WP, Dionne: Blocking Fox from sponsoring Democratic debates is effective liberal push-back

[DeepModem Mom]

Saying No to Fox News
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, April 13, 2007; Page A17

....What (Roger) Ailes knows is that the campaign to block Fox from sponsoring Democratic debates is the most effective liberal push-back against the network that stars Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity since its debut on Oct. 7, 1996.

Ailes has been brilliant at having it both ways, insisting that his network is "fair and balanced" even as its right-tilting programming built a devoted conservative following that helped it bury CNN and MSNBC in the ratings.

While Ailes knew precisely what he was doing, his competitors flailed. They dumped one format after another, sometimes trying to lure conservative viewers from Fox by offering their own right-leaning programs. Loyal conservatives preferred the real thing and stuck with Fox.

My hunch is that Ailes, one of the toughest and smartest in a generation of Republican political consultants, sees his adversaries as playing the kind of political hardball he respects. It's why he's angry. The anti-Fox squad won a second round on Monday when Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton joined John Edwards in announcing that they would not appear at a debate to be sponsored by Fox and the Congressional Black Caucus in September.

The Fox debate saga is amusing, but it's more than that. It marks a transformation on the left driven by the rise of Internet voices and the frustration of liberals at the success of conservatives in using a combination of talk radio, Fox and the Web to propagate anti-liberal, anti-Democratic messages.

From the late 1960s until the past few years, media criticism was dominated by conservatives railing against a supposedly "liberal media." Hearing mostly from this one side, editors, publishers and producers looked constantly over their right shoulders, rarely imagining they could be biased against the left or too accommodating to Republican presidents. This was a great conservative victory....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201821.html?nav=hcmodule

[lligrd]

1. Agreed - Wholeheartedly! nt

[KT2000]

2. Good editorial!

Just cannot agree with those who think the candidates should show up to fight back. That is ridiculous. They would give them loaded questions that could be used on FOX until the next election.

[Eurobabe]

3. K & R!!

[annabanana]

4. Breaking! ; E. J. Dionne Jr. sees the nose on his face!

Don't get me wrong. I'm delighted to see this clear sighted article. It's about time. It would be amusing if he's touted at prescient because of it.

I think I'll write him a letter commending him on his important insight... really, no sarcasm.

[rpannier]

5. Pround to be number 5. Thanks for the article

[jzodda]

Thanks for the article!

its exactly how I feel too and I even wrote a similar article myself 5 days ago at Opednews.com

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joseph_z_070408_senators_clinton_and.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 8, 2007

Senators Clinton and Obama should back out of the September 23rd debate in Detroit hosted by Fox News

By Joe Z


John Edwards made an important decision in this very early Democratic Primary season. He decided to back out of the September 23rd debate in Detroit hosted by Fox News.

I am calling on Senators Clinton and Obama to follow suit. Fox News has shown itself to be an organization that is little more than an add on to the Republican National Committee. In my view it would be a mistake for the Democratic candidates to participate in any event that gives Fox News any credibility as a news organization. They will use the event to explain how "Fair and Balanced" they are while using their pundits to attack Democratic candidates and positions both before and after the debate.

The time has come for the Democratic party in particular, and the Progressive movement in general, to finally take action against an organization that calls itself a news organization but is in constant attack mode when it comes to Democrats. For a decade now the left has stood by and said very little and done even less on this issue. The time of Democrats being afraid to offend Fox News in the fears of losing votes should be over. The time for taking strong positions against our political enemies is now. The message should be sent to the masses that we will no longer stand by and watch progressives being swift boated by a network that reminds its viewers how "fair and balanced" they are dozens of times each day.

The plain fact is that Senator Edwards "gets" it and he stands to benefit from taking a stand on an important issue this early in the campaign. If the others follow suit then they and we all will benefit from exposing Fox News for what it really is, the mouthpiece of the RNC

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Excellent, jzodda! nt

[JNelson6563]

6. But, but, but...it's a stunt!!!

Or so I've read here on DU, amazingly (not to mention repeatedly).

Julie

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. Since when did stunts become a bad thing?

;)

Like your sig graphic!

[Robbien]

8. Dionne gets it

All the memes out there are GOP memes. If the media is liberal why is the media constantly shouting GOP memes. Heck, even liberal media is a GOP meme.