Fox News isn't even pretending anymore

// added October 15, 2009 // 78 comments //
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WakeUpPeople

more from News:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/15/fox_news/

In theory, the national news media function in a free market of ideas: a self-regulating, relentless quest for what the old Superman comics called “Truth, Justice, and the American way.” (Actually, Clark Kent’s newspaper-reporter disguise strikes contemporary audiences as a sentimental anachronism. Today, he’d be a rogue cop or a CIA operative.)

In practice, Washington political journalism has become a subdivision of the entertainment industry: its best-known practitioners are second- and third-tier TV stars, and news itself a form of politicized “infotainment.” Even lowly print reporters and pundits can greatly improve their incomes by appearing on programs like “Hardball” and copping an attitude.

Chasing audiences and advertising dollars, corporate media seek to tell target demographics the kinds of stories those audiences want to hear. Nobody who watched CNN cover Michael Jackson’s death 24/7, for example, could imagine otherwise. For weeks at a time, only BBC America provided a halfway reliable window on the outside world — a hell of a note.

The boldest innovator, however, has been Fox News. Since President Obama’s election, the cable news channel has dropped all but the barest pretense of objectivity. Billing itself as “fair and balanced,” Fox has turned itself into what White House communications director Anita Dunn recently called “the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.”

Actually, that’s an extremely polite way of putting it. It’s closer to Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth.” Fox openly promotes “Tea Parties” and other political demonstrations; it portrays every perceived White House defeat, such as Chicago’s failure to secure the 2016 Olympic Games, as a victory for something called “Fox Nation.”

“Obama Triples Budget Deficit to $1.4 Trillion,” reads a typical headline on the Fox Web site. In reality, the Congressional Budget Office projected the fiscal 2009 deficit at $1.2 trillion before Obama took office. Media Matters for America has compiled an encyclopedic list of similar absurdities.

According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, “72 percent of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79 percent of them say it will lead to a government takeover, 69 percent think that it will use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75 percent believe that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly.”

Almost needless to say, all of these things are categorically false. The “death panels” falsehood, for example, was invented by serial misinformer Betsy McCaughey (financed by the right-wing Manhattan Institute with money from tobacco giant Philip Morris), amplified by Sarah Palin, and then broadcast day and night by Fox News. And so it goes, day after day.

Appearing on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” the White House’s Dunn made it clear that the Obama administration intends to deal with the network as a political enemy. “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” she subsequently told The New York Times. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”

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  1. groups:
    News,   Current Tonight,   Progressive America,   Current Democrats,   3 more
  2. tags:
    News and Politics,  US News,  Mainstream Media,  Misinformation,  1 more

78 comments // Fox News isn't even pretending anymore

  • Birdmanbob4
    • 0
      Birdmanbob4  

    • Lets see tomic Al gore is he that Guy who invented the term "Global Warming"? then it didn't get warmer..... so they said what the fuck....let's change the name to Climate Change! ..Then no matter what the temp is that way we will say we were right lol

    • 5 months ago
  • Birdmanbob4
  • hunzedog
    • 0
      hunzedog  

    • yay fox, nobody else tells us sh!t ! boo fox, they never talk about weed. its been 10 months ! what the fu)k has BO done for us lately.......i swear i think some of you work for BO ! do ya ?

    • 5 months ago
  • JohnA
  • tommic
  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  

    • You know what is interesting? That so many right wing people are attracted to a web site that was founded and backed partially by Al Gore. For what other reason would right wing people want to contribute to the discourse of a bunch of liberal progressives other than trying to disrupt the discussion with the same BS that they love to watch on FOX news. They are the same people who read the New York Post and the Boston Hereld and the Washington times, oh yea they like to look at pictures and read captions thinking thats news.

      tommic

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • Birdmanbob4
    • 0
      Birdmanbob4  

    • Well it seems that Anita Dunn who came out this week to say the Obama admin. is at war with Fox News the only station remaining witch has the balls to tell the truth. And stand for American Values "anti commibastards" Anita it seems has been speeking to a room full of high School students just this spring! And guess who it is that she holds up as the person in history as the one she loves to quote the most...I will give you a hint he is responsable in this Century for Killing 50-70 Million of his own people...This is what happens when you elect a Man who has a Terrorest pen his own book ...Thats right Bill Ayres wrote Dreams and is the one who is running Obama time to kick all the commie Bastards out! Go Glen Beck tell it like it is !

    • 5 months ago
  • Prijedor
    • 0
      Prijedor  

    • at least fox news has balls, they stand taller then any other station because they believe in it, and they do as they stay, (40) of them take on (60) + the king him self, and republicans still dont let shit pass by, are they a stronger unit...

    • 5 months ago
  • mrop
  • akamaial
    • 0
      akamaial [removed]  

    • It galls the crap out'a the leftist media that their attempts at silencing fox news meets with a group from fox with the cajones to peg'em (demoncrats) for the hypocrites they really are.

    • 5 months ago
  • Zurama
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • Zurama:

      No you're not, you're purposefully distracting. That's called a red herring.

      China's got the biggest population, does that make it an awesome country?

      More teens read Twilight than any other book, does that make it good?

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • Zurama:

      Zurama,

      Thanks for making that point. FOX is number one in CABLE news but ABC, CBS, and NBC still have more news viewers than any single FOX show. However, more people watch news on FOX than any other station.

    • 5 months ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • Nope, as usual, bunch of shit birdman,

      He doesn't even show a clip of her saying anything. he just asserts it and then vomits on for another 20 minutes.

      God, Beck is like literally the reincarnation of Joseph Goebells.

      Watch out! The commies are trying to pervert your precious bodily fluids.

      The right really is out to destroy this country, they're chasing specters for christ's sake.

      Edit : I actually feel physically sick after watching that man, there is not yet a word invented that adequately describes the atrocity that he does to the truth every night.

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • Birdmanbob4
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • Birdmanbob4:

      She needs to be held accountable for her spewing. She is the one leading the White House charge against FOX when she herself is an avowed Maoist. At least she doesn't hide like some of the other appointees.

    • 5 months ago
  • GammySparkles
  • freecrack
  • GammySparkles
  • mrop
    • 0
      mrop  

    • Most TV news is so badly done, these days, it's not worth watching. Even CNN, which can take a zit on some Senators nose and turn it into a "major news story" and have Wolfe go on about it until you want to just jump off a bridge. I don't bother to watch TV news anymore. I read the NY Times on-line, go over Current blogs once a week or so, maybe the Washington Post on-line for a balance.

    • 5 months ago
  • PsychoAlan
  • tangibleparadox
  • Darevalo
    • 0
      Darevalo  
    • PsychoAlan:

      nope, im there with you, but fox i think is the bottom of the barrle.

      i like so many others lost faith in news and now do my scavenging on the internets.

      i still watch local news on tv in the mornings though, they don't put out a blatantly bias view from what i have seen... but i still avoid my local fox news, just because.

    • 5 months ago
  • Saladin
  • metalcookiesxy70
    • 0
      metalcookiesxy70  

    • YOU really think Current is Liberal???

      That has got to be most blind-sided about Current.com...

      Why does your account even exist, if you are going to go that far??

    • 5 months ago
  • clayjj05
  • metalcookiesxy70
  • Saladin
  • samthesixth
  • metalcookiesxy70
  • metalcookiesxy70
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • metalcookiesxy70:

      Is their diversity of political thought amongst the staff? I am sure they would say yes. Like most media, they are left leaning. I don't have a problem with it, I just don't pretend it is otherwise. Current is about as fair and balanced as FOX.

    • 5 months ago
  • clayjj05
    • clayjj05 [removed]  
    • This comment is in violation of Current's Community Guidelines and has been removed.
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • clayjj05:

      Errr not really.

      They say stupid inane shit too, but usually it has some factual basis.

      Maddow and Olbermann may be annoying pundits, but that's where the similarities end when compared with Beck, Hannity and O'Reilly.

      Furthermore, Maddow has the balls to criticize her own president. Roll out some O'Reilly or Hannity clips that do that.

      Seriously, find me one thing that Olbermann says that is even as close to as insane as something Beck puts out every night.

      And you know that too, don't play the partisan equivalence game.

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • clayjj05:

      Actually Hannity slammed Bush on several occasions--UAE taking over our ports, expanded prescription coverage for seniors, amnesty for illegals, unwillingness to win the war in Iraq.......

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
  • NumLock
    • NumLock [removed]  
    • This comment is in violation of Current's Community Guidelines and has been removed.
  • extracrazykiwi2008
  • GammySparkles
  • WakeUpPeople
  • ProjectBat
  • tangibleparadox
  • Darevalo
  • mrop
  • WakeUpPeople
  • ProjectBat
  • Saladin
  • ProjectBat
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • ProjectBat:

      Yeah, this community is undoubtedly left-leaning. But that's what people here like to talk about.

      But have you seen how much libertarian and marijuana related shit gets posted here? It's outta control.

      Point being, blaming current is a pretty poor excuse. It's also a red herring to this topic.

    • 5 months ago
  • ProjectBat
  • larrysnotes
  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  

    • Perpetuate the myths, Extol the lies, and decieve the people as to what the truth really is. If thats a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced I am Thomas Jefferson. Fox has no credibility, CNN has some credibility and the BBC is the best when it comes to honest news without pretense or favortism.

      tommic

    • 5 months ago
  • hpseaton
  • hayden_augustus
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • Fox basically stopped pretending when they got rid of Colmes (sp?) They dropped the Fair and Balanced slogan too, I believe.

      Pretty much since 2005, they've been unapologetically the equivalent of Soviet news media for the right-wing.

      Their actors will get on tv and spout outright falsehoods as truths, misrepresent opinion as fact, openly lie about the nature of public opinion, linguistically frame debates in a manner such that only their viewpoint makes sense, encourage logical fallacies and fear-mongering as an ethical form of persuasion and otherwise mystify the public into believing things not on a factual basis but an emotional one, appealing to the basest human emotions to create an artificial victimized conservative zeitgeist.

      And they do all this with the full knowledge that they're a bunch of lying cunts, but they do it anyway because the right hasn't cared about the truth since Dick Nixon. They'll believe their own lies if they have to, and they frequently do.

    • 5 months ago
  • akamaial
  • samthesixth
  • WakeUpPeople
    • 0
      WakeUpPeople  
    • samthesixth:

      "...the cable news channel has dropped all but the barest pretense of objectivity."

      They were, up until recently, pretending to have objectivity. They have now radicalized, and no longer care for that title, so they have stopped pretending. I believe that is the logic for the title.

    • 5 months ago
  • GoodGodGuy
    • 0
      GoodGodGuy  

    • WHAT? MSNBC left? Wow I don't know if you watch Faux too much or what but the most left leaning news that airs is CSPAN. That is because it shows the truth.

    • 5 months ago
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  
    • GoodGodGuy:

      lol are you talking to me? I really don't think you read my comment very carefully. After what I just said, it is ridiculous for anyone to think I watch Fox news too much. MSNBC does lean left, but they are not a propaganda machine like Fox. Fox is a friggen joke. I am calling out Fox, not MSNBC. I find MSNBC doesn't cover everything they should (and they shouldn't have covered things like Michael Jackson's death so extensively), but what they do cover is accurate. I am far left / progressive in case you didn't realize.

    • 5 months ago
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  

    • Sure, most media outlets put a spin on things, but Fox news stands alone. It's not like, for example Fox spins it to jive with the right, and MSNBC spins it to jive with the left, and the truth is somewhere in the middle.

      Fox "news" outright lies to people. They are robbing people of their ability to make rational choices based on facts. In other words, they are outright denying people a functional democracy, because the morons they fool tend to vote against their own best interest, and instead in the interest of the corporate overlords who have way too much influence in our government as it is. That is Fox "news" main function: To fool people into supporting corporate interests instead of their own best interest.

      Fox is propaganda. That's all it is. People who don't know this are damned fools and I feel very sorry for them, but also for the rest of us who have to suffer because of their stupidity.

    • 5 months ago
  • Atalanda_Cameron
  • GammySparkles
    • 0
      GammySparkles  
    • noxidereus:

      Oh , and cap and trade bill will not super pump up Mr. Gore and GE, and healthcare Baucus bill won't pump up the unions? Right, you would not know fair and balanced if it hit you in the head! Sorry to surprise you.

    • 5 months ago
  • freecrack
  • hpseaton
  • AndrewH13
    • 0
      AndrewH13  

    • I've said it before and I'll say it again.

      I don't think its the overabundance of information that is desensitizing America, its that it has all become so spun (in both directions) that you can't trust anything.

      Example: A close friend of mine and I frequently discuss political ideas. But now the first point that's always made is "What network/website did you get that info?". It sucks.

    • 5 months ago
  • hpseaton
    • 0
      hpseaton  
    • AndrewH13:

      Yes, that is very true. When someone wants to argue a point they'll say 'oh well I don't trust that network anyway.' I suppose it is ironic that Fox is part of the onslaught of relativity in the news market!

    • 5 months ago
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  
    • AndrewH13:

      It sucks but at the same time, it is very good that you check your sources. As this article explains, Fox clearly is an utterly unreliable source. There's just no point in having a discussion with someone who relies on Fox. Keep up the good work!

    • 5 months ago
  • tangibleparadox
    • 0
      tangibleparadox  
    • AndrewH13:

      indeed. i've mentioned something i've been reading up on to friends and have had to say "well this one site says A, this other says B, and another says C, so i don't know what the actual numbers say, but there seems to be a consensus of Q."

    • 5 months ago
  • AndrewH13
  • Darevalo
    • 0
      Darevalo  
    • AndrewH13:

      funny story.
      in my debate class when someone cited an article from fox news to defend there point on Guantanamo bay... the entire class, including my teacher booed.

      the presenter followed up with,"yeah, but there the only ones that defended our side of the argument" the whole class laughed, including the presenter and the debate continued.

      not many college students at my school take fox any kind of serious... more often than not my friends will tell me about funny things on fox, referring too it in the same way you would talk about a comedy program.

    • 5 months ago
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • AndrewH13:

      Too many people hide behind "what is your source" and become brain dead upon hearing the answer. Truth can come from the most repugnant places. There are nuggets of truth in most reporting. Try this, read the opposition and pretend that you don't hate them. Perhaps you will see something in their belief that you agree with. From there we can build bridges of commonality.

    • 5 months ago
  • freecrack
  • MrMaven
    • 0
      MrMaven  
    • freecrack:

      The medium is the message. Where we hear something should prompt questions about whether or not it's credible. Fox for example is a great place to see a sly agenda being force fed to stupid Americans.

    • 5 months ago
  • CalgarC
  • noxidereus
  • animalia_libero
  • hpseaton
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • CalgarC:

      It shouldn't surprise you.

      To Fox, the word "left" and "liberal" are really synonymous with "other crazy motherfuckers."

      They'll call anything they don't like liberal or left. Even people who are undeniably right-wing.

    • 5 months ago
  • Darevalo
  • DeutschFan
  • artemis6
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