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A Senate committee voted 14 to 4 Tuesday to approve a bill making the Fairness Doctrine, which requires broadcast news programs to cover all sides of a controversial issue, a federal law. The doctrine, which is opposed by the Federal Communications Commission and a number of U.S. senators, is now headed for the Senate floor, where Sen. Robert Packwood (R-Ore.) has promised a fight over approval of the measure. The FCC said in a 1985 report that the doctrine is unnecessary and probably unconstitutional, while Packwood contends the doctrine placed broadcast journalists on an unfair footing vis-a-vis their print counterparts.
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