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Judge Orders NBC to Include Kucinich |
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Tuesday, 15 January 2008 |
I'm torn. On the face of it, the property rights argument used at Outside the Beltway is quite convincing, but it assumes a perfect market. Instead, media is a heavily regulated industry with many artificial barriers to entry. If television wasn't limited by legal regulation to begin with, I'd say let the owners decide, no question.
But the government creates artificial scarcity by keeping most broadcast frequencies off the market. Of course, this leads to 47 U.S.C. Section 315: "To operate in the public interest and give reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public interest."
Now, when a network like NBC comes along who is heavily reliant on
federal subsidies (ahem, MY tax dollars, MY private property fund this
company) and the only candidates who talk about cutting that
NON-capitalist funding supply is excluded...
Well, I want my property rights too. If GE can soak my taxes for
rockets, jet parts, for-profit medical equipment, and fake
environmentalism, then why should I feel bad about "limiting their
property rights." NBC has no problem using the government to interfere with your property rights, so is there any way to fight back without stooping to that level?
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
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