Following A Democratic Landslide, Would Fox News Turn Liberal?

[Syrinx]

Some say that the Fox News channel is all about GOP talking points.

But to Rupert Murdoch, is it all about ideology or is it about something more important? Meaning ratings and dollars.

If, as should happen in a rational universe, there is a Democratic landslide in the upcoming mid-terms, and it became obvious the country is fed up with big-government fascism, would Fox News change it's tone?

Would Hannity suddenly begin to throw the contests with Colmes, as opposed to the other way around?

Would Phil Donahue (or Mike Malloy) replace O'Reilly?

Would we be seeing "Special Report With Sam Donaldson?"

Or would Murdoch, Ailes, and Newscorp continue with their Nazi-like propaganda spiel, regardless of the ratings and profits?

[EFerrari]

1. Well, Kerry probably won 2004 and what did you see at Faux?

They have nothing to do with public opinion except in the sense that they try to swing it to the right.

[Dr Ron]

2. They will continue with conservative bias

They would see it as a long term investment. The conservatives know they have the best chance of using government to redistribute wealth to them by working to get Republicans back in power.

[Syrinx]

4. I'm afraid you and sfexpat2000 are right

I'm not sure if I was trying to induce optimism or cynicism with the question. ;)

[EFerrari]

5. The thing is, when propaganda becomes unprofitable

(Something I can hope for, anyway!), they'll do something else. At bottom, they are a moneymaking concern.

Fox is a joke to most thinking people and we are in the majority. You may be able to steal elections and even secure loans with smoke and mirrors. You can't fake popularity for very long. If their numbers go wrong, they'll flip like pancakes. Maybe they'll start rerunning old soaps. :)

[Syrinx]

7. I've noticed the ridicule factor has gone up recently

The late night comic shows have really seemed to inch up their Fox bashing lately. Especially Craig Ferguson. And I think we are indebted to Keith Olbermann for this in large part. Even though he works for GE (one of the most evil entities on the planet), he has been allowed, so far, to ridicule that propaganda operation.

I think everyone, except for the most reactionary, realize what a sleaze factory FNC is. But until quite recently, it wasn't acceptable to acknowledge it publicly. But the times, they are a changing.

I think that there would be a Democratic earthquake in November, except for the issue of the machines on which we vote. :(

[wakeme2008]

3. Does not matter who wins, it is ALL about market share....

As that goes lower, they have to lower the price of their ads, and that hurts their bottom line. IMHO that is why CNN is sometimes more conservative than others.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Leopards don't change their spots

'nuff said. Your experience of Fux is far greater than mine but having seen Outfoxed if they were to change horses their credibility would be even lower.

[Syrinx]

8. you know more than I do if you've seen Outfoxed, I guess

But I've watched Hannity and Colmes and the O'Reilly Factor and smirking Brit enough to know that they are a bunch of big-government intolerant, power-hungry, fascist assholes.

(What is it with fascists and smirks, anyway?)

[dipsydoodle]

17. Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism

was broadcast in it's entirety late one night on one of the UK national tv channels late February. It's probably not the sort of DVD you can just go out and rent but you can pick it up on Amazon.com used for $3.79 which don't sound too vicious - 'bout the same as a large pack of M&M's ?

Unprecedented 9how the 2000 election wuz stole) is worth watching as well.

[JI7]

9. Fox NEws was created for the purpose of spreading right wing propaganda

if Murdoch just wanted to make money he could invest in a bunch of cheap reality shows or other things which he DOES do.

the Fox NEws thing isn't much compared ot what he owns. he can afford to create a propaganda outlet.

so no, it would NOT turn liberal.

[Random_Australian]

10. Sorry, but Rupert Murdoch is a partisan hack.

He'll do all he can to stop it going anywhere left. Things might get weird, in fact.
If partisanship loses to his business sense, it'll still be a partisan hack RW network, but it will be a bit more towards being moderate.
If partisanship wins, fox will go apeshit about rigged elections/the shit will fly. Unless his managers and whatnot stop him, but he did get as much control as he could such that he could influence the broadcast, and have his cronies follow him.

meh. I dislike him. (Could you guess?)

[rucky]

11. FOX news has changed it's position on media consolidation

and support the re-issuance of the Fairness Doctrine.

In other news, put on your snow boots, as we go to Geraldo Rivera with the weather report from Hell.

[Lexingtonian]

12. Nah. Mass suicide.

They'll line up at the cauldrons of cyanide-spike Koolaid.

Actually, they'll just do what Republicans do when defeated. They prostitute themselves out elsewhere to the best paying folks who will have them, as per usual.

[Dulcinea]

13. Turn liberal, no. Shift towards the middle, maybe.

The only thing Murdoch cares about more than conservative politics is money. He'll put anything on his networks that he thinks will turn a profit. Hell, look at half the drivel on FOX!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. A bit of background concerning this question...

When New Labour came to power in the UK, they made a big point of courting Murdoch and getting his media empire on board with them. They managed this by giving the Murdoch media extremely preferential treatment and agreeing to make sure that various media rules favored the Murdoch way of operating. Newspapers like The Sun and The Times, while still remaining fairly conservative, were induced to throw their editorial support behind New Labour. What's to be learned from this? Well, Murdoch is still a conservative, but money is more important to him than ideology.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. No.

They will move into opposition mode. Look at the way Lush played during the Clinton years, that is your model.

[KharmaTrain]

16. They Created Their Own Parallel Universe...Who Cares

Faux's proper role is to be like the raving lunatics in the corner...the morons who claim the sky is falling and the rest of us look at them, chuckle and move along.

Faux hasn't and isn't the problem. There's few who really think there's a relationship between Faux and facts...it's eye candy for the wingnuts...a daily affirmation. This network represents a small fraction even of the Repugnican party...but its power is stronger these days not because of what they do, but how others view it.

We have a corporate media that still plays the "balanced" game such as GE/NBC that use the same talking points as Faux and THIS is what gives that network "credibility"...it's like how when it's one person it's a rumor, when it's two, it's "truthiness". The same goes for the stenographers who work for the WAPO and NY Times...it's when they parrot an Ailes/Faux talking point, that's where the lies became "mainstream".

Faux won't go away...and I hope it doesn't. Nothing would give me greater schadenfraude then to watch these asshats have to describe the loss of their feckless leader and the destruction of their immoral party and then minimalize themselves into the political wilderness.

[greenman3610]

18. president of Fox is Roger Ailes

a GOP operative.
so, no.

[Crankie Avalon]

19. Don't you remember what FOX was like when Clinton was president?

They detested him then, as they will go on detesting anyone who isn't a total rightwing Republican lunatic in the future.

[DFW]

20. Roger Ailes

Ailes is a veteran of Nixon's Dirty Tricks Team.

As long as he is head of Fox "News," things will not change.
When interviewed about their cavalier attitude toward truthful
reporting, he shrugged, and said, "we have an agenda." He wasn't
trying to hide anything, why should we put words in his mouth?

Since truth is not an objective there, then the only other objective
there could be is their propaganda. As long as they package it in such
a manner that the nut cases watch it and patronize their advertisers,
they'll keep it up, and the oil companies have a LOT of revenue with
which to advertise these days. A few words from Cheney and some Senate
Republicans about where to spend advertising dollars in order for some
oil-friendly legislation, and your circle is complete. When you see/hear
Exxon ads on the Daily Kos and Air America, THEN you can believe there is
a change in the air.

[HughBeaumont]

21. Reagan Rupert and Atwater Ailes wouldn't even go moderate

These are fascist enablers of the worst kind. Saint Gipper wouldn't let them into the Kingdom if they budged an inch.

[HamdenRice]

22. Very interesting question -- In China, Fox is communist

A lot of Americans don't really understand Fox and Murdoch. They actually are not ideological -- at least not all the time. I have no doubt that Murdoch is personally very right wing, but his main goal is money and power.

In China, Fox has supports the communist government to the hilt, in order to have access to the market.

Fox has made a calculation that the way to maximum profits and power in the US is through the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

If it became clear that the Republicans would be out of power for a long time (as during the 1940s), Fox would I believe switch sides.

But its methods would be the same. It would not be principled, well argued support for the Democrats; it would be mantra-based mind manipulation such as they use now for the Republicans.

[NewJeffCT]

24. Many big US corporations support the Communists in China

because it makes them money. Murdoch supports the far right in the US, the UK and Australia. He supports the Communist gov't in China because it makes him money and the far right powers that be in the US, UK & Australia say it is okay to support the Chinese gov't since it suports their goal of outsourcing high paying local jobs for much lower wages in China to drive down overall wages.

[Radio_Guy]

23. If Fox were truly fair and balanced

They would have Phil Donahue co-host with Bill O'Reilly. That would be a hoot. O'Reilly would finally be taken to task.

[hatrack]

25. They'd play victim for the key "Mouth-Breathing/Pimply" demographic

After all, you can't abandon your "base".

[ecstatic]

26. FNC was RIGHT WING well before 2000

In fact, they seemed to be at their worst in '99. At that time I didn't even know where I stood politically but they helped me find out really fast.

[riona]

27. Absolutely not

They'll have some new subjects to rip apart. This is their specialty

[Jim Warren]

28. No, they'll be in gravy

Cystboy Limbo's ship came in with Clinton in the White House.