Fairness Doctrine

Clark argues that requiring broadcasters to show opposing viewpoints alongside their own is nearly impossible to argue against.

“hey, you can say this viewpoint. You also have to show the other viewpoint. To me, that's almost impossible to argue with”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 57:15

Clark says he understands conservatives and libertarians viewing the doctrine as censorship and government overreach.

“Like, ideologically, this is censorship and the prohibition of the exercise of free speech”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 56:36

Clark notes the doctrine was formally removed in 2011 by the Obama administration's FCC, which he considers symbolically significant.

“It was officially repealed in 2011. And if you'll think back, that was under the Obama administration”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 55:12

Clark notes that Congress passed a bipartisan bill to codify the doctrine but Ronald Reagan vetoed it, effectively ending it.

“There was a bipartisan-supported bill that got passed in Congress to codify the Fairness Doctrine, but it was vetoed by Reagan”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 50:39

Bryant credits the doctrine with giving a guaranteed platform to minority viewpoints such as the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century.

“without the Fairness Doctrine, we may not have gotten any of these minority viewpoints in the 1940s and 50s and 60s”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 54:16