NYT: Netroots Try To Label Fox News As 'Opinion Media' At Conference: Good Idea?

[ihavenobias]

Last July (2007) of The Young Turks .

with Keith Olbermann because (although I have to say it wasn't Cenk's best tv appearance and he did a much better job explaining his position in the DailyKos piece linked at the top of the page).

At any rate, , The Netroots has taken this to heart and "Planners of the conference want to force representatives of the cable news network to wear credentials identifying them as opinion media rather than providing them with the regular press passes other news outlets will receive.

“Fox News calls itself fair and balanced, but it’s not,” Josh Orton, political director for Netroots said in an interview. He accused the network, which is popular among conservatives, of misrepresenting itself..."

So, what do YOU think? Is it a good idea to try and label Fox News opinion media? What are the pros and cons?

PS---Don't miss the new show which starts today, Friday July 18th, at 1pm EST at http://meetthebloggers.org/. It's hosted by Cenk of TYT and there will be many guests this summer, including Rachel Maddow, Arianna Huffington, John Cusack and many more!

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I like the accurate labelling.

[calimary]

2. Any attempt on our side to name or label one of their groups is only fair (and balanced).

After all, how much energy have all of them put into trying to re-label us as "the Democrat Party"?

Well, two can play at that game, dear GOP. We'll call you ANYTHING WE DAMNED WELL FEEL LIKE CALLING YOU. Consider yourselves lucky that it's not automatically a series of four-letter words.

It's good to rebrand them as much and as often as possible. WE will determine what and who they are, and how they're referred to. Like Keith is now referring to o'reilly as "Billo the Clown" - and of course there's always "Comedian rush limbaugh" - and I say all's fair. Fair game and all that. If they're gonna dish that shit out, they damned well better be ready to take it, too.

[Ian David]

3. Fuck yeah! n/t

[ihavenobias]

20. Short and to the point, I like it n/t

[PLE]

4. Faux News = Reeps Pravda

As I've always said, FAUX News: Opiate of the Asses

Sadly, they probably won't use that label.

[CherylK]

5. Great idea!

:party:

[fight4my3sons]

6. Right on!

you know what they say about opinions... plenty of assholes over at Fox News.

[OhioChick]

7. Faux News is opinion based media

if you want to even call it "media." To me, it's only a far right wing propanganda show.

[gateley]

8. K&R! nt

[unblock]

9. it's NOT opinion media. it's propaganda. call it what it is.

opinion media is when you offer your opinion, usually express it as such, and give the viewers the tools and power to decide for themselves whether to accept your opinion or not.

propaganda is manipulation of topics, words, discussions, etc., to bypass viewer thought processes and place your opinion in the viewer. this is what fauxnews does.

lying is not opinion.
ridiculing is not opinion.
interrupting is not opinion.
pretending that colmes is an even match for hannity is not opinion.
claiming to be fair and balanced when you're anything but is not opinion.

it's propaganda.

CALL IT WHAT IT IS!

[ihavenobias]

10. Baby steps, Baby steps.

Yes, it's propaganda, but that strong term (while accurate) will likely turn off the majority of people who need to understand what Fox really is the most.

And the media will dismiss it even more than they'll dismiss the "opinion media" tag which is a nice middle ground that brings us closer to where we need to be.

If they went right for "propaganda media" at the convention you'd hear even more stories about how The Netroots is part of the "loony, liberal left", and not just from Fox News anchors either. That's my opinion anyway, and rather than dissing this effort for not going far enough I think we should encourage it.

[unblock]

12. you need more than one line of attack

one lesson learned from psychos like ann coulter is that the overall movement really benefits from someone playing the role of the loony extreme. this not only paves the way for accepted thought later on, but it also gives your political teammates the opportunity to disavow you, thereby appearing far more reasonable while advancing a position that's only slightly less of what you want.

i mean, see how much more reasonable your position seems now that i've brought up the propaganda thing?

:hi:

[ihavenobias]

14. Ha, ha, Good point!

:)

[Stuart G]

11. You are correct. CALL IT WHAT IT IS... WELL PUT..nt

[anonymous171]

34. infotainment

[barbtries]

13. it's much more accurate

and they don't deserve the credibility accorded to an actual news organization. if they don't like it they can stay home. i'm all for it.

[LSK]

15. Yes I think its a good idea n/t

[Spike89]

16. No problem with it...

But why stop with Fox? It's a pet peeve of mine that the label "journalist" is so loosely used, especially on television. It devalues the actual, factual reporting of real reporters and muddies the waters. Commentators, news personalities, even "anchor" are much more accurate. Sorry, but we need to apply this across the entire spectrum too...meaning Randi, Keith, and other left-leaning news-related entertainers would be labeled too. I just hate that the term journalist is used to confer weight and authority to people who are simply trying to entertain the masses through information and serious discourse killing ideological showmanship.

[ihavenobias]

22. Did you read Cenk's article (included in the OP) or watch his Olbermann appearance?

They get into those issues.

[pleah]

17. Yes! Because that is what it is.

K&R

[jgraz]

18. K&R

[navarth]

19. I remember Cenk's appearance on Countdown too...

bummed me out. Hate to see Cenk have a bad outing. It started off poorly...he interjected his trademark "Of Coooooourse"! and the mike clipped. The sound man was NOT ready for the Power of Cenk.

But getting to the question, OF COOOOURSE Fox is opinion media. And of course they should be forced to have those kind of credentials.

But who will force them?

[ihavenobias]

23. Agreed n/t

[SoCalDem]

21. Not really.. They are the Propaganda dept for the republican party

This makes them much MORE dangerous than being an "opinion station".. They offer FREE advertising for any right wing wacko that comes along.. They are 24-7 ANTI liberal/progressive/democratic megaphones, posing as a "news" station.

Democrats have to beg, barter or pay for air time, and republicans have all the FREE airtime they want/need...and even after they have "left the building", their message continues..

Fox is a danger, because their "viewers" are mostly those "low-information" types who are easily convinced that the deomcrats/liberals are their enemies...and the Fox-fans are exactly the same type of people who kill doctors in their kitchens, who harrass people at funerals, who spread vicious lies about people, who love Karl Rove....these are delusional people...often armed to the teeth..

[CherylK]

24. Bump!

[ihavenobias]

25. Thanks n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

26. I think it isn't labeling when you tell the truth about an institution

Fox "News" is opinion media. They don't try to be "fair and balanced", and never have.

[ihavenobias]

27. I agree 100% on the "fair and balanced". Most of us do I'm sure.

That particular line pisses me off to no end.

[NoodleyAppendage]

28. 'BOUT TIME we started using language as a weapon! Repukes have done this for decades. n/t

J

[ihavenobias]

32. Dems generally do a very poor job of framing issues well

The Repubs have done it, as you said, for decades with great success.

[mmonk]

29. Absolutely correct.

[bunkerbuster1]

30. Without having read the article or heard Cenk I'm inclinded to agree

Biggest problem I have with a lot of people and their perception of the "news" media is that they literally do not know the difference between news, news analysis, and opinion.

All have their place; all used to be brightly defined. Since Fox News was foisted upon us, those lines were removed and bloviating dummies on the TeeVee became "news."

So this is a good first step. Sure.

[ihavenobias]

31. I like the qualifying statement, at least you're honest

;)

[hootinholler]

33. Any media outlet that says: "We report, You decide" is an opinion media outlet.

Just my decision.

-Hoot

[GTurck]

35. It just might....

go a long way in waking up those who think they are watching "news" to find out they are really watching (passive voice ?) opinion. Opinion is not meant to be a passive and that is why it needs to explicit and transparent so that those who are passively watching have no excuses.}(

[ihavenobias]

36. Amen n/t

[OhioChick]

37. Late day kick

:kick:

[Disturbed]

38. "Fair & balanced" is false advertising from Fixed Noise.

99.99% of their content is RWing swill.

[CherylK]

39. Bump!

[Overseas]

40. WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA? by Eric Alterman explains why many networks would need the label too.

FOX is just more openly distorting news than the others do.

[ihavenobias]

41. I like Eric/Media Matters. They do great work n/t