The Delegitimizing Of Fox News Is The Biggest Story Of The Year

[ruggerson]

John Edwards and the Nevada Democratic Party have started in motion a process that may completely delegitimize Fox as a "news" outlet.

We have all known for years that Fox is nothing more than a propoganda arm of the Republican National Committee. The problem has been that Democrats have lent them credibility, and let them feign neutrality, by appearing on their shows and dealing with them as if they really were a responsible, non partisan, mainstream journalistic network.

If what John Edwards has started becomes a hurricane: if Democrats actually begin to stand their ground, and only deal with legitimate news services, the results will be catastrophic not only for Fox, but for Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh and the entire rightwing echo chamber. If Fox "News" is deprived of the ability to lay claim to any journalistic credibility, the far rightwing loses its most effective electronic font of propoganda.

And Roger Ailes is running very scared by these developments. It is his worst nightmare. That people finally begin to stand up and say, "You are not a news organization, sir. You are merely destructive, hyper-partisan propoganda."

Ailes today, in full damage control:


"Recently pressure groups are forcing candidates to conclude that the best strategy for journalists is divide and conquer, to only appear on those networks and venues that give them favorable coverage.

There's a long tradition of news organizations, national and local, sometimes together, sponsoring presidential and other candidate debates. The organizations and the panelists have been the objects of a lot of advice and even pressure as to how these debates should be conducted and what questions should be asked. This pressure has been successfully resisted, but it's being tried again this year with the added wrinkle that candidates are being asked to boycott debates because certain groups wants to approve the sponsoring organizations.

This pressure must be resisted as it has been in the past. Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists. And any candidate of either party who cannot answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters.

The public knows if a journalist's question is unfair. They also know if a candidate is impeding freedom of speech and free press. If you are afraid of journalists, how will you face the real dangers in the world?"

[illinoisprogressive]

1. And don't forget the Obama freeze of Fox a month ago. the dems are fighting back

[calimary]

9. And it's LONG. PAST. TIME. I couldn't be more delighted!!!

This door swings BOTH ways (and when it does, it smacks 'em straight in the face).

Please remember: it's been a longstanding and (up til recently) successful strategy in this White House - to deny ACCESS to those who won't play ball, or threaten to do so.

If you don't behave, if you ask too many questions, if we don't like the tone of voice you use or the things you say or write, you won't get access to any of our people (and WE'VE got the big names everybody wants on their talk shows). If you make trouble, we'll freeze you out. And you need us if you're going to keep your jobs. No access - no viewer draw. No good interviews for your readers. They'll go where they can get all our stars. And you'll wither and die. Or we'll yank your press credentials so you can't even get in the door. And if that doesn't work, we'll start impugning your patriotism and get our other bully friends to do so, too, so you'll be marginalized and demonized and nobody will watch/listen to/read you anymore, and you'll shrivel up and die.

That's been their bully-tactic. And gee whiz, looks like the shoe's being shoved onto the other foot for a change! And ailes is whining and crying foul like the stuck pig he is. Hey, all's fair (and balanced) in love, war, and news coverage! Turnabout's fair play. If they're gonna dish it out, they better be prepared to take it.

I said somewhere else here, if ANY Dems or liberals or progressives think they can gain any ground on Pox Noise where the deck is SO deliberately stacked against them, they're kidding themselves. It WON'T get better. They have NO interest in any REAL fairness or balance. If any of our people do still want to trust them, they might as well walk around all over town with a big, bright, colorful "KICK ME" sign on their backs. I originally said it was like sleeping with the Devil. Except it's not LIKE sleeping with the Devil. It IS sleeping with the Devil.

I'm SO glad this is finally happening. I hope it continues!

[rodeodance]

33. nevada dems nix fox news: Du thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3153683

[The Count]

46. Yup. Obama started this.

[WCGreen]

52. Perhaps you are forgeting the Big Dogs slap down of Chris Wallace..

[The Count]

62. Right you are. And Wes Clarks numerous smack downs of their toadies

It's been a building process that culminated with Ailes "joke" - how happy I am to see HIM instead of Kerry justifying his joke for a change....

[quiet.american]

48. Thank you -- Obama was first out of the gate on this. n/t

[kenny blankenship]

2. Democrats can't very well give statements to and appear on Comedy Central's fake news programs

and also refuse to deal with FOX.

Fake news is fake news, no?

[Colobo]

5. The difference is

Comedy shows are comedy shows. They use the "news program" format to mock it. Fox News sells itself as a "news organization" that tries to bring "objectivity" to the news media, when what it really does is to serve as a mouthpiece for the GOP.

[msongs]

8. fox PRETENDS to be legitimate, comedy central does not nt

[tblue]

23. Amen. Apples & oranges. If Fux called itself a 'comedy' channel, that would be different.

Maybe that's what we should do. Except it really, really isn't funny.

[Labors of Hercules]

59. if Fux called itself a neocon/neonazi propaganda channel, that would be different...

and wholly accurate.

[DBoon]

53. "right after a show featuring crank-calling puppets"

not news by any stretch, though "many a truth expressed in jest"

[Trajan]

11. Democrats CAN (very well) give statements to and appear on Comedy Central's COMEDIC variety shows ..

and refuse to appear on FAUX .....

There is no absolute commitment to appear on ANY show, nor to be balanced in an approach to media participation .....

John Edwards can pretty well appear wherever and whenever he wants to ....

Isnt freedom grand ?

[tblue]

24. That picture in your post gets my blood a-boilin'!

I will NEVER forget the stolen election that made so many disasters inevitable.

[Atman]

13. No.

There is absolutely no comparison between a 1/2 hour, self-acknowledged COMEDY news show, and a 24 hour networks which purports to be actually telling the truth in a "fair and balanced" manner. No comparison whatsoever.

.

[kenny blankenship]

19. You are all irony deficient tonight

maybe tomorrow after coffee.

[Atman]

20. It's hard to catch your facial expressions and tone of voice when typed.

That's what the :sarcasm: is for. It wasn't technically "irony."

.

[alittlelark]

17. Uh, The Daily Show is on COMEDY CENTAL

They have NO aspirations as a news outlet..... however it is interesting that TDS's viewers had more knowledge of world events than viewers of any other network (including NPR).



Bottom line - it's a Comedy show - ask Samantha Bee.

[tblue]

25. Are there people here who actually don't get that?

[alittlelark]

26. Yeah...#2 reply - KennyB Doessn't 'get it' it appears.

Some long time posters seem in the dark about reality at times.

[frogcycle]

42. no

when Reagan did away with the Fairness Doctrine all rules went out the window. When gwb can just say "not going to talk about it" then anyone who wants can say "not going to talk to YOU" to anyone they want. i hope the bastards just dry up.

[AtomicKitten]

3. a long time coming

I believe they did it to themselves ... the rest of the planet is just acknowledging
what has long since been held to be true, that Faux News is a propaganda machine emanating
from one old man's bent point of view.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. And it is about bloody time

[mnhtnbb]

6. Ailes is playing right into Edwards/Obama's hands by giving them the opportunity

to dispute the notion of 'journalism' practiced by FOX.

[Labors of Hercules]

60. the question is, will they take it as far as it needs to go?

:shrug:

[msongs]

7. ailes could be describing BUSH!!!

this is the bush modus operandi:

"Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake about journalists. And any candidate of either party who cannot answer direct, simple, even tough questions from any journalist runs a real risk of losing the voters."

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[yourout]

21. They are neither news organization nor Journalists.

[Kurovski]

28. This following quote is also how the WH operates...

we've been told by journalists about how access is cut off if BushCo didn't like the reporting.

"Recently pressure groups are forcing candidates to conclude that the best strategy for journalists is divide and conquer, to only appear on those networks and venues that give them favorable coverage."

[EST]

10. This will, I suspect, if carried to its conclusion,

be the single most freedom making, good government creating, powerful process in the whole of taking back America.
More powerful, if that's possible, than most of the momentous events now extant in the unraveling of the rabid rightist corporate agenda.

How long I have vented fruitless frustration at the camera worshiping hordes of democratic politicians, especially those of the Biden ilk.

I promise to write, over the course of the next week, at least one hundred missives, praising the perspicacity of the forward thinkers advocating refusal to appear on the programs that represent destruction of sanity, integrity and decency.

Death to POX Noise.

[calimary]

15. Agreed, completely! I once heard it said or read it as a quote

from some expert whose name I forget - who pointed out that THE way to defeat your enemy is to start by targeting their communications.

BTW - everybody, if you can, first thing Monday morning, call your reps - Democrats preferred, and thank them for this. Whether they had any part in it or not. Whether they're anywhere near Nevada or not. Make sure they know this was a good thing, noticed, AND appreciated. Positive reinforcement goes a mighty long way! And it just might strengthen their backbones just that much more...

Please note the TOLL FREE Capitol Hill switchboard numbers conveniently located in my sig line below.

[Erika]

12. Faux "journalists" are a joke. They are GOP smear machines

Ailes is one of them. Equating Obama with Osama is truly sick. He's sick.

[Lex]

31. Hahaha! I can't believe Ailes used the word "Journalist" to described his hacks.

nt

[DemGa]

14. Such dishonesty; I wonder if he is even aware

Conservatives are capable of such deep denial.

[Pryderi]

16. K&R! Will bump on Monday! Great point

[Bonobo]

18. It is a big, important step forward! Terrific!

[tblue]

22. How many of us would've dumped Fux a loooooong time ago?

Why'd it take this long?

[opihimoimoi]

27. This what eventually happens to those who embrace Fantasy and reject Reality

Sooner or later...the BS Detector goes OFF with Glaring/Blaring Signals...
and a CORRECTION Takes Place

A swing BACK to Reality/Common Sense/Sanity/Logic/Common Good.

FOX Played with Deception and now pay the Price....As Murphy would say "If there is a chance for Truth to WIN...sooner or Later, She will WIN...."

Truth 1.....FOX O

:toast:

[snowbear]

29. New York Times story rolling in ....

New York Times

Stung by Remarks, Nevada Democrats Cancel Debate on Fox

By KATE PHILLIPS
Published: March 10, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 9 — Citing comments made by the chairman of Fox News about Senator Barack Obama, and under pressure from liberal groups and blogs, Nevada Democrats announced on Friday night that they had decided to cancel a debate in August on Fox News.

Criticism had been mounting ever since the Aug. 14 debate for Democratic presidential candidates was announced last month. Liberal blogs and groups as well as some Nevada Democrats had demanded that Fox be removed as a sponsor, arguing that its coverage was slanted toward Republicans.

Continued - - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/us/politics/10nevada.html

He he he - GOOD JOB! ....

[GarySeven]

30. Sorry, it was CLINTON who started it ...

when he told Chris Wallace to his face about the smirking bias behind the phrase "fair and balanced."

Poetic justice.

[emanymton]

38. Everything Is Clinton's Fault.

But it does keep the focus off the truth.

"... It is difficult to define the concept of propaganda thoroughly and precisely. This is especially true since, in past decades, it was subject to unfavorable, and in part extraordinarily hostile, definitions, on the part of us Germans. First, then, we must defend it. Those abroad sometimes claim that in the past we Germans were particularly knowledgeable in this area, and knew how to apply it, but that unfortunately is not consistent with the facts. We learned the consequences of our neglect all too clearly during the World War. While the enemy states produced unprecedented atrocity propaganda aimed at Germany throughout the whole world, we did nothing and were completely defenseless against it. Only when enemy foreign propaganda had nearly won over the greater part even of the neutral states did the German government begin to sense the enormous power of propaganda. It was too late. Just as we were militarily and economically unprepared for the war, so also with propaganda. We lost the war in this area more than in any other.

The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing. ..." J. Goebbels (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb59.htm)

So let us keep the pressure on.

[smoogatz]

40. Nope--Howard Dean

"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and that I don't comment on Fox News." June, 2005

[glitch]

57. Thank you smoogatz - you know you've got a good thing going when everybody

wants to claim being the first. Not that it really matters, as long as everybody gets on board!

[frogcycle]

43. fairly unbalanced

[rodeodance]

32. eamil/snail mail address here:

Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

List of Email addresses for all Fox News Channel programs

Special Report with Brit Hume: [e-mail]
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: [e-mail]
The O'Reilly Factor: [e-mail]
Hannity & Colmes: [e-mail], [e-mail]
On the Record with Greta: [e-mail]

[rodeodance]

34. Democrats cancel Fox News debate (Reuters)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070310/pl_nm/campaign_debate_dc;_ylt=AoNLIUsfq7th3gKjXGy9eb_MWM0F

Democrats cancel Fox News debate

By Dan Whitcomb Fri Mar 9, 11:33 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nevada Democratic Party officials said on Friday they were canceling a presidential debate co-sponsored by Fox News, following a joke chairman Roger Ailes made about Democratic candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record).

In a letter sent to Fox, Nevada State Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said Ailes "went too far" with comments made the night before.

The letter makes no reference to a crusade by the liberal activist group MoveOn.org to boycott Fox, which it calls a "right-wing mouthpiece." Democratic presidential candidate
John Edwards dropped out of the debate on Thursday, citing in part Fox's participation.

The letter also does not specify which comments by Ailes lead to the decision, but a Democratic source told Reuters it was a joke Ailes made about Obama and
President Bush during a speech on Thursday night.

"We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments," Collins and Reid said in the letter. "We take no pleasure in this, but it the only course of action."

[fuzzyball]

35. So long as FOX has an audience & profits,

it will stay and be in our face. Only bankruptcy delegitimizes
a news organization in real terms.

[Bonobo]

36. I disagree. News organizations are like money. They have worth only

because people believe in them. The less confidence in them, the less they are worth.

It is true economically as well. Less supporters equals less revenue from advertisers.

[Disturbed]

37. All Dems should boycott Fox Noise.

DU may consider not reporting anything said on Fox Noise, a total shunning.

[smoogatz]

39. Howard said it first. At least among prominent Dems.

"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and that I don't comment on Fox News." June, 2005

[MGKrebs]

41. I hope you are right. Harold Ford perhaps gnashing his teeth

right about now.

[tavalon]

44. I have a dream

That Faux "News" will bankrupt themselves and go into history being known as the propaganda arm of the Republican party.

[Canuckistanian]

45. I think the Obama/Madrassa debacle really opened a few eyes

Even the big mainstream news organizations questioned that one.

[quiet.american]

47. Dupe. nt

[pacalo]

49. The grotesque spinmaster doesn't get it.

Democrats aren't afraid of Fox Noise; they have correctly & finally decided not to recognize it as a legitimately unbiased news network that serves the interests of all political persuasions.

If Fox Noise's intent is to serve & protect only this neocon administration & their enabling lapdogs, then they shouldn't cry foul when those to whom they have persistently labeled "the unpatriotic enemy" decide that enough is enough, that Fox Noise doesn't deserve their respect of participating in any of their forums of distortion.

[Ninja Jordan]

50. John Edwards has been a FANTASTIC candidate so far.

He isn't my first choice. But if Obama and Hillary weren't running, Edwards would be a real force. They've been sucking a lot of the air out of the room, so to speak. John has been leading on a lot of issues--and he's led the effort against the right wing news apparatus, thus giving other candidates the cover they needed to bow out. Way to go JRE!

[disndat]

70. I agree.

John Edwards showed real leadership in his withdrawing from the Faux News debate. The "Cititcal Mass" of Faux News bullyism would not have happened without Edwards initiating his protest. As far as I know, Obama was going to participate, in spite of the Faux News "Hussein" smear.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

51. Ailes has no compunction about twisting "news" to fit his political agenda,

but has the gall to lecture on journalistic integrity. Fuck him. He is an enabler of Fascism and cares not for the moral integrity he falsely espouses.

[HuffleClaw]

54. "They also know if a candidate is impeding freedom of speech and free press."

BWHAHHAHAHHHAHHAHAHAAAAAA

fox news aren't 'journalists'

[Beetwasher]

55. Yup, Great Post! Welcome To The 21st Century You Propaganda Peddling Filthy Maggots!!

The old, broken media is being superceded, bypassed and discarded and I say good riddance.

[stonebone]

56. K&R

[DearAbby]

58. Like any Potential Democratic voter

would be caught dead watching Faux Snooze...Democrats can lose without the help of fox. We don't need them, and Ailes knows this. They made their bed...lay in that shit, Roger.

No Democrat should ever darken the door of Fox. Totally freeze them out. Cheers to Obama being the first, following the Madrassa story. Cheers for Edwards for refusing this debate.

:applause:

On edit, read up thread that Dr.Dean was the first. I stand corrected with a cheer for the good Doctor!

[Labors of Hercules]

61. whoa... a little confused... whaddaya mean "Democrats can lose without the help of fox..."???

[DearAbby]

63. ooooooooooops my mistake

Wrong word...I am totally embarrassed...

[Labors of Hercules]

66. faux has that effect on people... it's quite misunderstandable...

:toast:

[Miss Chybil]

64. When they hire journalists at Fox News

then maybe somebody will want to answer their questions.

[HappyWeasel]

65. or just call it what it really is:

GOPTV.

Their slogan:

"The communists have CCTV, why can't we have GOPTV?"

[lonestarnot]

67. Delegitimize, marginalize, direct traffic to truth.

I'd love to see them dropped like rocks.

[NastyRiffraff]

68. Poor, poor Roger Ailes!

He was obviously salivating over the idea of that debate, and the chance to trash Dems directly.

Get over it, Ailes.. it's only going to get worse.

[saltpoint]

69. FOX has been slinging it far too long. It's absolutely GREAT to

see it brought into question and given a taste of 'No thanks' from our side.

I say keep up the pressure.

[femrap]

71. Murdoch and Ailes wouldn't know a journalist

is she/he came up and bit their teeny weeny pencils. All these two know is propaganda and spin.

Let's put the screws to this corporation to the point of bankruptcy. I would love to see News Corp. trying to sell this subsidiary because it's a money loser. Hell...I'd like to see the entire enchillada up for sale at bargain basement prices!

[rocktivity]

72. Actually, the beginning of the end of Fox began with the biggest story of LAST year

the November election results. And don't overlook the role Obama's reaction to the madrassah smear played.

:headbang:
rocknation