Given their outright sponsorship of yesterday's wingnut gatherings, Fox News, along with its parent company, New Corporation, need to be seen as the cancerous agents that they are. While the airways belong, at least in theory, "to the people," the people and their democracy are being strongly negatively affected by this cancer, known as Fox.
Here, then, are some hightlights from what is, I believe, the best piece of analysis of Fox Newsthat I have ever read. Its title is, appropriately, "Why Fox News Channel Is An Industry Joke"
While some here may think that this is stating the obvious (at least obvious to us), this article beautifully and succinctly dissects Fox in a way that shows just how biased and distorting its messages are.
Written a few years back by progressive author Ron Kaufman, this article gets at the truth about Fox News, and thus deserves to be closely reread today, given that these truths still hold. For example, writing about why the Fox News Channel has viewers, Kaufman, citing a study in The Project for Excellence in Journalism's State of The News Media 2004 (a study funded by the Pew Charitable Trust and Columbia University School of Journalism), explains,
Basically, it's entertaining. The Fox News Channel is colorful, positive and engaging with good-looking anchors and an up-beat style. The network uses flashy graphics and triumphant music to punctuate its programs. The PEJ report notes that its study found that overall, the "Live" presentation of cable news presents an aspect of importance and immediacy to the viewers. "The most notable finding here is that cable news has all but abandoned what was once the primary element of television news, the written and edited story. In doing so, it has de-emphasized the story package's strengths, namely the chance to verify, edit and carefully choose words and pictures.
And, in discussing Fox's content:
The content of the Fox News Channel is a direct outgrowth from the views held by its owner: News Corp. and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Fox News Channel was launched in 1996 "as a specific alternative to what its founders perceived as a liberal bias in the American media"
Controlling the news is obviously important to Murdoch's vision of the world. The Murdochian viewpoint is largely centered on obtaining money and power -- which is the ideology for which the Fox News Channel stands. Those who control the news also determine the public discourse. In the United States, Murdoch has obviously tapped into the political and social agenda championed by the Republican Party. The views of News Corp. and Fox News, however, are not the ones of the mainstream Republican Party, but those who reside on the far right-wing of the political spectrum.
The Republican Party, or GOP (Grand Old Party), is a traditionally dominant force in American politics. Since the inception of the nation, the Republican Party has stood for what are called conservative values. Over the centuries, however, the term conservative has changed quite a bit and now has transformed into political party focused on American superpower dominance, a corporate-controlled economy and Judeo-Christian ideals. The Heritage Foundation think tank states that conservative means to promote "the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." The conservative agenda by itself is not terribly bad; however, the Fox News Channel has contorted the Republican Party views into something both strange and disturbing.
and also,
The ideological leader of Fox News is CEO Roger Ailes. It is Ailes vision of a pro-Republican news organization that has given rise to the Fox News media spin. Ailes has worked as media consultant to Republican Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr. and was the head of CNBC before taking the helm at Fox News.
Then, Kaufman cites a lecture by Los Angeles Times Editor John S. Carroll, who says about Fox that "it regards its audience with a cold cynicism. In this realm of pseudo-journalism, the audience is something to be manipulated. And when the audience is misled, no one in the pseudo-newsroom ever offers a peep of protest."
To this is added:
Carroll goes on to say that journalists of the past such as "Lippmann, Reston, Murrow, Sevareid and others . . . are still held in high regard. They were, foremost, journalists, not entertainers or marketers. Their opinions were rigorously grounded in fact. It was the truthfulness of these commentators — their sheer intellectual honesty — that causes their names to endure. Today, the credibility painstakingly earned by past journalists lends an unearned legitimacy to the new generation of talk show hosts. Cloaked deceptively in the mantle of journalism, today's opinion-brokers are playing a nasty Halloween prank on the public, and indeed on journalism itself."
Carroll's opinion of Fox News is that it is situated somewhere between journalism and propaganda -- but leans closer to straight ahead attack politics. The perversion of the Fox News Channel is that it is nothing more than a pulpit for the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party. The Fox News Channel presents sprinkles of news punctuated with interviews and commentary which promotes its own viewpoint. Sitting far away from objective fact-based journalism, Carroll comments that "if Fox News were a factory situated, say, in Minneapolis, it would be trailing a plume of rotting fish all the way to New Orleans."
Kaufman succintly catalogues a number of classic Fox propaganda techniques:
*As shown in the PEJ investigation, Fox News uses the "talking head" format for 83% of its evening broadcasts. The network can choose its own "experts" to comment on the news. Usually, these experts hold an opinion in line with the network's pro-Republican Party bias. Though "liberal" or Democratic Party representatives may also appear as talking heads, they are always outnumbered by speakers holding the Fox News viewpoint. The majority of experts or interviewees on the Fox News Channel are in line with the network's views.
*Because the use of talking heads is so pervasive throughout their broadcasts, there is a seamless blend between "expert commentary and analysis" and the so-called "hard" news stories. Even written/edited/voice-over news stories include commentary by the reporter during and at the end of the report.
*The majority of Fox News Channel coverage is focused on politics. Though Fox News offers full coverage of the life and times of Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Brad Pitt, most of its news stories have some connection with political issues. Once again, the focus is the Republican Party.
*The Fox News Channel uses patriotism to sell its newscasts. With a digitized American flag constantly flying in the upper left corner of the screen, Fox News always places the United States in the positive light. The network's intention is to make the viewer feel patriotic for watching the network. The Fox News TV screen is filled with red, white and blue in both the text and backdrops.
And some additional techniques for "mutating reality":
*Method #1: Non-reporting. A news story about rising gas prices blames regional environmental clean air standards. According to Fox News, "some officials say environmental regulations are driving up prices by forcing fuel refiners to develop different blends." This is only partially true. The reporter does not mention other factors including the lack of refining capacity in the United States; OPEC holding back production; the simple economics of high-demand in the U.S.; poor fuel efficiency of U.S. vehicles; and the fact that even with price increases, the U.S. STILL has the lowest cost per gallon of gas in the world. The Fox News spin is that the only reason gas prices rise is because of those liberal environmental laws. (June 3, 2004)
*Method #2: Conceptual Name Calling. A news story about global warming is titled "Junk Science." The first line of the newscast says: "The global warming treaty known as the Kyoto protocol is politically dead in the U.S. But the treaty's left-leaning environmental extremist supporters haven't given up their fantasy of creating a socialist global economy through controls on energy use." This report includes no scientific evidence of global warming and ends with the comment that "the junk science-fueled Kyoto protocol would be an economic suicide capsule." (June 4, 2004)
*Method #3: Political Name Calling. The Fox News Channel makes a sharp distinction between Democrat and Republican and liberal and conservative. Network news always identifies political party affiliations. For example, a report on Congressional hearings involving Bush administration Attorney General John Ashcroft said Democrats "accuse John Ashcroft" and "Democrats kept focus on a series of memos" which lead to a "frustrated Attorney General" who did his best to stay on topic. The newscast portrayed the Democrats attacking Ashcroft who was only trying to protect the U.S. from terrorism. (June 9, 2004)
*Method #4: Warped Reporter Analysis. In a report about Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry, reporter Carl Cameron's voice-over identified the public's "lagging perception in the polls that he can protect the country from bioterrorism" and the "Massachusetts Democrat as usual slammed the President for not doing enough to protect the homeland." Cameron then goes on to explain how George Bush increased the defense budget. The report then shows a poll map of states the candidates will focus on, with it clearly showing that Bush already won the election (see image to the right). Cameron ends the report with Vice President Dick Cheney attacking Kerry. Cameron says "Cheney slams Kerry" and "Cheney focused on Kerry's various positions on the Patriot Act." The report then shows a video of Cheney saying that Kerry takes "both sides" of important issues. (June 3, 2004)
*Method #5: Skewed Statistics. Fox News' anchor Brit Hume said in a report that "Two hundred seventy-seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, which means that statistically speaking U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California, which is roughly the same geographical size. The most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2300 homicides each year, which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they're incurring about 1.7 deaths, including illness and accidents each day." Not only is this report silly and illogical, but does not take into account the populations of California versus U.S. soldiers in Iraq. On a per capita basis, these statistics make no sense. (August 27, 2003)
*Method #6: Unflattering Images. When choosing pictures and video, Fox News chooses ones to serve its needs. For example, to the right are images the network used to identify political differences between John Kerry and George Bush. Clearly, the network choose a pretty bad picture of Kerry. Video clips also show lowlights of Democrats and highlights of Republicans.
Thus, Kaufman concludes:
Fox News Channel does not provide any reliable information. Its method of seamlessly combining commentary and news reports has transformed its style of TV news into nonsensical jabberwocky. Television news, in general, should not be trusted. The corporate owners, General Electric, Viacom, Disney and News Corp., all have agendas through which their news organizations are bound. Yet, Fox News Channel exceeds all expectations in the realm of news distortion and corporate control. The Fox News Channel style of exploiting political pundits as commentators, anchors and reporters presents an agenda -- not reality.
As outstanding as this piece of analysis is, (and I've only highlighted some key points, leaving other details out), it is not the only available critique of the Murdoch family propaganda factory.
For example, the website Media Matters, which regularly covers Fox's distortions, has this today: Fox and Friends Carlson encourages viewers: "You can still have a virtual tea party"
And the respected media watchdog organization FAIR, which has done a number of careful examinations of Fox, has this report: The Most Biased Name in News which states
When it comes to Fox News Channel, conservatives don't feel the need to "work the ref." The ref is already on their side. Since its 1996 launch, Fox has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled media machine. Together with the GOP organization and its satellite think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan outlets--such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush Limbaugh's--forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified. Fox knows how to play this game better than anyone.
I am also very fond of this piece of hip-hop brilliance, courtesy of Nas
I am in agreement with Nas, and with his awareness of the inherent racism of Murdoch's media empire; Nas, after all, comes from a city in which working class people of color regularly get exposed to the "toxins" of racist coverage in its local tabloids.
I am thinking that we should follow Nas example and protest Fox head on.