hudgens and Barry D. Umansky, Sept. 11, 1975. Fairness doctrine complaints against cable system operators have numbered less than a dozen, id. See Steven J. Simmons, The Fairness Doctrine and Cable TV, 11 Harv. J. Legis. 629 (1974), for more on the doctrine as it relates to cable television. It should be noted that the FCC's Cable Television Bureau recently drafted a notice of proposed rule making that would permit cable systems to substitute use of their access facility for compliance with equal-time and fairness requirements, Broadcasting, September 27, 1976, at 7. But after considering the proposed rule, the FCC abandoned the notion, at least for time being. Broadcasting, October 4, 1976, at 5. Since the application of the doctrine to cable systems is a recent development, and for simplification purposes, throughout this article the doctrine will be spoken of as applying to broadcast licensees.

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