Letters to the Editor: Bring back the Fairness Doctrine to save American democracy

To the editor: Another factor leading to our current state of hyper-polarization and the Republican Party's radicalism was the removal of the Fairness Doctrine back in 1987. ("He warned democracy was in peril. And that was before the Capitol riot," column, July 29)

At least in the public airwaves, ideas need to be aired, and bogus claims and blatant falsehoods should be picked apart. The lack of opposing voices grounded in reality has allowed all kinds of extremist elements to flourish, with the consequences that we see right now.

It's hard to imagine how a democracy can survive without a public forum where some kind of consensus can be reached, facts can be established and lies are exposed. That's what the Fairness Doctrine gave us.

We need that again. We need to go back to the Fairness Doctrine.

Paul Ryan, Brea

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To the editor: One of the people interviewed by columnist Mark Barabak said, "One-party rule is autocratic rule."

Well, then, we can honestly say that California's government is autocratic. We can also say, based on the comments in Barabak's column, that complete Democratic control of Sacramento is not good for California.

Can we please see some columns on this?

Chris Richgels, Long Beach

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.