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  1. Dec 2022
    1. So it's the fifties and sixties, the stations, they're cutting the NBC coverage of the civil rights movement and it's not just, you know, morally dubious, it's actually against the policies of the FCC. Exactly, right. So civil rights activists decided to put that to the test and they ended up challenging Wlbt? S license for repeatedly denying them airtime. At first, the FCC dismissed the case, but then the activists sued the FCC and they won. And eventually, years later, a federal court decided that Wlbt could stay on the air, but their license would be transferred to a nonprofit, multiracial group of broadcasters.

      Enforcement of the FCC Fairness Doctrine

      The case was decided at the D.C. Circuit court level with the future Justice Warren Berger writing the opinion. The opinion forced action at the FCC.

      Office of Commun., United Ch., Christ v. FCC. 425 F.2d 543 (D.C. Cir. 1969). (see https://casetext.com/case/office-of-commun-united-ch-christ-v-fcc)