Having laid the necessary historical predicate we can turn our attention to the law of the fairness doctrine.

[473 F.2d 42]

The need for radio regulation has not seriously been questioned in over fifty years. As much as our historical study shows a need for this regulation, there has been a concomitant need for a fairness doctrine. America has turned away from its town meeting and processes of rural decision making. This is the electronic age-an age in which communications systems relay information to an eager public in fractions of milliseconds. Information has become the stock and trade of our informed public. So too has our method of getting information changed in the last half century. We are shifting our emphasis from the printed media to the electronic media. Radio and television consume massive portions of America's time. Because of this we must assume that the public be given access to varied information so that they may remain an intelligent and viable group-free to choose from the options available to them- free to make a choice.

In a recent appearance before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Nicholas Johnson, a Commissioner of the F.C.C., expressed the need of the American people for which the Commission has undertaken to provide. This parable states the problems involved so succinctly that we reprint it in full:
 

Once upon a time there was a nation great in ideals and industrialization. It had businesses everywhere -- and unsurpassed military might. Yet its greatest strength lay in its ideological foundation. This nation professed to be governed by the consent of its citizens. To ensure the successful functioning of this unique experiment in government, free education, libraries and full information were provided to all, so that this nation's two-hundred million governors, through wide-open debate, might govern themselves wisely. But as the years slipped by, the people spent more and more of their time in their air conditioned homes watching television, and less and less time listening to speakers in the public parks, attending town meetings, and reading handbills on the streets. Meanwhile, the number and importance of crucial issues were growing, and the need for well informed governors became paramount. Thus it was the great debate about the great debate began.

Everyone had his own theory of how to reverse this trend and return the democratic dialogue to the people, who were all at home watching their television sets. Some advocated letters, petitions, press conferences and picketing, but they had little success. Attention shifted to those who advocated bombing, burning, shooting and looting, because before and after the televising of such activities it was usually possible to present a short message, however distorted, concerning the merits of the controversy that generated such outrageous conduct. Then a third group came along. It said, "Let us simply go to the broadcasters peacefully, ask them for the time to present our concerns -- we will even pay them." But the broadcasters politely explained that there was no time available for the discussion of public issues -- such as war, life and politics-because the time all had to be used for programs and announcements necessary to the very difficult but essential task of inducing consumers to buy useless, joyless, and sometimes harmful products. Yet these patient and patriotic students, businessmen, and Senators were not deterred. They continued to preach the doctrine of "working within the system." "The Government," they said, "will treat us fairly. There is reason and justice in our land. Surely a democratic people need not be violent to be heard."

And so it was that they came to the Federal Communications Commission . . . .  [FN118]