Thursday, May 31, 2012
Fox News decides to end the facade and essentially creates a four and a half minute anti-Obama infomercial. Update!
Courtesy of Media Matters:
But while the video could be mistaken for a campaign ad on behalf of GOP candidate Mitt Romney, it wasn't. It was a segment produced by a show on a network that bills itself as "fair and balanced." The network has continued to push the limits of its outright promotion of conservative politicians and policies, and Fox & Friends has been at the forefront. The show regularly acts as the communications arm of the GOP, attacking Democrats, promoting Republicans, and broadcasting GOP talking points, sometimes word for word. Co-host Gretchen Carlson has repeatedly advised GOP candidates how to promote their ideas in order to defeat their Democrat opponents.
Fox devoted 4,644 minutes of free airtime over eight months to the GOP presidential candidates during the Republican primary, a situation that led New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley to note: "All the networks, broadcast and cable, are closely covering the campaign, but Fox News practically owns and operates it." Former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller recently wrote that "the Fox News Primary probably did more to nominate Mitt Romney than New Hampshire or Michigan." Fox's regular violations of journalistic ethics led Keller to conclude that Fox is "[Rupert] Murdoch's most toxic legacy."
Personally I think it should be the policy over at every other REAL news outlet to refuse to include Fox News interviews in their broadcasts, and to refer to them from now on as a Right Wing entertainment network and opinion outlet for the GOP.
Calling them "news" just cheapens the word in my opinion.
Update: It appears that Fox News realizes they stepped over the line and are blaming an "associate producer" for the entire debacle.
I'm sorry, since when do "associate producers" create entire segments, and get them on the air without any editorial control from their higher ups? And especially at FOX NEWS?
Does anybody else smell bullshit?
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I expect Stewart and Colbert to cover this tonight.
ReplyDeleteJon Stewart fileted Roger Ailes on his return after a two-week hiatus this week, following up to the Ailes' story that Jon "told me he was a Communist" in a bar.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/jon-stewart-drops-ten-ton-mega-bomb-roger-ailes-fox-news.html
Stewart "re-enacts" the bar scene and Roger tells him: "oh, Jon did I ever tell you that I, Roger Ailes plan to undermine the role of independent press by constantly whining that any reportage that deviates from a staunch conservative narrative is biased, while at the same time, filling the editorial vacuum that that creates by building a conservative propaganda juggernaut in the guise of a news organization, and then he said to me, he goes Jon, I’m going to call the organization Fox News and its tagline will be you’re going to love this, a fanatically micromanaged media fiefdom where my own far right agenda and personal sense of victim hood drive every aspect of the operation, and balanced.”
Is tomorrow "Ask Me Anything" Friday?
ReplyDeleteJon did I ever tell you that I, Roger Ailes plan to undermine the role of independent press by constantly whining that any reportage that deviates from a staunch conservative narrative is biased, while at the same time, filling the editorial vacuum that that creates by building a conservative propaganda juggernaut in the guise of a news organization, and then he said to me, he goes Jon, I’m going to call the organization Fox News and its tagline will be you’re going to love this, a fanatically micromanaged media fiefdom where my own far right agenda and personal sense of victim hood drive every aspect of the operation, and balanced.”
ReplyDeleteI lost all respect for anyone who watches Fox long ago. Unfortunately, there is a lazy segment of citizenry that believe anything told to them when a little research on the Internet would tell them all they need to know.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you, Gryphen!
Some enterprising progressive should 'produce' a piece with clips of Republicans running for office in 2008, promising "Jobs Jobs Jobs. " Then clips of Boehner and McConnell admitting the real agenda, and clips of the GOP blocking every jobs bill, while whining for more cuts. And let's not forget all the bills aimed at women's rights. I think there is gold there.
ReplyDeleteWash. Post's Wemple: Fox Exec's Response To Attack Ad "Raises Many Other" Questions
ReplyDeleteWemple writes:
1) Are we supposed to believe that the producer was working on his own? The video itself reflects an enormous amount of splicing and searching and cutting and producing, a fact noted by one of the "Fox & Friends" co-anchors this morning. Oh, and it's about the president of the United States. Such an effort got around the suits?
There's another point related to the video's raw ambition. Would a producer really sink hours and hours of tedium into a package of this sort under the notion that it would displease his bosses? Or would he undertake such a heave only if he thought it would send them into fits of Foxical joy?
2) So the senior executive level never "authorized" the video. Does that mean they never viewed it? And what would they have done if they had engaged more thoroughly with the thing? Would they have killed it or just asked the producer to stick a couple of pro-Obama snippets in there for "balance"?
3) What's the interpretation of Fox News's claim to have addressed the matter "with the show's producers." How do you address what gave rise to this video? Hey guys, next time let's disguise our intentions a little better.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201205310003
Fox Execs Dodge Responsibility For Network's Anti-Obama Attack Ad
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201205300020
Debunking Fox & Friends' Dishonest Anti-Obama Attack Ad
http://mediamatters.org/research/201205300004
Fox & Friends Stays Silent About Its Anti-Obama Attack Ad Amid Criticism
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201205310005
Doesn't legal usually have to sign off on things?
DeleteFox Lite, aka CNN made a really STUPID move and their viewers are letting them know it:
ReplyDeleteCNN Moves To The Right and Loses 52% of Its Viewers
http://www.politicususa.com/cnn-moves-right-loses-viewers.html
I am just sick at how my country has more and more been taken over by hate, greed and lies. I am 73 years old and can no longer listen or watch the "news". It seems that more and more of our country has been enticed into a great black hole that the majority will never be able to escape from. Like the boys in "Pinocchio " who are enticed by food and entertainment and are turned into working burros for the "masters". I am ashamed at how gullible people are. I am also very worried for the future of our country if this evil trend continues and "wins". Hope will be lost then.
ReplyDeleteA former governor of Michigan just had his name given to one of the state's universities' charter education programs. He should have to choke on it. His tax policies have hobbled public education in this state for the past fifteen years or so. He's still all for charter schools: education needs "competition and choice." No, education needs teachers and books and a healthy learning environment.
DeleteI, too, often despair of what this country has been becoming. Mostly I wonder why Republicans dislike their children and their grandchildren so much that they want to dismantle public education, ignore global warming, and undo our Constitution.
Beaglemom
So tell us oh wise Sarah Palin, describe what exactly Socialism means. What are Obama's "Failed Socialist Policies?" Give an example. In the great history of his presidency, one example, not to belabor the point, can you site one policy?
ReplyDeleteI'd like $arah to tell us the difference between socialism, communism and fascism since the right uses those terms so often.
DeletePalin would just ask her writers to write the answer for her. Lets interview her so we can ask questions to find what she really knows.
DeleteWe're off to the doctor's office in about an hour where FOX News is on the television in the corner of the waiting room ALL OF THE TIME. If the sound is on today, I'm going to ask the receptionist either to change the channel or to turn it off. My blood pressure cannot abide anything FOX. I even cringe when the "Fox Searchlight" comes on at the beginning of a movie.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Do it. Too often patrons say nothing so management assumes it's acceptable. It helps to register complaints or discomfort at having such antagonizing propaganda shouting at you in the guise of news.
DeleteWalk over and unplug the damned thing if they won't change the channel or shut it off. I have informed my dentist office that if that trash is on the TV I will be pulling my business out of their office and go to a place where they don't have propaganda blaring all the time.
DeleteAll the right-wing movers and shakers are tied together and on a mission to stop POTUS from getting a second term. I'm sure Fox operators are BFF with Steve Bannon, the Breitbart sites, Drudge Report, wealthy Republican sponsors, and mystery supporters and political experts. It's a network all it's own, and Fox is the machine that pumps out the propaganda.
ReplyDeleteThe little barkers and pantleg nippers, like Hannity, and his guests Michele Malkin, and Sarah, and Ann, and any of em', are paid to keep people angry and scared.
Fox thinks it's a manipulation genie, and believe they can control the thoughts of the masses, but the only ones who are hypnotized by their snake oil charms are the kind of people who would love to watch executions, or they'd be the kind that would be sitting front seat at the Roman Coliseums with their kids with slurpies and popcorn watching their political enemies being thrown to the lions.
Isn't there a federal law that networks that use the public airwaves have to give equal time to both sides of an issue? Isn't that why the REAL networks never endorse a candidate? So, should FOX News now have to air an equally long and nasty attach on Romney in particular and/or the Republican right wing in general? And, air it as often as they do this one they made?
ReplyDeleteAh, you're thinking of the "Fairness Doctrine" which Ronny Raygun got rid of which brought us Fox News. And that's why the right is so afraid of the Fairness Doctrine coming back...then they couldn't lie to their viewers (and listeners of wing-nut radio) 24/7.
DeleteEverything about Fox News is bullshit. They're the media arm of the GOP. Always have been and always will be.
ReplyDeleteHey, Gretchen...Stanford called. They want their diploma back.
Where is your disdain for the left-leaning "news" organizations who do exactly the same thing? Have you ever watched MSNBC lately? They're not the only ones either.
ReplyDeleteBS!!!! MSNBC didn't go to court to protect it's right to lie to us! They don't constantly spout political talking points directly from the campaign headquarters and treat it as fact-based "reporting".
DeleteWhy do you right wingers ALWAYS project your behavior on others? Just because YOU do it doesn't automatically mean everyone else does too! Grow the F up!
False equivalent, but nice try. In other words, MSNBC doesn't run attack ads against a candidate on their network. They research, report facts, and offer commentary, leaving the viewers more informed than when they first tuned in.
DeleteFox is an extension of the GOP, passing on lies in the form of "news". Leaving the viewers to think "Hey, it was on the news, so it MUST be true!"
"entertainment network and opinion outlet for the GOP" ?
ReplyDeleteBullshit, Gryph - Fox News is straight-up the propaganda wing of the GOP, nothing less.
Sweetie, that's not going to fly unchecked. I watch MSNBC all the time and have never seen the network do anything remotely like that fact-free Fox video. Could you provide a link to your evidence?
ReplyDeleteFOX is a horrid network! Can anything legally be done against them for having done this? Probably not, they've been anti Obama since prior to his election.
ReplyDeleteThe friends I have do not watch them. Only have one brother that swears by them and you can be assured he and I don't discuss politics!!! Haha!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
You won't see this ad on Fox--it's the new (super) ad about Mitt Romney's record as Governor of Mass:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlnaYOv0DZY&feature=player_embedded
Let's make sure this gets seen by the world!
It doesn't seem to dawn on anyone connected to Fox that they are acting in an obvious UN-AMERICAN way.
ReplyDeleteRemember the House committee for Un-American activities? They were looking for Communists back then. Today, we need it to ferret out the facsists who are seeking the overthrow of the U.S. government.
Hanging was the solution we used to implement for such crimes. A few like Sean Hannity dangling from a noose, might wake up the "patriots" to what they are doing.
Gryphen can u post this:
ReplyDeletehttp://mediamatters.org/blog/201205310011
Why do they lie so much?
ReplyDeleteThe plain truth is plenty bad without exaggeration.
http://www.warcrimestimes.org/
Thanks, Gryphen. The only exposure to Fox news I get is from links here and watching MSNBC, Current TV, and listening to NPR.
ReplyDeleteFox is Republican Propaganda Porn and the furthest thing from real news.
The FCC went crazy over Janet Jackson's "Wardrobe malfunction" and levied fines, yet Fox gets a free pass all the time. Make no mistake, this was intentional and deliberate.
The point was to air it. Of course- then claim that it was a mistake, etc...
ReplyDelete