When U.S. President Ronald Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine in 1988, he killed a piece of American democracy, says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The duty to inform was taken from the media and replaced with the aims of corporations, to deliver people to advertising and to hell with balance, fairness and critical thinking.
"Today as a result of that [the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine] there are five major corporations that control 14,000 radio stations in the United States. All 2,200 TV stations," he said.
"They no longer have an obligation to serve the public interest. Their only obligation is to serve the shareholders, so they cut costs, they got rid of all their investigative reporters. Eighty per cent of investigative reporters have lost their jobs over the past 15 years," he said.
The Guardian and the Washington Post have been awarded the highest accolade in US journalism, winning...
