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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFormer Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-far-right-iii-three-percenters-infiltrated-whidbey-island-in-washington?ref=scrollFormer Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America
HATEWATCH
The Rupert Murdoch I worked for was brilliant, courageous, optimistic, and a gentleman. Which makes his bile-filled network all the more confounding.
Preston Padden
Updated Jul. 05, 2021 1:56AM ET / Published Jul. 05, 2021 1:21AM ET
snip//
But, in recent years things have gone badly off the tracks at Fox News. Fox News is no longer is a truthful center-right news network. The channel (especially the leading prime-time opinion programming) has contributed substantially and directly to:
divisions in our society by stoking racial animus and fueling the totally false impression that Black Lives Matter and Antifa are engaged in nightly, life-threatening riots across the country;
the unnecessary deaths of many Americans by fueling hesitation and doubt about the efficacy and safety of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines [Fox News provided me examples of pro-mask/vaccine on-air comments, but in my opinion, they were heavily outweighed by the negative comments of the highly rated primetime opinion hosts];
former President Trumps Big Lie that the election was stolen from him by providing a continuous platform for wild and false claims about the electionclaims refuted by more than 60 judges, Republican State election officials, recounts in numerous States and Trumps own Attorney General; and
the Jan. 6, 2021, violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by continually promoting former President Trumps Stop The Steal rally.
Fox News has caused many millions of Americansmost of them Republicans (as my wife and I were for 50 years)to believe things that simply are not true. For example, Yahoo News reports that 73 percent of Republicans blame left-wing protesters for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Of course, that is ludicrous. All one has to do is look at the pictures or videos of the attack to see that the violent mob was comprised of Trump supporters. Similarly, a poll by SSRS in late April found that two-thirds of Republicans either believe or suspect that the election was stolen from Trump60 percent saying there is hard evidence that the election was stolen. As noted above, this ridiculous notion has been thoroughly refuted. But millions of Americans believe these falsehoods because they have been drilled into their minds, night after night, by Fox News.
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-far-right-iii-three-percenters-infiltrated-whidbey-island-in-washington?ref=scroll
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)Ferryboat
(926 posts)Not revelent to original post
CurtEastPoint
(18,674 posts)AZ8theist
(5,524 posts)Pinback
(12,174 posts)says Water is wet its worthy of note. A couple of decades too late in this case, but of interest nonetheless.
Whether this statement has any lasting positive effect remains to be seen. Theres a current trend of people formerly in high places within the right-wing establishment trying to rehabilitate their reputations, and that may be all this is.
brush
(53,968 posts)Why that sounds like consciousness of guilt, which is a defining characteristic of a crime.
Mea culpas don't erase it.
tenderfoot
(8,438 posts)LOL.
niyad
(113,776 posts)Ludicrous.
yardwork
(61,752 posts)zentrum
(9,866 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)The first 10 minutes after they went on the air?
live love laugh
(13,189 posts)malaise
(269,257 posts)Murdoch was always shit
-misanthroptimist
(829 posts)And then we need to make sure that those branding themselves as news are held to that standard.
Volaris
(10,278 posts)Yes, there will be ads. Anything not spent paying your writers/journalists/anchors/production teams must be given to a trust fund to be donated to americas state university Journalism Schools. If not, you dont get to call it news.
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)Ligyron
(7,644 posts)Just in classifying the lies as truth or passing it off as actual, legitimate news.
Can we at least do that?
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)Not being allowed to regulate free speech includes not being able to regulate what is described as "news".....
Moostache
(9,897 posts)The Constitution has long accepted limits to "free speech" when the public safety is at stake. Categorizing something as one thing versus another is not the same as creating actual penalties, enforced by government agencies, or in other words allowing consequences to be clear.
If you wander into a crowded place and falsely create a panic by screaming "Fire!!!! We're all gonna die!!!!", such an act is still illegal despite any claims to free speech protection.
*Caveat - with the current 6-3 abomination of a SCOTUS, there is a better than 50-50% chance that any such laws or limits would be challenged and overturned...though such rationale is CLEARLY influenced by an overt right-wing favoring interpretation of the Bill of Rights....the same demented thinking that corrupts the 2nd would also infect the 1st...
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)No Congress, Democratic or Republican, is going to define news. Nor should they.
Moostache
(9,897 posts)If it is illegal to endanger others through exercise of free speech, then is it not also illegal to knowingly deceive people by shouting "FRAUD!" where there is no evidence of it?
Lying - knowingly spreading disinformation - is NOT 'free speech'...it is propaganda and a disservice to the knowledge of an informed citizenry, required for a representative republic to function.
The use of the press as a weapon of mass distraction has had real and horrifying consequences on the country and our form of governance. There MUST be limits on speech to have a functioning republic, and our current quagmire is proof positive of this.
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)I can take a guess in the meantime.
Ligyron
(7,644 posts)Enforced by the Federal Trade Commision, a government agency, for instance.
Or how does the FDA, another government agency, enforce what can and cannot be said/claimed regarding drugs or supplements?
Ray gun killed the Fairness Doctrine true, but it just seems like we should be able to do something about curbing the mass propaganda campaign that's lying 24/7 on cable news and radio and hell bent on destroying democracy.
This isn't aimed at you personally, it's pretty much rhetorical. I'm just blowing off steam
Volaris
(10,278 posts)And then ask the FDA what they think about the First Amendment.
You all, beat me to it.
Dustlawyer
(10,499 posts)Just like you cannot shout fire in a crowded theater if there is no fire.
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)Sources, facts (not loudly shouted opinions) and basic consistency with the laws of physics and science are a good place to start. I am sorry, but things like biology, physics, and chemistry are not speculative pursuits. Gravity simply IS...anyone doubting this is invited to step off of a high building while praying to stop their demise.
In that same TV studio, you should have limitations on just how you cans scream "FRAUD" without supporting evidence...
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)The definition of something factual does NOT leave room for interpretation based on political philosophy.
The statement of being entitled to one's own opinion but not one's own facts is my baseline.
There should NEVER be such a thing as political 'facts'...THAT is where we have run off the rails and into the mire...
brooklynite
(94,919 posts)dianaredwing
(406 posts)Just rebrand it. News it is not any more. Truth of the moment? Pictures and interviews on the scene? Breaking news has to go. Kids can and do, thank goodness, film and comment on 'breaking news' that is more valid than the scripted edited crap that comes off as news these days. Investigative journalism is a good thing. News for entertainment is not.
Moostache
(9,897 posts)The intent of the news is to inform and awaken the mind.
The intent of TV is to placate and anesthetize the mind.
That is the fundamental problem with information in the early 21st century...its a weaponized commodity to divide instead of an illuminating resource to unite and THAT must go - even if it eviscerates and requires a renewal of the Bill of Rights...we're about 150 years past due on that count in my mind too...
Mariana
(14,861 posts)Gullible watchers may accept whatever the hosts say as gospel, but that doesn't change the fact that the most popular programming by far on Faux et al. are the editorial/opinion shows. That's where most of the lies are being spread. How do you fix that?
Eyeball_Kid
(7,440 posts)that they are a news channel, even though they denied it in Court and defined their business as "entertainment." So their very title, Fox News, is a lie repeated solely to attract viewers and advertisers. For everybody else, "news" is the dissemination of facts that occur in the real world. For Fox, "news" is a euphemism for propaganda based upon cynicism, innuendo, distrust, and influence from foreign adversaries. Defining what they do as "news" is Orwellian by design.
But, yes, it falls within the First Amendment rights. And it's only sustainable because Fox charges cable companies exorbitant fees to carry their channel. They can likely survive on those fees alone. Any revenues that they gain from advertising is frosting on their cake.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,232 posts)and Reagan getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine, it was fairly neutral and it wasn't expected to make money. But that all changed in the 80s.
Caliman73
(11,760 posts)The Fairness Doctrine did affect the legacy broadcasters. The real problem however, came in the 1990's when the Telecommunications Act was signed. That deregulated ownership of media. That allowed right wing millionaires and billionaires to essentially take over AM radio. That allowed companies like Fox, Clear Channel, CBN, and others to buy up affiliate stations and saturate markets with right wing propaganda.
Cable news was always less regulated than legacy or "terrestrial" broadcasters. The legacies, ABC, CBS, and NBC used "public" airwaves, which is why the FCC could compel them to the Fairness Doctrine. Cable news is private, you have to pay to access it, so they are not subject to the "licensing" requirement that the big 3 were held to. The reason why you can watch R rated movies unedited on HBO or Showtime, but not on NBC. The reason why you can watch R rated movies any time of day now (it used to be that even cable couldn't air R rated before a certain time, but FCC was not allowed to put that restriction on cable.
live love laugh
(13,189 posts)which once required news networks to give equal time to opposing views.
Of course, that requirements been eliminated. But the classification as entertainment never changed.
Something has to be done about the responsibility for truth telling and not just defining what is or is not news.
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,463 posts)not cable, satellite or internet.
thesquanderer
(11,998 posts)So even if they were over the air, it STILL wouldn't have applied!
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,463 posts)I failed to mention that.
Thanks.
Kid Berwyn
(15,033 posts)Twice.
Botany
(70,635 posts)n/t
onetexan
(13,078 posts)Botany
(70,635 posts)Either one or two days prior to 1/6/21 the morning blond on Fox was still pushing the
"a lot of people still have questions about the election" lie.
I think I read and or heard what Fox does is illegal in Canada because it is phony news pretending
to be real news and it is based on lies, propaganda, and emotional manipulation.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,859 posts)... and Putin's Russia.
YoshidaYui
(41,869 posts)Fox News has to die.. its destroying our nation...from the inside out.
Eyeball_Kid
(7,440 posts)Fox will have change their programming to compete. Right now, the they collect keep them afloat. The content of their programming only has to appeal to a small sliver of potential audience. The fees comprise of the steady, predictable revenue stream that keeps their media stars floating in millions.
Fox will have a more difficult time maintaining their influence as more streaming services become available to the nation's television watchers-- nearly everyone who has a roof over their heads-- and coaxial cable feeds give way to routers and internet feeds. Those streaming services are far more flexible than the big cable companies like Comcast and can tailor their programming to individual preferences. I have a streaming service for television that does NOT include Fox News, and I won't pay any fees that go to FNC because of my choice for a streaming service. That's how to FNC will die.
YoshidaYui
(41,869 posts)meh
kentuck
(111,111 posts)All because they thought they had to report the opposite of everyone else in order to be "fair and balanced".
ChrisF1961
(457 posts)and one person said that even in April 45, the critical thinking skills of the German people was so worn down by years of lies they couldnt see reality even though it was staring them in the face. The same is true of many Republicans now.
tavernier
(12,412 posts)He created torture and grief in England with the Sun publication, giving no peace to gay men and women and especially anyone of celebrity including Freddie Mercury, Elton John, the Beatles and Stones and Lady Diana.
He is no courageous gentleman
he is a money grubbing sociopath.
thesquanderer
(11,998 posts)Very possibly. Though I also wonder whether he cares any more about Australia than the U.S., which may make him less a sociopath and more a nationalist.
At the end of the article, the author says:
It is possible he doesn't change course because he doesn't care... simply because, to him, the U.S. is simply an entity to be exploited for his own gain. He is not an American citizen, much less any kind of American patriot. Maybe he cares about Australia, but it is not unreasonable to think he may care as little about the U.S. as many U.S. people/companies care about what happens in other countries. We have exploited other countries for our gain plenty of times... and he may simply be doing the same to us.
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)I just don't understand how Americans can digest this foul trash, and its vile hosts
Tiger8
(432 posts)..."randomly selected" him to complete a survey about his radio listening habits. He claimed that he got a survey every year.
Companies rely on these surveys to make advertising decisions. But it seems obvious that that Arbitron and Limbaugh had some type of a deal going on...or at least, there was a Mole inside Arbitron feeding Limbaugh subscribers into the "random" mix.
My spidey sense has always told me the entire Right Wing Universe is at least partly propped up by shadowy money - oil, gun, big ag industries, Koch, heirs to fortunes and other wealthy financiers, religious and fascist leaders, etc.
Eyeball_Kid
(7,440 posts)The question of Fox News' survival always rests with "cui bono."
Tiger8
(432 posts)If Fox News was on-air 24/7 with no ads, even some of the dumb-dumbs might begin to ask "cui bono."
Advertisers give them credibility - which is why I try my best to never buy anything from any Fox News advertiser.
dianaredwing
(406 posts)opioid sales, you name it. I bet every modern evil can be traced back to that group of sociopaths.
Wounded Bear
(58,765 posts)hay rick
(7,656 posts)It's much worse now.
Zorro
(15,753 posts)His ego is even bigger than Old Yeller's.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,859 posts)... described the sick power-hungry minds of the Murdoch family.
Edit; Turnbull explained their motives, according to him, around the 6.5-minute mark of that video.
Initech
(100,129 posts)Fox News stole that election from us.
mdbl
(4,976 posts)ballooned into the Jan 6 insurrection. They need to be separated from civilized society, maybe on some island.
roamer65
(36,748 posts)wolfie001
(2,297 posts)....owns the Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. Is it any wonder the Dems can sustain any messaging when this sinister muther fucker is muddying up the entire political realm?
The Wizard
(12,554 posts)Russian propaganda and wild assertions.
andym
(5,446 posts)Well Fox News has gone Orwellian in its bias and lies. Trump helped them achieve it-- in a sense he became Big Brother for a segment of the population, but it was really co-founder Ailes idea to begin with-- he wanted a GOP propaganda "news" service that would have made the potential impeachment and removal of Nixon impossible. Basically Nixon's former media consultant wanted to prevent future Nixons' resignations. He didn't live to see that he had achieved his goal.
Their shows provide various forums for two minutes of hate every day. Doublethink is apparent continually.