Fox News Comes Out Of The Closet (Cenk @ Huffington Post)

[ihavenobias]

Note: This is just an extended excerpt (posted with the author's permission). Please use the link provided to read the full piece.

Fox News Comes Out Of The Closet
by Cenk Uygur

Fox News finally made it official. They are part and parcel of the Republican Party. They are now the largest donors to the Republican Governors Association, having given them $1 million dollars. They also employ three out of the top four Republicans in the Iowa Caucus Poll for GOP presidential candidates.

As I explain here, now that Fox News has come out of the closet, it's hard to distinguish where Fox News ends and the Republican Party begins:

Ed Show: Cenk Takes On Fox News

But there is one more factor here. It's not just that Fox News has a point of view. Many publications and shows have a certain perspective as well, whether it's conservative or liberal. It's that Fox News does propaganda. What's the difference?

They don't just have a perspective, they have an agenda. And they drive that agenda until their political goals are met. So, they don't just do the so-called Ground Zero Mosque story on one or two shows randomly depending on the host's interests. They all do it. Their talk show hosts do the story. Their so-called news anchors do the story. They do it 24-7 until it spreads to the other cable news stations, and then thereby spreads into the whole media.

That's not a coincidence, that's a well thought out strategy. And it works like a charm. So, for example, people are confused as to why the Democrats always seem to get slammed in the summers. That's because Congress is in recess, there is a news void and Fox fills that void with whatever propaganda they have decided will incite fear and loathing at that time. So, last summer it was death panels and Tea Parties. This summer it's the "Ground Zero Mosque."

...The longer the Democrats and the rest of the media treat Fox News as a legitimate "news station," the longer this will happen. And then everyone will sit around confused about how such a large percentage of the country could think Obama is a Muslim, or that ACORN stole the election for Obama or that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11. They will wonder how these demonstrably false stories could get so much traction. All the while as the Fox News propaganda machine hums in the background.

[OhioChick]

1. K&R n/t

[20score]

2. K&R!

[Rhiannon12866]

3. K&R. But is anyone surprised?

We certainly aren't and its "viewers" probably think this is just fine...

[Turborama]

4. K&R Thanks for posting, man. Please pass this OP on to Cenk...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[ihavenobias]

19. Thanks. n/t

[Turborama]

35. My pleasure!

[theFrankFactor]

5. K&R

[niceypoo]

6. "it's hard to distinguish where Fox News ends and the Republican Party begins"

FOX is the GOP. The GOP does what FOX commands them to do.

[Enthusiast]

7. K&R

Fox 'News' propaganda has had real impact on the electoral process. The rest of the American media has a responsibility to inform the American people that Fox News is a source of false and dangerous misinformation.

[cbdo2007]

8. Obama should remove them from the White House press room for this.

They really are nothing more than a tabloid and this proves it.

[jgraz]

24. Ahahahaha!

He's going to keep "looking forward" and not "looking back". Unless someone on the left does something to piss him off.

[steve2470]

9. k&r

Granted, most Americans won't know this, but this really really puts ALL the coffin nails into any claims of being "fair and balanced".

[ihavenobias]

13. You'd be surprised how many people don't know this.

Or how many people think MSNBC is just a liberal version of Fox.

[jgraz]

10. Cenk nails it. Again.

and again. and again.

[libodem]

11. Anyone remember the

Olden days when we would watch tv and see the film footage of Russian peasants standing around a power pole with a speaker attached to it listening to "Propaganda". That was how we saw the poor Russians getting the news the government wanted them to hear.

Even back then, as a child, I thought we have a speaker into each of our own homes....and it's our televisions. I had a picture in my mind of broadcast towers sitting on the polar ice caps sending filtered and adulterated news to people who picked a station reflecting their own views.

My childish visions have clearly come to pass and Faux news is no better than a Russian speaker on a power pole propagandizing peasants.

Fuck Fox!

[rucky]

12. The most important story of the summer:

The media isn't even trying to hide their bias anymore.

[Kajsa]

14. I'm glad this is exposed.

K&R

[JDPriestly]

15. Excellent. I like this part:

That's not a coincidence, that's a well thought out strategy. And it works like a charm. So, for example, people are confused as to why the Democrats always seem to get slammed in the summers. That's because Congress is in recess, there is a news void and Fox fills that void with whatever propaganda they have decided will incite fear and loathing at that time. So, last summer it was death panels and Tea Parties. This summer it's the "Ground Zero Mosque."

Fox News Comes Out Of The Closet

Cenk Ugyer

[jillan]

16. Msnbc should give Cenk his own show.

[CherylK]

17. +1

[ihavenobias]

20. Here are the ratings

http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/cable-news

[jgraz]

23. Hopefully, they're smart enough to do so.

[Octafish]

18. Hey, Cenk! Ever hear of Rev. Moon?

The guy's a superconservative of a publisher and a real sweatheart of a predator.

Know your BFEE: 1984 Death of Outstanding Congressional Staffer Buried Poppy-Moon Relationship

Know your BFEE: Forget Rev. Wright! It’s Bush and His Cronies Who Owe an Apology for Rev. Moon!

Know your BFEE: Rev. Sun Myung Moon OWNS Poppy Bush

Part of a bigger and even more sinister picture:

Know your BFEE: Cultkeepers

They must have a blast at the holidays, playing Celebrity Blackmail.

[red red red]

21. K & R n/t

[Capitalocracy]

22. Here are the two things I took from this story

1. Fox News has been getting away with so much obvious indoctrination under the guise of "news" and the rest of the media is so irresponsible that they think they can just give money to the Republican Party directly and still get away with calling themselves "fair and balanced", and continue to control the national dialogue. And unfortunately, they're probably right, but in the end the people will stop watching the mainstream news at all.

2. The Republican Party has no connection with the people (except the fascist fringe) and they are so reliant on outspending the opposition that not even lavish corporate donations are enough, they have to turn to their own propaganda wing for funding. Unless Fox is doing this because the fascist fringe is going so crazy and so far to the right that they don't even trust Fox News anymore (I've heard more than one say that even Fox is "leftist").

K&R

[Turborama]

25. The full Huffpo article is a must read! n/t

[CherylK]

26. Bump!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

27. no offense...but all of the major news organizations

and their parent orgs donate money to various political entities and parties...

it is intellectually dishonest to suggest that any of them are politically clean...

sP

[ihavenobias]

28. False Equivalency Alert. n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

29. how so? n/t

[ihavenobias]

30. Because the gigantic donation to the RGA is one small piece compared to this...

"...It's not just that Fox News has a point of view. Many publications and shows have a certain perspective as well, whether it's conservative or liberal. It's that Fox News does propaganda. What's the difference?

They don't just have a perspective, they have an agenda. And they drive that agenda until their political goals are met. So, they don't just do the so-called Ground Zero Mosque story on one or two shows randomly depending on the host's interests. They all do it. Their talk show hosts do the story. Their so-called news anchors do the story. They do it 24-7 until it spreads to the other cable news stations, and then thereby spreads into the whole media.

That's not a coincidence, that's a well thought out strategy. And it works like a charm. So, for example, people are confused as to why the Democrats always seem to get slammed in the summers. That's because Congress is in recess, there is a news void and Fox fills that void with whatever propaganda they have decided will incite fear and loathing at that time. So, last summer it was death panels and Tea Parties. This summer it's the "Ground Zero Mosque"...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. i'm sorry...but the other news orgs have agendas too

none of them are 'fair and balanced'...and you can look at the political donations of the various orgs to figure out what that agenda is. so, does Fox Snooze have an agenda? Hell yes. But so to CNN, MSNBC, CBS and ABC...

sP

[ihavenobias]

33. False Equivalency Alert # 2

Give me a specific issue that CNN or MSNBC lied and fear mongered about all day every day for days or weeks that is anywhere near equivalent to what Fox does on a regular basis? Fox literally sends out agenda/talking point memos to their hosts but where is the evidence that CNN and MSNBC do the same?

[WillyT]

32. K & R !!!

[AsahinaKimi]

34. The thing about it is

They no longer care what anyone says. No one will come after them for this. As an American saying goes, "They have become too big for their britches." Makes you wonder how embolden they will become?