The
Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, that required the holders of
broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the Commission's view—honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the Doctrine in 1987, and in August 2011 the FCC formally removed the language that implemented the Doctrine.