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July 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Duty to save gullible from themselves?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Islamists have the West just where they want us

JWisdom:: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 3: The Fully Loaded Human Being by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

JWisdom:: The Moses Method by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review July 26, 2007 / 11 Menachem-Av 5767

New media make old rules covering fairness obsolete

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Like witch doctors conjuring up zombies in a bad B-movie, certain members of Congress are trying to bring the Fairness Doctrine back from the grave. Forget it, folks. Changing times already have put a stake through its heart.


I don't say that as an enemy of fairness or balance. I say it as a realist and a former broadcast-industry insider who has seen media and political giants humbled by the new media.


My education began when I ran the community affairs department at a CBS-owned TV station in Chicago for two years in the early 1980s. The three big networks were losing alarming chunks of their audience to new time-devouring innovations as varied as video games, cable TV networks and 24-kilobyte personal computers.


The good news for broadcasters was that government deregulation, which began under President Jimmy Carter (before President Ronald Reagan expanded it), was beginning to take hold. The Fairness Doctrine, a Federal Communications Commission policy, required broadcasters to air contrasting views on controversial issues. The balance didn't have to be anywhere near 50-50, but stations had to make an effort.


In 1987, the FCC decided that the policy actually had the effect of frightening broadcasters away from taking on controversy. With the emergence of media alternatives like cable television, the doctrine was no longer needed, the FCC decided. No problem. Major broadcasters valued their licenses too highly to risk upsetting their local audience.


In fact, network TV would broadcast controversial guests and topics, as long as we aired them during late-night "public-affairs time" and on the weekends.


That was then. The explosion of political talk radio and cable TV turned upsetting the public into a highly profitable enterprise. By the mid-1990s, George Orwell's "Two Minutes Hate," in which people yelled at TV screens in his novel "1984," seemed to come to life in a 24/7 festival of talk-media outrage.


Meanwhile, the public-affairs time we once cherished on the local stations has been gobbled up one half-hour at a time by infomercials for tummy tucks, golden-oldie rock CDs and retirement homes in Florida.


Now, for the first time since a failed congressional attempt in 1993, the Fairness Doctrine is receiving a new, if feeble, chance to return from the grave.


Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who is running for president, wants to hold hearings to revive the policy. Media consolidation has made it harder for some voices to be heard, he said. Besides, with Democrats back in power in the House, he'd like Democrats to try to restore the doctrine simply because they can. Maybe.


Conservative talk radio hosts, eager to talk about their oppression, cried foul. A measure by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a former radio talk show host, to block the FCC from reviving the doctrine passed 309 to 115 with strong Republican support in June.


But, support for the doctrine came from a less liberal corner when the Senate's immigration bill died under a lava flow of opposition that was inflamed by right-wing radio. "Talk radio is running America," true-right Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi fumed to The New York Times. "We have to deal with the problem."


That's gratitude for you. I don't remember Lott complaining about reining in those talk radio folks when they were on his side.


Support for the Fairness Doctrine has come from Democrats such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois and John Kerry of Massachusetts. I don't know why they bother, unless they hope to make media giants such as Rupert Murdoch tremble a little.


In fact, the alleged virtues and evils of the Fairness Doctrine have been greatly exaggerated.


Liberals and progressives should be pleased that even the giant megaphone of conservative talk radio could not save Republicans from the thumping that voters gave them at the polls last November. But it also could never guarantee that people are going to listen to your point of view, no matter how often you offer it.


The survival of our democracy ironically requires tolerance not only for your smart adversaries but also for the willfully ignorant. Whether there's a Fairness Doctrine or not, some people will choose to stick with only one point of view, promoted by their favorite gasbag and uninterrupted by any challenges to their cherished prejudices. You can lead people to facts but you can't make them think.

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