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08:05 PM - DoD Radio - Fair & Balanced? Evidently, the Daily Oklahoman and the Daily Kos are two of the only major news outlets to cover yesterday’s debate in the Senate between Inhofe and Harkin regarding the allegedly (un)fair and (im)balanced nature of the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). As a result of an alleged right-wing programming bias in the AFRTS, Senator Harkin proposed an amendment to ensure that the network's political programming be "fair and balanced" and mandate that the DoD select an "independent ombudsman" to make recommendations and reports to Congress. Senator Inhofe, by contrast, put forth an amendment to allow the DoD to hire an ombudsman to monitor programming without mandating any action. Given the partisan nature of this debate, I’ll leave it to the reader to surmise the outcome. What disturbs me most about this debate is that both sides appealed to government action and policy to solve the problem, and neither seemed to hit upon the idea of polling the troops and adjusting programming accordingly. I know that the AFRTS cannot operate as a free-market station, but they could at least make an attempt at ratings-driven programming. Is it so much to ask that we tailor the troops’ news and entertainment to conform to the wishes of the troops? U.S. Senate (
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