The good guys, the bad guys, and the first amendment: Free speech vs. fairness in broadcasting [Hardcover]

Fred W Friendly (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394497252
• ISBN-13: 978-0394497259
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,084,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here Comes the Fairness Doctrine Again, June 25, 2007

By 

Merrill Guice "marvelgoose" (Valdosta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The good guys, the bad guys, and the first amendment: Free speech vs. fairness in broadcasting (Hardcover)

The latest hyperventilation in Washington is the return of the Fairness Doctrine to introduce more "fairness" into conservative talk radio. Fred Friendly's book is the definitive study of the effects of the fairness doctrine back in the days of limited media outlets.

In case study after case study, Friendly follows the rule from its inception and covers all the major court cases. The book is conversational, never boring, and will probably be cited by both sides in the debates that are happening now.

While the book shows how the rule has been used to stifle blowhards, dangerous demogogues, and raging Mississippi bigots: it also stifled debate, free speech, and limited the marketplace of ideas.

Friendly's book ended before the rule was killed by Executive Order in the Reagan years (1988).