We need a media that tells the truth…

I didn’t know this but up north in Canada, they actually have a law on their books, that says: “a licenser may not broadcast….any false or misleading news.”

Canada regulators today announced they would reject efforts by Canada’s right wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.

The provision has kept Fox News and right wing talk radio out of Canada.

The simple question we all must ask, has to be:….. why can’t Fox broadcast in Canada if everything said has to be truthful?

Apparently right wing news is nothing but lies….  I mean, if you have to change the law just so you can broadcast…….  and that law states: “a licenser may not broadcast….any false or misleading news”, well…. go figure.

From Dro at the Daily Kos:  “Because of this Canadian law, political dialogue in Canada is marked by civility, modesty, honesty, collegiality, and idealism that have pretty much disappeared on the U.S. airwaves. When Stephen Harper moved to abolish anti-lying provision of the Radio Act, Canadians rose up to oppose him fearing that their tradition of honest non partisan news would be replaced by the toxic, overtly partisan, biased and dishonest news coverage familiar to American citizens who listen to Fox News and talk radio. Harper’s proposal was timed to facilitate the launch of a new right wing network, “Sun TV News” which Canadians call “Fox News North.”

So when you require your news source to be accurate, you have civil discussions, sort of the way we all look back on politics and wish we still could, but when you remove the “Fairness Doctrine”, as was done by Ronald Reagan, you open the doors to Crazy Eileen, Birthers, Swift Boats, and Penis Heads running for office.

Hmmm.

I wish someone in the US had enough balls to at least submit a bill in the US Congress, requiring all news to be accurate in its reporting, whether it’s from the left or right, and then…. see which side rises up crying against it the most… I wonder which side that would be?

The downward trend makes sense if you think about it… It actually happens here on blogs as well.

If you have any assembly gathered together for discussion, and someone takes a big dump right in the middle of the floor, whenever it is that the assembly is finished, to the outside observers, everyone exiting the room through the door, still carries the sweet aroma of shit on their clothes… Allowing one person to falsify information, opens the door for all to….

We need a similar law. Not right, not left, just truth.