Fox News is a State Propaganda Machine

[Estebonrober]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, evidently understood that it would be highly improper for a President to use the Justice Department to undermine two of the most powerful companies in the country as punishment for unfavorable news coverage, and as a reward for a competing news organization that boosted him. According to the source, as Cohn walked out of the meeting he told Kelly, “Don’t you fudging dare call the Justice Department. We are not going to do business that way.”

I mean I know its obvious and the people who should come out of their fever dreams of anger to realize they've been completely manipulated by the most cynical group of people imaginable won't listen, but here is a pretty devastating piece on exactly how Fox News went from sort of being a GOP front to being Trump's personal propaganda machine/therapist.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The tricky part is how we are going to attempt to legislate against this major social ill. Or not. That's probably more likely. We'll kick this can down the road by pretending it's intractable.

 

[Estebonrober]

The tricky part is how we are going to attempt to legislate against this major social ill. Or not. That's probably more likely. We'll kick this can down the road by pretending it's intractable.

Yea its obviously very tricky with the current demographic reality. I'm sort of hoping that my generation and the ones after mine will become media savvy enough to recognize this kind of blatant propaganda that it will start to lose its effectiveness. The previous generations being lost to this hook line and sinker largely. Its a thin hope but one I carry nonetheless as legislating against pretty much goes against our principles.

 

[Ferocitus]

The tricky part is how we are going to attempt to legislate against this major social ill. Or not. That's probably more likely. We'll kick this can down the road by pretending it's intractable.

The median age of Fox viewers is 66.
Life expectancy in the USA is falling.
Apart from that glimmer of hope, I guess USians will just have to keep kicking the clown down the road.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I would like to support the topic of discussion, but seriously all I can think to say is 'Duh!'

 

[ArchGhost]

I would like to support the topic of discussion, but seriously all I can think to say is 'Duh!'

I don't think that point is too fine at all

TBH, I always saw Murdoch's propaganda machine as just that, and never paid it mind except for the effect it had on the other major outlets following suit....which is sad in and of itself. It also solidly affirmed sensationalism as the golden standard of "news" no matter the affiliation, which is even sadder since something that' been slowly happening since the 70's sudden caught that much traction is less than a decade and has sunk lower ever since.

IMO the only difference is at some point it shifted from being general party line nonsense spewing to specifically backing the GOP's top dog, whether they like him/her or not. Much like his party members behave in Congress, so fitting, I guess.

 

[Estebonrober]

I don't think that point is too fine at all

TBH, I always saw Murdoch's propaganda machine as just that, and never paid it mind except for the effect it had on the other major outlets following suit....which is sad in and of itself. It also solidly affirmed sensationalism as the golden standard of "news" no matter the affiliation, which is even sadder since something that' been slowly happening since the 70's sudden caught that much traction is less than a decade and has sunk lower ever since.

IMO the only difference is at some point it shifted from being general party line nonsense spewing to specifically backing the GOP's top dog, whether they like him/her or not. Much like his party members behave in Congress, so fitting, I guess.

Yes this is the part that is expressly disappointing about Fox News, it started out as a machine for Murdoch and his policies and has been usurped.

 

[Cutlass]

I don't think it's so much a 'state' propaganda machine, as a 'party' propaganda machine that is engaged in an effort to take over the state.

 

[rah]

The median age of Fox viewers is 66.
Life expectancy in the USA is falling.
Apart from that glimmer of hope, I guess USians will just have to keep kicking the clown down the road.

Heck the medium age for a US senator is 65

 

[rah]

We really need term limits.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Almost all of them are very wealthy and are allowed to (effectively) inside trade based on their votes in government as well.

 

[rah]

Yes, they always seem to be more concerned about serving themselves versus serving others.

 

[Farm Boy]

The median age of Fox viewers is 66.
Life expectancy in the USA is falling.
Apart from that glimmer of hope, I guess USians will just have to keep kicking the clown down the road.

Go play in traffic.

I'm doing your preferred manners from the other thread as demonstrated here, correctly, yes?

It's a bit of effort, so plox forgief if I don't always hit the tone right.

 

[Estebonrober]

Fox News used to be singularly outrageous. But the centre-left media in the US have certainly narrowed the gap.

I mean the lies regarding Ms. Sarkeesian, Reza it's-an-African-problem Aslan, and Emma Sulkowicz seemed like harmless enough fun.
If you didn't think too hard about this "African problem" business, that is.
But somewhere between being fine with revenge porn re: Ansari and basically shutting down half a town in Kentucky over a smirk and a ton of lies... this got slightly ugly.
And finally we have reached the level of full on astroturfed phantasy with dancing AOC.

Admittedly it still looks kinda dorky, compared to, you know, claiming the President was on a trip worth half a billion to India and took half the fleet with him.
I mean, feces... that's lying with swag.

But yeah, they are making an effort.

Clever video, I liked it. Obviously you are right about centrist media being an outrage machine. If you notice though this story isn't about Fox News being an outrage machine that is loose with the facts. This story is about the most popular 24/7 news channel being a complete mouthpiece for Trump. Since it is so powerful in the politcomedia sphere it should be noted that it has not even a semblance of journalistic ethic.

 

[Lexicus]

I would agree with Cutlass. I would also say that since the Republicans happen to control the government, Fox News is also a government propaganda outlet -for now.

Fox News used to be singularly outrageous. But the centre-left media in the US have certainly narrowed the gap.

The only "center-left" media in the US is stuff like Democracy Now, Jacobin, etc. CNN, MSNBC, etc. are just capitalist/mainstream, they have no real political valence even if they are spinning out the Trump crap for ratings and money.

Anyway you picked a bunch of bad examples if you want to show some kind of equivalence between Fox and these others. Just go back to circa 2003 and look at what all these #Resistance heroes were saying about WMDs in Iraq, and compare it to what Fox News was saying about WMDs in Iraq.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Fox is bordering on the kind of thing conservatives decry in countries with an all-encompassing state media but since they ideologically align with Fox they like it.

Any argument to dismantle it has to be based on that aspect to avoid free speech disagreements but who the hell knows. It seems indestructible. I recommend people really read up on some of the ridiculous studies about Fox. The network has singlehandedly gotten Republican presidents elected this century (it acts as a constant several percentage point boost, which, if taken away, means Bush and Trump lose). In areas where it's a lower number channel, since lower number channels are watched more, all else being equal, conservative voting is stronger. Viewership is tied to all sorts of things from racial animus to perceptions of out of control crime and more. Absolutely, unequivocally valueless media station that the government should dismantle.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Oddly enough, it appears that Fox News veered even more into a propaganda organ after Roger Ailes left. Apparently he genuinely did try and firewall between the news and opinion sections of Fox and when he left, Hannity and Co stepped into the vacuum.

 

[Tristan_C]

Kettle sure is black.

 

[sophie]

We really need term limits.

Naw, we need comprehensive electoral reform:

1) making voting easier
2) replacing voting format with something not-winner-take-all (proportional/ranked choice)
3) reforming campaign finance, mandating a fixed election cycle, regulating and enforcing equal media coverage for all candidates

Elected representatives are old because electoral politics today are a factor of attention: the person who gets the most attention wins, and the person who gets the most attention is, generally speaking, a person who: a) has the money to buy attention/platforms, b) has the personal and political connections to secure platforms, c) has the free time and disposable income to focus on going out and attracting attention. The people who have those three things are, more often than not, old rich white dudes.

Merely imposing term limits won't do anything because it does nothing to address any of points a), b), and c). You'll just end up instead getting a rotating door of generic old white dudes. The presidency has term limits: the presidency, with two small exceptions, has never not elected a rich old white dude, and in the former exception, he was a young white man with a politically and economically extremely well-connected family, and in the latter exception, he was a youngish black man with good political connections and ample disposable income. California has term limits on governors, we recently elected a youngish white dude with a ton of disposable income and extensive political connections acquired over a long political career, before him we twice elected an old white dude with a ton of disposable income and extensive political connections, before him we had a youngish white dude with a ton of disposable income, before him we had an oldish white dude with a ton of disposable income and extensive political connections, before him we had an oldish white dude with a ton of disposable income and extensive political connections. I think you get the point.

 

[Berzerker]

I would also say that since the Republicans happen to control the government, Fox News is also a government propaganda outlet -for now.

Fox has spent a couple years attacking the government on Trump's behalf