Understanding The History And Purpose Of FOX News

You’d think a thing like FOX couldn’t happen in the United States. Although they’re free to be crazy and free to support the Republican Party, you’d think Americans would be too smart to fall for the made-up outrages, dishonest reporting and relentless appeal to our meaner nature. Unfortunately, many Americans are not as smart as we used to assume: a huge swath of Americans (especially elderly white Southerners) believe FOX is just another news media outlet. They aren’t.

What is FOX? Pensitore Review (8-18-09) pulled no punches in answering that question: “ FOX News is indisputably the most popular cable news channel. And yet in 13 years, Fox has never broken a story. That’s okay, because it is not in the news business. It is in the news-shaping business. Its programming is an admixture of right-wing propaganda and fear-porn for feeble-minded paranoiacs, served up by spokesmodels who have no clue what they are reading.”

Whew! Could that be true? I report/You decide:

Nixon White House aide Roger Ailes in the 1970′s created fake news stories that favored President Nixon. He shipped these pre-mixed video packages to TV stations around the country at the expense of rightwing extremist Joseph Coors. It was all b.s. all the time, but the TV stations, pretending they had a correspondent in Washington, ran this propaganda as straight news. Now that Ailes runs FOX News, his goals are the same: to spread republicanism by altering the news.

FOX is a “relentless agenda-driven 24 hour news opinion propaganda delivery system” ~Jon Stewart

“They’re a Republican brand. They’re an extension of the Republican Party with some exceptions” ~Larry King

‎”[Fox is] widely viewed as a part of the Republican Party: take their talking points and put them on the air, take their opposition research and put it on the air. And that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN is.” ~Anita Dunn

There are thousands of examples of FOX not just “leaning” in a particular direction on an issue… but actively changing around the words and meanings of interviews to make them seem to say the opposite of what the person interviewed actually said; of lies about what happened; of incorrect graphics…for example, calling Congressman Mark Foley a Democrat when he got caught in gay chatter with pages and calling Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords a Republican when there was an outpouring of sympathy for her after she got shot.

FOX took a sparsely-attended tea-party rally in Washington and spliced in video of a heavily-attended event of an entirely different nature from months earlier.

FOX has gotten caught using image manipulation software to edit the appearance of people they don’t like to make them appear more sinister.

FOX alters poll results to mislead its viewers; in one case, their massacre of a Rasmussen poll on climate change ended up with a poll number of 120%–mathematically impossible, of course, except in FOX world.

On 4-24-09… White House correspondent Wendell Goler cropped a comment by Obama and took it out of context — effectively reversing the statement’s meaning — to falsely suggest that Obama supports creating a health care system “like the European countries.”

A 2010 Ohio State University study of public misperceptions about the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” found that viewers who relied on Fox News were 66% more likely to believe incorrect rumors than those with “low reliance” on Fox News ~Wikipedia

A study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes showed 67% of Fox viewers believed that the “U.S. has found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the al Qaeda terrorist organization” (He wasn’t. He hated, feared and banned them, but you’d never know that by watching FOX).

Wait, it gets worse: For all other networks and news sources, the MORE you watch them, the MORE you know about the actual facts. Those who view CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, & NPR the MOST, have the BEST grasp of the FACTS. With FOX it – is- the – opposite!! Which is what gave birth to the mocking slogan: THE MORE YOU WATCH FOX, THE LESS YOU KNOW.

In the summer of 2003, 34% of Americans who did not follow the news very closely believed evidence had been found that linked Iraq with al Qaeda before the U.S. invasion. 42% of people who were moderate consumers of FOX news had that opinion. Among those who “watched FOX News very closely” … that number was 80% !! ~Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 118, #4 THE MORE YOU WATCH FOX, THE LESS YOU KNOW!

FOX News’ Happening Now cropped clips of Obama from an April 3 speech in France to falsely suggest that Obama only criticized the United States. In doing so, Happening Now joined conservative commentators and Fox News hosts who have cropped or misrepresented Obama’s overseas remarks to falsely suggest, in the words of host Sean Hannity, that Obama was “blam[ing] America first” and, more broadly, that Obama’s earlier overseas trip constituted an “apology tour.”

Fox News presented a clip of Joe Biden criticizing John McCain’s “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” statement…. Problem is, this was something Biden was QUOTING…from SIX MONTHS EARLIER… but it was edited by FOX to make it seem that Biden was stating it as his own opinion. The bogus clip was introduced by Live Desk co-host Martha MacCallum as comments Biden had made in interviews THIS WEEKEND.

FOX pushed the bogus stat that cap-and-trade would cost “every American family $1,761 annually.” PolitiFact.com has labeled the statistic false and noted that the talking point has been pushed by Republicans.

On 9/30/09 FOX Gregg Jarrett said on the air that the Obama Department of Justice “thinks it’s OK to intimidate white people, not OK to intimidate black people at the polls.”

‎”If we went back … to the fall of 2008, to the campaign, that was a time this country was in two wars that we had a financial collapse probably more significant than any financial collapse since the Great Depression. If you were a Fox News viewer in the fall election what you would have seen were that the biggest stories and the biggest threats facing America were a guy named Bill Ayers and a something called ACORN.” ~Anita Dunn

A 2011 Kaiser Family Foundation survey on U.S. misperceptions about health care reform found that Fox News viewers scored lower for factual knowledge than other news viewers – Wikipedia

It’s against the law to lie on television in Canada. Canadian conservatives tried to change that law so FOX could broadcast in Canada. They were unable to get the law changed, so FOX does not operate in Canada!

Freedom of the press. It's a bitch, ain't it?

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11...e-of-fox-news/

You got to love the comments on this site:

Quotes:

There seems to be a common personality trait among the Fox watchers that I have encountered. They want to be seen as someone in the know while not willing to put forth the effort to actually earn the title. You can't even argue with this type as they lack the knowledge to understand your arguments and really have no desire to seek out any information beyond a handful of simplistic talking points. Basically for them Fox confirms their worldview and that's all they need.
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I wonder, would the spokemodels for F0X little heads explode if they were forced to speak the truth.
We need that Canadian law instituted here, and extended to the conservative Congress. Our Politicians should not be allowed to intentionally lie either.

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Fox News is indeed available in Canada with the right cable or satellite package. The CRTC rule that the right wing tried to change was with regard to *knowingly* providing false information, which is how they are able to skirt the rule.
In April, we also saw the debut of a Canadian FOX clone, SunTV, which is doing very much the same thing to help engineer a neo-liberal (not to be confused with “liberal”) society, but being more crafty in places.


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The replies I’ve read here that have been written by conservatives seem to think that FOX simply reports news with a right-winged ideology. I think they all must be part of the FOX audience.
The point of this article is that FOX LIES. It lies and it lies and it lies. If lying is a right-winged ideology, than I’m as left-winged as a human can get.

For some reason I remember but can't find anything online yet on it, that Fox news filed as entertainment and not as a real news channel or something ruther. What I remember is it allowed them to get away with some of the lying and misinformation that other "real news" channels have not been able to get away with.

Fox doesn't lie any more than CNN, MSNBC or the rest. I don't watch any of them, because none of them can be trusted. Fox has simply become the George W Bush of journalism. When your networks get caught in a lie, they simply say "Well look at what FOX does!" They are all ridiculous.

Fox doesn't lie any more than CNN, MSNBC or the rest. I don't watch any of them, because none of them can be trusted. Fox has simply become the George W Bush of journalism. When your networks get caught in a lie, they simply say "Well look at what FOX does!" They are all ridiculous. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Really? Can you please provide links of where and when and what CNN and MSNBC lied about? I truly am interested in reading..

After you provide some links to FOX lies. Maybe then.

Really? Can you please provide links of where and when and what CNN and MSNBC lied about? I truly am interested in reading.. Originally Posted by Sexyeccentric1

CNN's Peter Arnett's "Operation Tailwind". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tailwind

MSNBC's Ed Schultz purposefully edits and airs a Rick Perry remark, and then Schultz falsely claims Perry is a racist.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sh...acist-remark-a

After you provide some links to FOX lies. Maybe then. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

LOL the link is right up there in my previous post with them all spelled out for ya..

CNN's Peter Arnett's "Operation Tailwind". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tailwind

MSNBC's Ed Schultz purposefully edits and airs a Rick Perry remark and then falsely claims he is a racist.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sh...acist-remark-a Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Yea, Newsbusters a Republican biased site itself...lol

...but I think Fox News is far more egregious than just the two things you have posted here.

Well, at least AddictingInfo is a non-biased objective site, unlike that nasty old right-wing Newsbusters.

Please google "sarcasm" before responding.

Yea, Newsbusters a Republican biased site itself...lol You asked for examples, and examples were provided; then you dismiss them out of hand.

Did you watch the video, and read the transcript? Are you saying Ed Schultz didn't lie? Here is a different source:

On August 15, 2011, Schultz used an edited video clip of Texas Governor Rick Perry at a rally talking about the national debt crisis. Governor Perry said this “Getting America back to work is the most important issue that faces this country, being able to pay off $14.5 trillion or $16 trillion worth of debt. That big black cloud that hangs over America, that debt that is so monstrous.” The audio of the clip was cut off after “America”, so Schultz’s audience did not hear “that debt that is so monstrous.” Governor Perry refers to the debt before and after the “big black cloud” statement. Ed said, “That black cloud Perry is talking about is President Barack Obama.” The following day on his TV show Schultz apologized for taking Governor Perry out of context. “We did not present the full context of those statements and we should have,” Schultz said “No doubt about it, it was a mistake and we regret the error … we should not have included it in our coverage.”[15]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Schultz

Schultz purposefully and willfully manipulated data to perpetrate a lie. Schultz is a liar.

...but I think Fox News is far more egregious than just the two things you have posted here. You would, but the reality is both of those stories were egregious lies created by the journalists reporting the stories. To say Fox lies are worse than MSNBC's lies or CNN's lies just shows your bias.


Here is another CNN story for you. CNN's Ali Velshi takes a look at the history of Iraq as he 'tries' to explain some little known facts about the country. This show aired on August 31, 2010.


Did you know the Ottoman Empire was ally to the Axis Powers during WWII?

Notice where Velshi places Iraq when he says “Illinois”.

Velshi isn't 'lying' per se: he is just factually wrong. Do watch the video, it is funny.


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/08/31/nr.velshi.iraq.history.cnn?ire f=videosearch


These are the people you say you trust with the news.
Originally Posted by Sexyeccentric1

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Your sources are a comic, a codger, and a communist? Enough said on this subject other than where did cut and paste this from?


and the answer is Randy Reynolds of NPR. You lose Louie, you plagarizing assh*le. All you have now is a collection of crap from some neo-socialists. Why don't you impress us with your own words. Sorry, I forgot you don't any impressive words that Bill Mahr hasn't already used.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11...e-of-fox-news/

Well, at least AddictingInfo is a non-biased objective site, unlike that nasty old right-wing Newsbusters.

Please google "sarcasm" before responding. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Yes it is funny, quite so because you and others ask for facts/links then are supplied with them, then you discount them for various reasons then when someone does the same to you, you carry on about it. This just goes back and forth. Yes it is silly.. and it shows we are deeply divided on our beliefs. So I guess its a stale mate.

Yes it is funny, quite so because you and others ask for facts/links then are supplied with them, then you discount them for various reasons then when someone does the same to you, you carry on about it. This just goes back and forth. Yes it is silly.. and it shows we are deeply divided on our beliefs. So I guess its a stale mate. Originally Posted by Sexyeccentric1

Not quite. In this instance, you were given alternate links - that you commonly cite - recounting exactly the same story with the same facts.