NEWSWEEK: The O’Garbage Factor - Fox News isn't just bad. It's un-American.

[kpete]

The O’Garbage Factor

The Australian-British-continental model of politicized media that Murdoch has applied at Fox is un-American, so much so that he has little choice but go on denying what he's doing as he does it. For Murdoch, Ailes, and company, "fair and balanced" is a necessary lie.

Fox News isn't just bad. It's un-American.
Published Oct 17, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Oct 26, 2009

Last week, when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn charged the Fox News Channel with right-wing bias, Fox responded the way it always does. It denied the accusation with a straight face while proceeding to confirm it with its coverage.

Consider Fox's Web story on the episode. It quotes five people. Two of them work for Fox. All of them assert that administration officials are either wrong in substance or politically foolish to criticize the network. No one is cited supporting Dunn's criticisms or saying that it could make sense for Obama to challenge the network's power. It's a textbook example of a biased journalism.

If you were watching Fox News Channel, you saw the familiar roster of platinum pundettes and anchor androids reciting the same soundbites: this was Obama's version of Nixon's enemies list, the rest of the news media is in Obama's corner, Obama should get back to governing, and so on. On The O'Reilly Factor, Alan Colmes, the network's weak, battered house liberal, mumbled semi-agreement while "Doctor" Monica Crowley and Bill O'Reilly lit up the scoreboard with these talking points.

Any news organization that took its responsibilities seriously would take pains to cover presidential criticism fairly. It would regard doing so as itself a test of integrity. At Fox, by contrast, complaints of unfairness prompt only hoots of derision and demands for "evidence" that, when presented, is brushed off and ignored.

more:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/218192

[jeffbr]

1. Fox News = the nest of treasonous liars

[indepat]

3. Un-American F'ers almost to the man and woman: let's all join in shooting rockets up their

proverbial hypocritical and disingenuous assholes. :P

[liberal N proud]

2. It's FUX Propaganda

There is nothing that resembles news on that network.

[AndyA]

4. Faux News is trash television. Propaganda for the masses.

Faux viewers don't bother to check on the truth, they just believe what they're told. Which makes them lazy, incurious, and pathetic individuals.

I suspect many are uneducated, which explains their bigotry and other views.

Trash television for idiots = Faux News.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[abbeyco]

12. Most Cluster Fox viewers are uneducated

They don't know any better than to believe the charlatains that whore for the right on that network.

Nice try here, Fweep Twoll, you FAIL! Go back to RimJob's shitty site where you and the other uneducated dopes belong.

[malaise]

6. Even Newsweek knows this is BS - M$Greedia is owned by corporations

What's most distinctive about the American press is not its freedom but its century-old tradition of independence—that it serves the public interest rather than those of parties, persuasions, or pressure groups.

----------
What fugging independence?

[SpiralHawk]

7. Fox news is very un-American. It's all fear and hate and spin.

America is not about fear and hate.

[Rudy Adams]

8. K&R

I consider Fox to be a banana republic opposition channel.

[thenooch]

10. Well the freepers hit this thread HARD!

"I consider Fox to be a banana republic opposition channel."

^^^will probably get deleted...

Why won't FOX just admit what they are? Rachel, Keith, and ED are admittedly biased. It's not big secret. But Glenn, Billo, and Insanity still pretend to be "Fair and Balanced". It's all rubish.

The fact that Fox gets viewers is like saying people listen to Rush...it means nothing but advert dollar$$$.

[gratuitous]

15. No, in a banana republic

Some strongman seizes power against the will of the majority, usually with the blessing of either the military (which does nothing) or the endorsement of the judiciary. Sort of like how George W. Bush came to power in 2000.

Wait; that's not quite right.

That's exactly how George W. Bush and his criminal enterprise seized power in 2000.

[millerm777]

26. fox news

It about time Fox news is called out as a wing of the Rebublican party, and no one better to call them out as President Obama. I support the white house's tactis.

[democracy1st]

9. great find kpete

[tosh]

11. Cheeses at the comments over there!

:wow: :crazy:

[WillyT]

13. Hear, Hear !!!

:toast:

K & R !!!

:kick:

[me b zola]

14. K&R

[pretzel4gore]

16. fox is the vanguard, the point men

of mr pig's media. I know most find this idea silly (that the news media, mainstream, is a massively expensively controlled exercise in thought/emotion provocation, with truth hidden so most people misunderstand what's actually happening) But consider how CNN is always running out of 'time' when its reports approach pertinence. Jon Stewart/Daily Show mocked the pigmedia for the run 'outta time' nonsense last week- they have 24 hours a goddam day to fillup with news, and they only run out of time because they're knowingly defrauding the watchers and creating misunderstanding of the news/facts. Foxnews cuts the trail in 'big lie country' so the rest of pigmedia can then follow, with sharpened machetes to cut away any flora of truth, until the path is wide enough for flocks of sheeple. They even provide drinks and fodder, flea spray and rest areas for the tuckered out sheep! So nice, eh? They have to do it this way. They are sitting on million tons high exploszive like none other in history. If the 'sheeple' discover the path in 'big lie country' is way the hell 'over there' when a perfectly good trail, the truth, is just a small step to the left; then imagine the result! The sheeple find out bush inc KNEW they would lose 2k by 10 million votes, and prepared the pigmedia trickery seen Nov7 2000, when the sheeple went to bed thinking GORE WON, HURRAY! only to wake up with the YOUNGSTER bush sitting in Whouse, and pigmedia acting astonished, and lotsa confusion AND ...BUT lookit Tom screwing nicole, and that awful shark attack in florida, and Chandra Levy(?) or OJ etc! But still the pigmedia/bushinc KNEW the NORC results scheduled in mid Sept would REVEAL the Gore victory, so...voila! Call '911'!! nudgewink! & 20 billion dollar F/X movie, in real time! wins all! Sure, the towers were demo's using preset charges, as seen on tv...and sure Osama was id'd as bad guy, what's wrong wid dat? Obviously, such an atrocity (350 nypd/fd personnel were murdered too, and tens/billions $ lost!) means such a deed must never EVER be admitted to by any US gov, no matter how dedicated to clean government Obama is etc. The worst mess is the one the news media is in- they aided/abetted the nazipooh takeover of USA/west, and they helped the enemy to defraud the entire planet. Thus foxnews, leading way into big lie country, knows they will never miss a paycheck, or face any justice (otherwise, they wouldn't do it, being sissypunk assholes, cowards and not too bright)

[tblue37]

19. That large a block of text needs to be separated with some white

space to be readable online!

[Initech]

17. Fux Noise = worst thing to ever happen to America.

[Swamp Rat]

18. SHUT UP! all you stoned slackers!

:D

[anigbrowl]

20. This from Newsweek, LOL

You know Fox is in trouble when an excuse for a news organ like Newsweek is complaining about them. It baffles me that people pay for that magazine, given that >50% of their coverage seems to consist of either wonder drugs or religious woo. Not that time is much better.

If's pretty pathetic that there isn't one serious-minded American news weekly :-/

[Alcibiades]

30. One thing that is becoming clear, though

is that mainstream news outlets are becoming willing to take on Fox, in part because they have finally realized:

1. Folks in journalism seem to reflexively defend journalists and avoid criticizing them when it comes to the first amendment. The full extent to which Fox is a propaganda organ and not a news organization has made this less palatable to them in this instance.

2. Newsweek can take on Fox because they finally realize that Fox News does not have an audience that reads Newsweek or any other publication.

3. Taking on Fox might actually be popular with the folks who still read.

[samsingh]

21. fox IS UnAmerican.

definitely.

they deplore our values through and through.

fox would be happy with a fascist state with themselves as the ruling party

[emsimon33]

22. Fox is toxic and should have its license terminated along with all Murdock licenses

[spanone]

23. strictly a propaganda wing of the party of nothing...nothing less

[old mark]

24. WOW! Someone in the MSM is finally getting the idea? Or is it just

sharks smelling blood?
I didn't think there were too many real "journalists" left post Bush.

mark

[Zix]

25. SHARKS. BLOOD.

old mark, you're making me happy.

[old mark]

27. Well, Zix, that's why I'm here.....

Fuck you, and welcome to DU!

:hi:

mark

[randr]

28. Until Murdoch successfully bribed the newtster,

the money of which had to returned by an ethics panel decision, it was not only illegal but downright UNAMERICAN for any foreigner to own the media empire that Murdock has amassed. Newty, along with his "Contract" on America congress wiped out laws and rules designed to thwart such thing as the FAUX networks.
The uberight at one time was on the side of American values. Murdoch and crew have changed all that.

[Scurrilous]

29. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Oldtimeralso]

31. False Spews is Propaganda

Until I recently retired I had the opportunity to work with many immigrants, many of whom were former Soviet citizens from almost all of the republics. To a person they all wanted to know why America allowed Fox News to be broadcast as they viewed it as anti American propaganda. Most came to America in the late 80's and early 90's and wondered why Clinton did not tell his opponents to shut up and if they didn't they would be shut up by the government. I explained that America is the land of the free and opposite opinions had to be tolerated.

After the 2000 election and the "Bush v Gore" ruling they thought that they were back in their old countries and not in the land of free.

I really felt sad for them as they had dreams of freedom the were dashed by gwb and his administration. By 2008 most had become citizens and were Obama supporters and voters. I have now moved away but wonder what the feelings are currently.

[NJmaverick]

32. Way to go Newsweek! Now I am going to have to renew my subscription.

[xxqqqzme]

33. save your money - next week

will be something to piss you off.

[NJmaverick]

34. I am a long time subscriber. I really didn't like their format changes, they did a few months ago

my subscription has or is about to expire. I really didn't see a reason to renew, but I appreciate this sort of helpful journalism.