"Title Hyperbole"? Maybe so, but if you have a moment, indulge me.
Most Kossacks recall the "good old days" of the early 1990's, when Rush Limbaugh and a handful of other right-wing radio blowhards were the worst we had to endure in terms of a "Right Wing Noise Machine". Back then, in the run-up to the first Gulf War, we could actually tune in to CNN and get, well... useful, informative news, reported by actual journalists.
In ten short years, all of that changed and by the end of Bill Clinton's second term in office, we had a very different journalistic landscape in the United States. Yes, of course the Internet had changed things dramatically but even at that time, the vast majority of Americans still got their news the old fashioned way -- from tee-vee -- and there was a new "star" that had emerged and rapidly climbed the cable television news ratings charts.
We know it, then and today, as Fox News and it became so successful that many of its predecessors -- cable news and otherwise -- rushed to emulate it in style and substance. Even though Fox vehemently denied its far right-wing slant all the way down to its ridiculous "Fair and Balanced" slogan, most of us progressives saw it for what it was from the get-go: A propaganda tool for the Republican Party. It's owner, then and now: Rupert Murdoch the worldly, media mogul's mogul.
And lest we forget, that decade ended with an extraordinary "election" in which George W. Bush was selected by the United States Supreme Court due to the election debacle in Florida. That debacle was largely set into motion by Fox News, when it called the state of Florida for Mr. Bush... even though virtually all of the other networks had called the state for Al Gore. Imagine, for a moment, how different our world might be today had that not happened. Then please follow below the squiggly lines for more of my "hyperbole" that Mr. Murdoch is, arguably, one of the greatest dangers we face as Progressive Americans.
Over at TheNation John Nichols does an excellent job summing up just what we've been up against, politically-speaking, thanks to Mr. Murdoch's minions:
Should Americans be appalled by a scandal in Britain? Certainly.
It raises huge questions about how news stories are and will be obtained in an era of new media, and about the extent to which supposedly personal communications are private. These are not just British questions. Ask Anthony Weiner.
Good point, that. The cable news media obsession with Anthony Weiner's wiener went on and on, ad nauseam. Mr. Nichols goes on to elaborate as to why:
And they also raise questions about how Murdoch’s media plays politics —on camera, and off.
Murdoch’s empire is not merely a network of media that spreads around the world. It is widely viewed as a political project that is usually conservative, frequently prowar and consistently corporate-friendly.
"Conservative, prowar and consistently corporate-friendly" indeed. S/he who controls the medium controls the message and for well over a decade a man who's core beliefs are anathema to most progressives has been pulling strings from "behind the curtain" like Oz The Great and Terrible. We've been able to do little else but react to events that have unfolded since George W. Bush took office because it's been all but impossible to pro-act in order to get anything meaningful accomplished. It seems we do little else but put out fires that were started by conservatives. (Deficit reduction talks? Didn't we have a budget surplus when Bill Clinton left office?) And when we're not putting out fires, we're involved in metaphorical "hostage negotiations" with Republicans; i.e. extending unemployment benefits in exchange for extending the Bush Tax cuts and the current "hostage talks" over increasing the debt ceiling in exchange for not raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. A debt-ceiling increase happened seven times under Mr. Bush without so much as a peep from the Republicans.
But what about the election of Barack Obama? How'd that happen with Rupert pulling the strings? Again, from the above-linked article from TheNation:
With the exit of Bush and the election of Barack Obama in the United States, Murdoch’s empire briefly flirted with the idea of embracing what seemed to be a shift in the direction of American politics. But in short order it returned to the old project of turning America to the right. Fox News and its print partners in the Murdoch stable have all been busy fostering the fantasy that the United States is going broke. And they have equally focused on the task of identifying the ideal Republican presidential candidate for 2012.
There are more than a few economists who suggest that it would be "Armageddon" if the United States defaults on its debts... and yet we have very strong evidence that Mr. Murdoch's Media Machine has been promoting that very idea and has convinced many (Eric Cantor anyone?) that we'd survive the crisis even if our President does not.
So, what is Fox New's take on all-things-Murdoch these days?
Nothing to see here! Let's move along!
On Fox And Friends Friday, host Steve Doocy welcomed Bob Dilenschneider of the Dilenschneider Group, whom he introduced as "a man who knows about media" who also used to run one of the biggest P.R. firms in the country...
But he also characterized the scandal as "just one of the recent hacking scandals," and compared it to the recent revelations that hackers had stolen 24,000 documents from the Pentagon. Though he failed to clarify that in this case News Of The World reporters were the ones doing the hacking.
Dilenschneider agreed. "The issue really is, why are so many people piling on at this point?" he asked. "Shouldn't we get beyond it and really deal with the issue of hacking? Citigroup has been hacked into, Bank Of America has been hacked into, American Express has been hacked into, insurance companies have been hacked into. We've got a serious hacking problem in this country."
Right on, Fox and Friends! This isn't about some ruthless media-mogul, asshole controlling the crap spewing from your very mouths right now; the problem is all the hacking! If it weren't for those damned nerds...
Meanwhile, over at Edward R. Murrow's alma mater there's a journalistic breath of fresh air entitled:
"Murdoch's had his way with U.S. politicians also"
I know, I know... hard to believe! Especially after listening to Fox's take on things.
While I disagree with CBS News' assessment that Murdoch is, in effect, simply "out for the money" and has little if any idealogical bent, they dug up some excellent reminders of just how far Rupert's tentacles have penetrated our U.S. politicians as well as our friends in the U.K.
Way back in 2003, Rupert wanted the FCC to allow him to purchase the nation's largest satellite television company while pressing the very same FCC to allow him to own newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same cities in which his satellite tee-vee customers would reside. I believe they used to call that a "monopoly". At any rate, no worries for Rupert! He sailed right through!
News reports at the time described the response to the Australian-born media mogul’s appearance as “just short of fawning.”
The then-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, greeted Murdoch by thanking the media executive for developing the Fox News network. “When my wife doesn’t get a good dose of Fox News every day she gets grumpy,” chirped Sensenbrenner, “so there are some of us who appreciate what you are doing.”
That's some pretty serious ass-kissing from our "friends on the other side of the aisle", isn't it? Let's look at just a teensy bit more, from the same link:
The whole point of Fox, Murdoch explained, was to “dethrone” more traditional media outlets—outlets that did actual news reporting (Fox is dominated by talking-head commentators) and that were not expressly ideological (in the sense that Fox places itself at the service of the corporate-dominated and militarist wing of the GOP).
That sat well with the Republicans on the committee. “Thank you for what you’ve done,” Utah Congressman Chris Cannon told Murdoch. “Thank you for your risk-taking.”
As the Valley Girls used to say "Gag me with a spoon".
I'll conclude this by pointing out what's hopefully obvious to most progressives: Rupert Murdoch is one of our greatest enemies and while I sympathize greatly with the victims of Murdoch's phone hacking, I think this "scandal" is a tremendous opportunity for us on the left. We should keep the pressure up on Rupert Murdoch. We should call, write and email our Congress Critters and demand accountability -- and justice.
Maybe... just maybe... a day will come when we can turn on our televisions without worrying about what Fox and Friends is telling us not to worry about.