What was going on when I was born?

The Federal Communications Commission said today that the Fairness Doctrine no longer serves the public interest. It said, however, that it would continue to enforce the rule, which requires broadcasters to cover important community issues and present balanced reporting and differing views where there is controversy. The regulatory panel labeled the policy constitutionally ''suspect'' and said it ''chills and coerces speech'' and inhibits coverage of major issues. The unanimous position of the five-member panel, following two days of public hearings last spring, is certain to heighten debate in Congress over the merits of retaining the rule and could figure in future court tests of the policy, according to commission staff officials.

The following dispatch is based on reporting by Joel Brinkley and Shirley Christian and was written by Mr. Brinkley. Rebels fighting to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government have been receiving direct military advice from White House officials on the National Security Council, senior Administration officials and members of Congress have disclosed. A senior Adminisitation official said the direction had included advice and ''tactical influence'' on the rebels' military operations as well as help in raising money from private sources. The officials and lawmakers said the direct White House involvement in the rebels' operations against Nicaragua began last year after Congress ended United States military aid to the rebels. Congress has since agreed to send the rebels $27 million in nonmilitary assistance.

A dispatch from Boston on Tuesday about a libel suit by John R. Lakian against The Boston Globe, and another yesterday, inaccurately described the jury's findings. The Tuesday dispatch said the jury had found libel in five paragraphs of the Globe article.

Three years ago, the Ford Motor Company was rejecting and returning nearly 9 percent of the steel it purchased from suppliers because of surface defects or faulty chemistry. Now, the rate has been reduced to less than 2 percent. Ford has also forced its suppliers to reduce delinquent deliveries of steel to less than 3 percent today, from 20 percent in August 1983. On a crash program to close the ''quality gap'' with their foreign counterparts, particularly the Japanese, Ford and other domestic automobile manufacturers have been pressuring American steel manufacturers to improve their performance.

The Market Place column in Business Day on Tuesday incorrectly described a merger between Internorth and Houston Natural Gas. Internorth, not Houston Natural Gas, was the acquiring company.

For the second time in as many days, Carl C. Icahn disclosed yesterday that he and his group of investors have increased their stake in Trans World Airlines, increasing the likelihood that he will be able to gain control of the airline. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Ichan said his group had raised its holding to 45.5 percent, or 15.6 million shares, from 40.6 percent reported Tuesday. Analysts and sources close to T.W.A. predicted that it was now only a matter of time before Mr. Icahn and his investors won the fight for the carrier, the largest in the North Atlantic. The airline has already accepted a $23-a-share bid from Frank A. Lorenzo, the president of the Texas Air Corporation. However, that offer is strongly opposed by T.W.A.'s unions, which have offered Mr. Icahn important concessions to help him counter it. T.W.A. had earlier rejected an $18-a-share offer from Mr. Icahn, but Monday he made a sweetened bid of $24 a share that analysts said T.W.A.'s board would have a hard time ignoring. T.W.A. stock closed yesterday at $21.75, down 37.5 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

A Federal judge yesterday barred construction of the Westway project, continuing his three-year-old injunction and once again casting doubt on whether the project can ever be built. The decision, issued by Judge Thomas P. Griesa in District Court in Manhattan, said a landfill permit for Westway granted Feb. 25 by the Army Corps of Engineers had been improper. In scathing terms, Judge Griesa criticized the corps in his 132-page decision, which was foreshadowed by his criticism in the recent trial of the dispute. He said he was now permanently blocking the landfill permit, Federal financing and construction of Westway.

UNTEMPERED wind, relentless sun and sandy soil are not assets when it comes to the garden. Yet, on Long Island's easternmost edge these conditions are the norm. Dotting the wild meadows, tucked amid potato fields or dug in behind the dunes, there are seaside gardeners who manage to succeed. A few toil on weekends, while others are in residence all year long. Nature's challenge has been met by most with flexibility - and a series of trials and errors. ''The worst mistake is to attempt to plant too much - then it becomes a chore,'' said Lee Bailey, speaking from over 20 years of shoreside gardening in Bridgehampton. Mr. Bailey's interests are many; he runs the home accessories department that bears his name at Henri Bendel in New York and is author of the recently published gardening book ''Country Flowers.'' Its pictures indicate that he does indeed practice what he preaches.

The investment banking firm L. F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin announced yesterday that it had rejected a takeover bid made last week by General Felt Industries, the company used as an investment vehicle by Marshall S. Cogan and Stephen C. Swid. Despite the rejection, which appears to end the possibility of a takeover, the offer was a catalyst for two significant moves at L. F. Rothschild: a management change, and efforts expected soon to raise fresh capital, perhaps through a public offering of stock. The latter decision is believed to have been an important factor in the decision by the investment bank's largest shareholder, J. Rothschild Holdings of London, with 50 percent, to vote against the General Felt offer. J. Rothschild, an investment company, was said by a source close to the company to have grown concerned last year over the volatility of L.F. Rothschild's earnings, and had wanted some ready means to change its stake if necessary. Bid to Remain Independent ''The management committee decided unanimously that it wanted to remain an independent firm. That was the guts of our decision,'' said Francois J. P. Mayer, a senior managing director at L. F. Rothschild, whose strength is in underwriting and dealing in the shares of emerging high technology companies.

''The attitude that regards entanglement with religion as something akin to entanglement with an infectious disease must be confronted broadly and directly.'' - Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, criticizing a Supreme Court ruling limiting public aid to parochial schools. [A18:4.]

The Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, which pioneered generic, no-name cigarettes in an industry built on advertising and brand names, is finding it tough to defend that niche. Generics, it is discovering, can be a marketing no-man's-land. Liggett, America's sixth-largest tobacco company and a unit of Grand Metropolitan P.L.C., the British conglomerate, has lost a huge contract to manufacture generic cigarettes. The contract, which was taken over by Brown & Williamson, the third-largest tobacco company, represents about 1 percent of the total United States cigarette market and about 20 percent of the generic market, or about $250 million in sales at retail, according to industry sources.

International Nicaraguan rebels have been getting direct military advice from White House officials on the National Security Council, according to senior Administration officials and members of Congress. [Page A1, Col.] Nicaraguan rebels reportedly seized 29 American peace activists and 18 journalists accompanying them. Spokesman for the American organization, Witness for Peace, said most of the kidnapped Americans were from New York State. [A8:1-2.]