There was the genesis of right wing radio primarily with Rush, then Savage and Levine, and now Alex Jones. More and more vile. And, the total takeover of the radio networks and the AM band.
The Telcom Act of 1996 loosening the ownership rules that made more huge companies and the loss of local oriented radio and tv stations.
And, sitting back watching it all happen was Roger Ailes.
And, with the Backing of Rupert Murdochs money, the creation of the greatest right wing propaganda media outlet that this country has ever seen.
The holy grail.
Fox News.
Using the very cleverly tested and marketed slogan of "fair and balanced".
Using very attractive (primarily blonde) female anchors who were required to wear short skirts or dresses. And, the camera people and directors told to take a lot of low angle wide shots to show off those slim beautiful legs.
Completely blurring the once mandatory journalistic lines of what is straight reporting and what is opinion/editorial comment.
Completely going from information to entertainment and creating the new genre of infotainment that they soon found had a great and very PROFITABLE niche.
But, surely, this wouldn't last.
Surely REAL journalists would speak out against this vehicle of propaganda for what it was.
Surely no REAL journalists would work there.
Surely our politicians (even the sane moderate republicans) would join ALL Democrats and boycott them by never appearing on Fox and never issuing them media credentials because THEY WERE NOT MEDIA.
Well, don't call us Shirley because it all happened.
And, not only that.
Even worse, many other media outlets tried to copy much of what Fox was doing trying to emulate their success to gain better profits.
Because news was no longer what it once was for the broadcast networks.
Remember when news was considered a necessary public service that the networks must provide to be given our air space. Remember when news divisions were separate from entertainment divisions and it was ok if the news divisions lost money.
Fox News changed that forever.
And, nothing can kill them.
Yes, their ratings are a little down niw with all of the sexual harassment stuff forcing out Ailes and O'Reilly and others.
But, it doesn't matter now.
What Fox News does is now accepted and expected (even craved) by a huge portion of the public.
Sure, their audience is getting older.
But, they or another incarnation dreamed up by the Koch, Mercers or others will adapt and follow with new technologies and new ways to shape younger and future generations minds.
Did some of us try to stop it?
Yes, we called it Faux or Fixed news.
Had bumper stickers.
Tried to tell friends and family not to watch.
But, too many did and still do watch.
They are addicted to this type of non thinking authoritative media that feeds them a particular point of view with the truth abandoned and the facts not very important or even important at all.
America let this happen.
The Republicans thought this was what they wanted to offset their perceived mainstream media leftist bias. So, what if Fox was a little loose with the truth. It meant winning.
It meant a set of completely loyal voters.
And, it meant the end of America having a real free and honest press that we so need and sorely miss. It's happened right in front of us. Before our very eyes.
And, we thought it couldn't happen here.
And, we thought nobody like Trump could be elected.
To quote the ending of Planet of the Apes... Damn you, damn you all to hell.
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