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First They Came for Imus (Fairness Doctrine Days)
4/15/07 | Self

Posted on 04/15/2007 5:28:23 AM PDT by Nextrush

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Fred W. Friendly (Portrayed by George Clooney in that Edward R. Murrow movie) wrote a book called "The Good Guys, The Bad Guys and The First Amendment." Friendly was Murrow's "See It Now" collaborator and a former CBS News president.

It details these "Fairness Doctrine Days" and is deserving of a movie, although I don't envision Clooney doing it.

I'm now listening to an audio stream of Imus from 1972 (1st anniversary in New York) with lots of controversial comment including one guy telling Imus that prostitution should be legal. Chuck McCord was doing the news back then, too. And he has a lispy gay phony newscaster.

1 posted on 04/15/2007 5:28:25 AM PDT by Nextrush
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To: Nextrush
Great post. People who pooh pooh the ultimate ramifications of the Imus kerfluffle worry me.

Of course, many of us have become leery of First Amendment protection, due to the trashers (Piss Christ, etc - ad nauseum)

2 posted on 04/15/2007 5:36:23 AM PDT by don-o (Fight, fight. fight to drive the GOP to the right!!!!)
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To: Nextrush

So Johnson was behind the fairness doctrine and getting churches under the IRS.


3 posted on 04/15/2007 5:39:10 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: Always Right

It actually dates back to the Truman-FDR days but as you can see the liberals used it to effectively attack enemies who criticized them in the 60’s and 70’s.

And the Nixon Administration (Paris Peace Talks, Treaty) didn’t like McIntire because he wanted to win the Vietnam War, hence the FCC shutting him down over the “Fairness Dcotrine.”

Liberal Democrats and some GOP enablers too. The same problem in this country today.


4 posted on 04/15/2007 5:59:07 AM PDT by Nextrush ( Chris Matthews Band: "I get high....I get high.....I get high.....McCain......")
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To: Nextrush
Great post!. Same script - far more dangerous players.


5 posted on 04/15/2007 6:04:15 AM PDT by drpix
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To: Nextrush

Imus got was coming to him, just like Whoopi was expelled from Slim Fast when she made Jackass comments about the President. Money talks! And when masses of customers are fed up with certain diatribes, it is their Constitutional Right to respond.


6 posted on 04/15/2007 6:05:37 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: Nextrush

Imus is just another example of what happens to white people who make the mistake of offending the black folks.

Imus was a liberal and definitely has nothing against black people. In fact i am sure heb would lean over backwards to be helpful to most black organisations.
Howard Cosell who was another white man that was tossed aside because of blacks being offended was a great fan of black sports figures. He helped make Cassious Clay a personality, helped hiom become famous and always pushed black sports figures as being great. Yet they tossed all Howards good works aside and attacked him for a small offhand remark.

Imus was making what he thought was a joke,.But he made it about the wrong race. had he made it about whites ,polish , irish most any other race or sect he would have gotten away.
No he stepped in the dog doo that is black offense.
So he’s gone and we wonder who will be next.

One thing is certain the ones who need to be taken to task for this Al & Jesse wont be bothered. They will go on race baiting and not only allowed to get away with it , they will be praised for it.


7 posted on 04/15/2007 6:07:52 AM PDT by sgtbono2002 (I will forgive Jane Fonda, when the Jews forgive Hitler.)
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To: AmericanMade1776

No doubt, but its the “what’s next” that bothers me and you better be afraid of that if you value your freedom of speech.

This can lead to speech codes imposed by the corporate people to censor radio. Codes that equal the power of the Fairness Doctrine.

And if Sharpton’s line about what’s “acceptable” in broadcasting were to become official government policy (imagine it extended to the internet) then freedom for all of us is lost.


8 posted on 04/15/2007 6:13:59 AM PDT by Nextrush ( Chris Matthews Band: "I get high....I get high.....I get high.....McCain......")
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To: sgtbono2002

Imus used common street vernacular. So common that a white guy in his 70’s was familiar with it. Problem is, he was not licensed by blacks to use “their words” and paid a hefty price.


9 posted on 04/15/2007 6:14:57 AM PDT by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
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To: Nextrush

What kind of Freedom of Speech is it to call a Basketball team , nappy headed hos? If you say it, then you are accountable for it.


10 posted on 04/15/2007 6:27:28 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: AmericanMade1776

The same Freedom of Speech that protects a crucifix in a jar of urine as art.


11 posted on 04/15/2007 6:28:58 AM PDT by don-o (Fight, fight. fight to drive the GOP to the right!!!!)
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To: don-o

Yes..... or the Freedom of Speech or Expression of a Dung Laden Madonna in an Art museum.


12 posted on 04/15/2007 6:31:01 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: AmericanMade1776

That radio station had someone read a poem about a dog urinating on Martin Luther King’s grave.

Imagine that today.

Literal nooses would be in the streets for that.

I’d never make that comment myself, but you better understand its just a straw man like that poem that liberals used in their campaign to impose the “Fairness Doctrine” in the 1970’s.

The real goal, silence political enemies.

And Shartpon is using this bad comment to intimidate and ultimately silence those who disagree with him. (including radio talk hosts)


13 posted on 04/15/2007 6:33:11 AM PDT by Nextrush ( Chris Matthews Band: "I get high....I get high.....I get high.....McCain......")
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To: don-o

Or the Freedom of Speech, that gives John Kerry the right to belittle our troops


14 posted on 04/15/2007 6:35:18 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: sgtbono2002
Your assumption that the problem was that the women were “black” and they (”blacks”) are a protected class in the country. They can do no wrong. Just look at the Duke case. The media doesn't even mention their color if they are criminals caught in the act. The same goes for homos!
15 posted on 04/15/2007 6:36:42 AM PDT by JLGALT (Don't put down Muslims. They're just like everyone else - if everyone else is a mass murderer!)
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To: Nextrush
First they didn’t come for Imus. First they came for Jimmy the Greek, then guys like John Rocker and Charlie Ward. Then they came for offenders of homosexuals like Tim Hardaway and that actor from Greys Anatomy. Now they devoured one of their own. Next it will be offenders of Islam and the State.
16 posted on 04/15/2007 6:37:15 AM PDT by nativist (Islam: an excuse to kill someone you don't like.)
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To: Nextrush

I don’t care for Al Sharpton, he is stuck in the sixities, and if Al Sharpton starts calling White Folks deragatory terms on his radio show, then it will be his time to go.


17 posted on 04/15/2007 6:38:12 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: Nextrush

“What is next” is the true fear. And by your name I can tell what you think. I am in total agreement. If they go after Rush then we must rise up. He has twenty million dedicated listeners. And for the advertisers that’s a whole lot of people to offend by pulling your ad’s!


18 posted on 04/15/2007 6:40:08 AM PDT by JLGALT (Don't put down Muslims. They're just like everyone else - if everyone else is a mass murderer!)
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To: sgtbono2002

I agree with what you said, about Imus just doing what he does all the time on his radio show. But he stepped on someones toes, and he got busted.


19 posted on 04/15/2007 6:42:01 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: JLGALT
No. There have been quite a few blacks hammered for their stance on homosexuality. Tim Hardaway and Tony Dungy to name a couple. Black people might look at that “first they came for soan so” and apply it to themselves. First they came for Cossell and Jimmy the Greek, but I was not an old white member of the establishment. Then they came for John Rocker, but I was not a redneck from the south. Then they came for Charlie Ward but he was a outspoken Christian. Then they came for Tim Hardaway and Tony Dungy and I looked around for help but the only ones left were the liberal Naziz and I was no longer needed by them to impose national thought control.
20 posted on 04/15/2007 6:42:06 AM PDT by nativist (Islam: an excuse to kill someone you don't like.)
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