Fox News, Campus Republicans Politicize Pope's Death

I know it may seem silly to many of you Kossacks, but I write for a conservative publication called the Yale Free Press. I have my reasons and this may not be the appropriate time to delve into them, but one clear advantage is that I get quite a bit of insight into how the right wing is mobilizing campus conservatives. Below the fold is an email I got from the editor of the publication, which is essentially orders coming straight from FOX news.

From: X <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fwd: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction  

Guys,

Keep your eyes and ears open for this kind of stuff -- there's
national news potential here. If you hear something like this from
your fellow students or faculty, writing to X would be a great idea.

Best,
X

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: xxx <[e-mail]>
Date: Apr 5, 2005 2:53 PM
Subject: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction
To: Collegiate Network <[e-mail]>

Editors:

The O'Reilly Factor on FOX News is looking for those instances where
the death of the Pope has been treated with malice by students or
faculty members.

If this has [sic]occurred on your campus, please respond to this email
quickly.

Best,
X

XXXX
Collegiate Network
Program Officer
302/652.4600 ext. 114
AIM: XXXX
[e-mail]
www.collegiatenetwork.org

I ommitted the names of the authors of the emails as well as their contact information. Please do not attempt to contact or harass them: I put these emails up so you can see with your own eyes the level of organization the right wing propaganda machine has achieved: they are lurking, just waiting for some ignorant, insensitive "liberal college student" (ie anyone not in the campus republicans) to make some offhand remark so they can generalize it to all "liberals" and continue to demonize the education system in our country.

I responded to the email like such:

To: X <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Fwd: The Death of Pope John Paul II: Campus Reaction

Hey X,
        How about malice from right-wingers themselves? How disgusting that FOX news is politicizing the pope's death, especially when its OWN anchors have blasted him. To quote Hannity:

Alan Colmes:
...
"No to war," says Pope John Paul II. "during his annual address to scores of diplomatic emissaries to the Vatican... `War is not always inevitable,' he said. `It is always a defeat for humanity.'"

Are these a bunch of wild-eyed liberal loonies?

HANNITY: Yes.

Seriously X, this is pretty sick. I can't imagine anything more underhanded than selling out your own school to politicize a pope's death, which your own ideology loves and hates when it is convenient. Ya' know, there is this thing called "shame"... -Aaron

UPDATE: I received this response from the editor:

Aaron,

while I appreciate your righteous outrage, calm down. My name is not Mrs. Fox News. I do not buy into everything that they do. It's pretty weird of you to think that because I am right-wing, I magically am forced to buy into whatever every right wing person does. So Hannity said something rude and stupid. And Fox News often does, as do many liberal networks. How in the hell does me supporting their efforts to do this one story on faculty/students saying, "Ding Dong the Pope is Dead" in a senseless way automatically make me Hannity's bitch?

Check your premises, sweetheart.

I responded:

Give me a break X,

What you're doing is looking for some ignorant, insensitive kid (presumably a "liberal") to make an offhand remark about the pope, and then to generalize it to all such "liberals." It is NOT a good idea to send such anecdotes to X because it does nothing to further the discussion in this country and it desecrates the memory of a man who I respect (though we rarely saw eye-to-eye). I'm not calling you Mrs. Fox News and I sure as hell hope that you wouldn't become their tool either. Sending them these sorts of bs anecdotes to them makes you a tool, though. And about "many liberal networks", I'd sure love to here about them because I have yet to find one. It would be nice to turn on the TV once in a while and hear some "liberal news." And even if they did exist, I wouldn't be an apologist for them and I sure as hell wouldn't be a part of their propaganda machine.

Let me just ask you one question: why are you doing this? Why do you feel the need to engage in such petty politicking which is driving this nation apart? I thought the Yale Free Press was a philosophical publication from a conservative perspective. Playing "outrage opportunist" certainly does not seem to fall within the parameters of the YFP. Don't misinterpret my tone- I'm not some raving lunatic: what you and your fellow "conservative editors" are doing is antithetical to anything resembling level headed reporting: it's inventing news. -Aaron

•  Looking to create the controversy

  that propels their ratings.  What a shock.  And I thought ol' Mr. Phone sex was a decent journalist....

  by bonddad on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM PDT

  •  Since You Omitted the Author's Name...

    I will be sending my angry email to [e-mail]--by not posting the Author's contact information you let them get away with this shit. Sorry, these freaks deserve angry emails.

    by bluemajority on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 03:16:59 PM PDT

    •  Please don't

      I might get booted from the YFP if you do this.

      by ARingMD2B on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 03:32:14 PM PDT

      •  Oh I would never use...

        Any of the information you provided here or even point to DKos--I would never want to jeopordize your job.

        Sorry about that.

        by bluemajority on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 03:57:28 PM PDT

•  Please Recommend

  if you think having FOX News reach out to conservative campus organizations to invent "news" and incite outrage is itself newsworthy.

  by ARingMD2B on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:16:31 PM PDT

  •  Wow - are you an infiltrater?

    I talked with a friend about doing that she thought I was nuts. Do they know a lot about you or do you play along?

    I have a diary up about The Frontline on Karl Rove that airs tonight. I think Rove' s biggest strength is identifying sectors of the population that are persuadable, specifically sectors that are growing in years to come.

    by catfish on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:43:14 PM PDT

    •  Doh! infiltratOr (n/t)

      by catfish on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:43:47 PM PDT

    •  They know I'm liberal

      and they don't seem to care. There are so few people willing to write for such a publication that they'll pretty much take anyone.- Aaron

      by ARingMD2B on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:45:05 PM PDT

•  Sounds pretty typical

  How many times have Republicans pulled out some comment by an obscure liberal (or sometimes not even a real liberal) and said that this represents everyone who isn't a right-winger?
     Demonize the opposition. They are a one-trick pony.

  by gjohnsit on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:22:07 PM PDT

•  Public Radio

  I was listening to Public Radio, and they had an interview with the person who ran http://www.catholic.com.  He was praising Fox News' coverage for having conservative Catholics on and not giving airtime to "Dissident" Catholics.  This of course reveals a bias at Catholic.com, moderate and liberal Catholics aren't "dissidents", at least not according to the Catholic Church.

  But it is not Fox's place to determine what is and what is not a legitimate Catholic view.  We have to use Fox's gross hypocricy against them.

  by A Citizen on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:24:07 PM PDT

•  So instead of seeing something

  and then making it a story, they've decided what story they want to do, now they just have to go find something to fit it.

  by FleetAdmiralJ on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:28:25 PM PDT

•  Similar to my own experience

  I used to work for one of these papers some years ago, and I've noticed that the basic strategy hasn't changed much.

  by Linnaeus on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:44:17 PM PDT

•  question--

  
  if a person thinks the following:

  A. i saw this one pig one time that appeared to be flying,

  therefore,

  B. ALL PIGS CAN FLY,

  how do they manage to get into Yale?

  -L.

  (this kind of FauxNews style "logic"TM is popping up more and more on my radar and it is REALLY starting to bug me...remember that ONE sales clerk someplace who didn't say "Merry Christmas" that proved there was a co-ordinated "left-wing" attack on Jesus? and the two or three actually wacky "liberal" professors who prove that tenure is a bad tradition, and so on? and now we'll soon be adding the two or three poor-taste remarks made by a college student in class that prove how all American campuses are brain-washing your child to hate the Pope?! ARGHHHHH!)

  by Librarian on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:53:04 PM PDT

  •  For the most part

    Yalies seem pretty smart, but I'm always amazed by the legacy/special interest/ athletic recruits that manage to get "miracled in." So much for a meritocracy...

    by ARingMD2B on Tue Apr 05, 2005 at 01:57:13 PM PDT