Another story on the frontpage of DK today about Fox fucking with reality
I would say what you have right here is the biggest actual threat to democracy I have seen in my lifetime. Watergate ? Puhleeze. Torture ? Only if you are brown, same as ever. Florida 2000 ? Gore made it once-in-a-lifetime close and blew the endgame, played on a 5-4 tilted field. Lied into Iraq ? It's what 'murka wanted and democracy acted, like Kerry 2004.
But this, this is something else again, on a whole other level. They have been dipping their toe out of laziness and sloppiness in the past, but now they are moving toward genuine manufactured reality, with pictures and words.
Not unfair allusions, not unreasonable nitpicking, not plain old racism and classism to score points.
Stright out lies, in writing, with pictures.
Some republican is unpopular ? Just label him a democrat on your network. That's a fast way to fix it. Happens a few times year, never happens the other way.
Some product not moving as well as it should ? Make pictures of enraptured crowds lapping it up: instant bandwagon effect.
They tested and found that they can get away with it basically at will. No legal issues, no outcry whatsoever. Some tense hippies over at DailyKos? Hey it was an accident...
In fact, they have already started to inculcate themselves against any official sanction, because we all now know that Fox and Obama are in a media war, so any attempt to force the network not to lie to its viewers must be pure politics. Either that or Obama is just up to his old Fairness Doctorine tricks.
As we go forward this is going to be a bigger and bigger problem because its going to be technically possible to make a video show anything you want, and look realistic enough to appear real.
If Fox reaches its full potential down this road, the reality based community is in deep danger of losing its very being.
It has to be deeply, deeply illegal to broadcast fake video. Also If I were a competing publishing house, I might think about a lawsuit against Fox for unlawful interference with trade for pushing Palin's book above others with false information as to it's popularity.