Why taking on Fox Noise is a good idea (Michael Wolff)

[Are_grits_groceries]

Here’s what nobody seems to know: whether we’re a liberal nation or a conservative one.
<snip>

And then there’s Fox. For more than 10 years, Fox News, with its dedicated right-wing views, has been the only real success in television news. Partly because of our odd relationship to success (if you make money, you’re mainstream), and partly because Fox was so mesmerizing, so attention-seeking and attention-getting, we came to believe—still believe—Americans are a pretty grotty right-wing bunch.

As it happens, the Fox audience is, tops, only 2 million people, and yet, because of its flamboyance and success, it manages to convince the rest of the media that conservatism is the national mood.

And yet, yesterday, the Washington Post reported in a new poll that, actually, not only do a significant majority of Americans favor health care reform, but 57% want the public option—that most heated symbol of statism.

So I am revising my theory of what the Obama administration is doing in its frontal assault on Fox: I think they want us to take sides. Are you a Fox person or not a Fox person? And I think they want to identify Fox as the standard bearer of American conservatism. If you’re a conservative, you’re for Fox (ie, is that who you want to be?).
<snip>
Hence, Republicanism = conservatism = Fox = rabid opposition to an incredibly popular piece of legislation = hopeless marginalization = new liberal consensus.

I think they’re really going for it and that we may all turn out to be liberals.

http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/310/ive-changed-my-mind-on-the-obama-fox-showdown.html

I agree with him. Fox has a bully pulpit, and nobody in the MSM challenges them when they say something that is false and outrageous. A lot of the time the rest of the MSM seems to pick up on their crap, and then we see people scheduled who are able to spout away.

The anchors rarely call bullshit, and the ideas the loons present are given some credence. It would seem that the MSM would rather gin up the controversy to keep ratings going than beat down the inaccuracies. That is a great disservice to people who are watching.

I don't expect the MSM to be cheerleaders for the administration. However, I also don't believe they should passively pass along obvious cowpies without pointing out what they really are.

That huge silver balloon sailing across the sky with Schroedinger's boy inside is an apt metaphor. Huge balloons full of whatever ideas are unleashed every day and sail across the the teevee. The MSM just watches and breathlessly points them out and accepts what they are told is inside as gospel.

They never consider the source and then use other resources to help calculate what is really inside. The balloon lands, and there is no boy inside as they have been told. Then they get all het up because they were fooled. The damage has been done.

If they had stopped watching the damn thing and used some of the other information available to them, they could probably point out what is wrong before it lands.

[Kind of Blue]

1. Your balloon boy metaphor is really correct,

as well as the MSM loving controversy over accuracy. I think the administration at the very least is trying to get people to think and at the most to put it out there once and for all what surveys and studies have been saying for years now. Like it or not, I think it's about time this issue gets filtered into everyone's consciousness.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Someone else enter the fray:

MoveOn pushes Dems to join White House in icing Fox News

Joining recent condemnations by the Obama White House, Democratic political action group MoveOn.org is urging its network to petition Democrats in congress against appearing on Fox News at all until the start of next year.

"Democrats often appear on FOX in hopes of reaching out to conservative viewers. But FOX cuts off their mic, distorts what they say, or runs biased headlines at the bottom of the screen," the group said in a recent mass e-mail. "In the end, Democrats always lose on FOX."

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/moveon-pushes-dems-join-white-house-icing-fox-news/

They are right about the way Fox uses Democratic guests. They employ tricks and make them seem weak, dumb, and silly.

[KharmaTrain]

3. A Law Of Diminishing Returns...

I applaud the White House for speaking the truth about faux and calling them for what we know they are to be...a propaganda outlet for the RNC. Unfortunately the corporate media is afraid of murdoch and his money. For some, they don't want to shut the door on a possible employer or honk off his publishing companies. Some seem to be "concerned" that by calling out its bias and bile, it's an indictment of the entire corporate media (which it is) as these people still haven't gotten the message that by coddling faux and trying to frame them as legitimate they ruined their own credibility in the process.

That said, methinks its time for this Administration just to shut faux out and not say a word about it...no need to. For the vast majority who don't watch that vile waste of electrons, there are far more important things to focus on. Best to isolate and ignore as the longer you stay in the mud with these slime merchants, the dirtier you become.

Today's corporate media hsa become an island to themselves...totally disconnected from the consumer and strictly playing to advertisers and their own resumes. Real journalism won't work on any of the cables cause that involves expenses and time that aren't "sexy"...a picture of a balloon floating away is far more "compelling" than a diagram of how healthcare works. When they do focus on a human "interest" story...it's always to exploit it and then move along...very little follow up. For example, yesterday, there was some dynamic and shocking testimony regarding how creditors hounded a family in the ICU unit while their child was dying...yet the only place I saw any coverage of this was a quick report and then back to the circus of the day.

Those who watch faux do so by choice...and so be it. They reach a small minority of both viewers and the electorate. Time to move onto other truly serious issues and let faux keep polluting their own toybox. The point's been proven...

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. The administration has been shutting them out.

They have basically left them alone. Fox just keeps getting more outrageous.

If their memes didn't slip so easily into the MSM where a lot of people get their news, then I would say leave them be. However as I said, the MSM have become enablers and give credence to what they say.

It goes from being just RW crazy talk to being considered somewhat plausible. The MSM doesn't pay much attention to people who point out their foolishness. The only people who get their attention seems to be the WH.

I would continue this for a while longer, and allow Anita Dunn to be the point. It will establish that the WH won't stand down for every rumor that comes down the pike. I wouldn't engage them on every point because that would require 24/7 work. I would concentrate on the most outlandish and largest points.

I don't think it will take that long to keep that bright line around Fox that will make people remember they are very partisan. It will stick in minds very soon.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Again...Diminishing Returns...

Firstly, there is no such thing as "MSM"...it's corporate through and through. Its main role is to provide profits to its owners and stockholders, not to be a public utility. The days when the three networks dominated information has long passed as many now turn to the Internet for their information...the teevee is nothing more than an echo chamber. Viewing numbers have dropped over the years as corporate media has cheapened and dumbed down the product...manipulating and exploiting "news" rather than reporting it.

Faux is just one facet of the right wing hate machine. It's hate radio that runs with the most outrageous stories that are later picked up on faux and then echoed between the two. A recent report showed that 91% of "talk" radio stations in the country are "conservative" (translation: hate spewers). They aren't owned by faux but by a handful of corporates who have destroyed that medium and are now facing bankruptcy. They've chased away all but the "unwashed" who are a vocal minority and a shrinking one.

I am strongly in favor of this administration shutting faux out...for all the reasons you state, but not to stoop down to their level...that only validates the whacko world. Now if others in the corporate media pick up on the faux or hate radio talking points, then that shows a more systemic problem that can only be fixed with even lower ratings and revenues...that's the only thing the corporates care about.

The only enemy this administration has is itself. If it fails to deliver on major promises like healtcare or ending the adventurism of the booosh regime, that's what people will judge them on, not what some wingnut on faux or the corporate media has to say. They sure didn't do much to throttle in the boooosh regime.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. Here is another article:

By Cenk Uygur
Why the White House is 100% Right to Challenge Fox News
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/19/13223/483

[KharmaTrain]

10. And This Proves?

WIth all due respects to Mr. Uygur, he's a partisan more than a journalist. He has an agenda as much as someone on the other side. And both appreciate the firefight as they then try to step in to score their own points. I'm not defending faux...far from it, just consider the source. True journalism is party-blind.

[Toots]

11. True journalism is party-blind.

I tend to disagree a bit, I believe the Rachel Maddow Show demonstrates True Journalism even though she has an admitted Bias. She just narrows her focus to just politics and not general news. However she is quite thorough and her material seems well researched. She does not just spew Propaganda.

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. She is the closest on tv

that I've seen. She will talk to people all people, and she is polite to them. She also knows her shit. Maddow is as well prepared as anyone I've ever seen, and she can recall a lot of it. She may use her notes, but she masters the material quite easily.

The other point is that if she makes a mistake, she will say so. That alone makes her unique. Rachel also doesn't make a mealy-mouthed apology. She doesn't say,"If I offended anyone....." That is so half-assed. She also doesn't try to throw the blame on someone or something else.

Rachel will also not budge if she doesn't think she owes anyone an apology. She will go through her logic, but she won't apologize. She has done that to some people who I know would pull strings to get her if they could.

The best part about Rachel is that she isn't captured by the job. I don't think she has been blinded or coopted by her position. I believe she would have a fulfilling life whether she was on tv or not. I think the people at the network know she can walk away in a heartbeat. She doesn't care so much about the job that she will bend to keep it.

[GoCubsGo]

7. This whole thing reminds me of Mr. Creosote...

...from "Monty' Python's The Meaning of Life." The Obama administration is the waiter, and they are just feeding that one thin after dinner wafer to Mr. Creosote/Fox News. It'll be just a matter of time before they explode and send the viewers scattering, just as did Mr. Creosote's fellow restaurant patrons after he exploded.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlK62rjQWLk


What really got me this morning, was the few minutes of "Morning Joke" that I could stomach. Joey the Scab of MSNBC WAS DEFENDING FOX NEWS in this matter!!!!! If that isn't a sign that the little shit bag is trying to move to that network, I don't know what is.

[Kind of Blue]

8. Wow, that was really, really gross but I get your point. n/t

[Kind of Blue]

5. Totally agree, the message is loud and clear. Now, it

will be interesting to see how far the administration pushes it.
BTW, KO did pick up the Burns' story last last night with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33406032