The Cult of Fox News (Monkey See, Monkey Do)

Oh how we love to hate Fox News, let us count the ways. Many charge that Fox News is biased to the GOP and "conservative" positions. I do have to take issue with the pundits on one point, that the GOP AND Fox News's viewpoints are NOT really conservative to begin with but that's another discussion by itself.



1) The Sheer Hypocrisy: "Fair and Balanced", "We Report, You Decide" trumpet their marketing taglines. Sounds good might say the casual observer, that is until you get a generous (or I would call it, mind numbing) dose of their programming. For instance, a 2006 study conducted by the Project For Excellence In Journalism of their programming has shown that their news stories contain a whopping 68% personal opinion, as opposed to, say 27% for NBC and a surprisingly low 4% for CNN. In this VIDEO CLIP from the excellent documentary "Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" Note at the 7:12 mark, the countdown of days until Bush is re-elected, I mean, if THAT isn't one sign of obvious bias, I don't know what is, let alone everything else that comes to light in this one clip. I HIGHLY recommend either buying or renting this excellent documentary/expose' on Fox news' rather suspect ethics and practices.




2) Information Control: The very fact that Fox News went out of its way to ban and exclude presidential candidate Ron Paul from one of its sponsored presidential debates and the resulting public uproar says volumes by itself, let alone NUMEROUS incidences of people like Rush Limbaugh cherry picking and "editing" quotes from those he opposes (for instance, a recent Bill Clinton quote regarding greenhouse gases and economies. In essence, Clinton stated that slowing down an economy is one way of thought, but that it would not work. Limbaugh chopped up the wording to make it sound as if Clinton advocated slowing down an economy to fight global warming, when in fact he didn't) to make it say what Fox News wants it to. MSNBC"s Keith Olbermann called him out on it on one of his "Countdown" segments. I am NO fan of Bill Clinton (and don't intend to ever be) but fair is fair, and what Rush Limbaugh (among others) did was typically Fox News and an example of sensationalism driven fake journalism at its worst..



3) "Some People Say": Normally, a technique in journalism to advance a story while citing an anonymous and ACTUAL source of information. However, Fox News is INFAMOUS for its OVER USE of this tactic not to mention MISUSE, in that it is more often than not, a prelude to n all-out attack on an interviewee or an opportunity to put forth more official/personal opinion and advance the party line.



4) Journalism Schmournalism!; It may well be safe to say that FEW TO NONE of those in Fox News' employ in the visible realm have ANY real journalism experience, training or knowledge. We certainly know that to be true in the case of Sean Hannity (whose previous claim to fame was a local college radio show in Santa Barbara CA where he ran his yapper (and failed miserably), and later bamboozled his way into a Fox News gig based on his PERSONALITY and presentation (which one Roger Ailes rather liked), in addition to hyping and spinning his college radio experience, and in typical FN fashion, they bought it hook line and sinker! Rush Limbaugh, another example of a radio DJ/yapper who with ZERO actual journalism experience/knowledge/training conned his way into the gig at FN. And don't get me started on Bill O'Reilly, professional blowhard/loudmouth/punk kid in an adult's body whose idea of a journalistic credential is that he was born in humble circumstances and came from Levittown NY (he DID however bother to get a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, a lot of good it did!) .



5) The Memo From On High: It's NOT a rumor, EVERY MORNING without fail, electronic memos come down from the top brass at Fox News dictating what stories will be covered and HOW they will be slanted. And no matter WHO appears on Fox News and no matter what time of day it is, THE EXACT SAME story and its slant, nearly word for word is repeated ad-nausem. Very cultish, very creepy.



6) If They Had Shred of Honesty of Integrity--: They would change their name to something like GOP TV or The Republican Channel, at least you'd know what you were in for up front.





7) Other Obviously Cult Like Traits: A very insular mentality, NOT wanting to interview of give voice to opinions different than its own, the insistence that they're the only ones giving you the straight story or being "Fair and Balanced", rigid control of presentation of stories, demonizing/shouting down ANYONE who disagrees with their opinions even over small things (the classic reactionary, simplistic binary "Anyone who disagrees with us is an evil liberal communist terrorist supporter" rhetoric). And the EXCESSIVE veneration/adoration of one person, in this case George Dubbaya Bush. It was SICKENINGLY obvious during the 2004 presidential campaign, that just about EVERY DAY Fox News would either cut to a live appearance by Bush somewhere, or show him doing something somewhat notable (or at least having the APPEARANCE of such). And to cap it off, the slick, flashy attention getting graphics are a rather convenient distraction, and not to mention the sensationalist/over-the-top alarmist headlines it employs and runs on it's on-screen ticker are quite typical of cultish organizations. And of course, the whole enterprise was founded and presided over by a fiercely partisan megalomanaical control freak by the name of Rupert Murdoch who put his lapdog Roger Ailes in place as its CEO. See HERE for a list of traits of a cult.



8) Oh Really O'Reilly?: This is just ONE instance of Mr O'Reilly's abject dishonesty and Fox News' condoning of such. In 2005, Bill O'Reilly did what SHOULD'VE gotten him fired and public ally disgraced, but as is typical of Fox News, they gave him a free pass. In a heated discussion with General Wesley Clark over wartime atrocities and mistreatment of prisoners of war (O"Reilly was actually DEFENDING it) good 'ol Bill completely revised history for the gullible. Referencing the Malmedy Massacre of WWII, Bill not only revised history but defecated on the memory of a number of American soldiers who gave their lives fighting the Nazis. O'Reilly told the story completely WRONG (and KNEW IT!) saying that American soldiers massacred Nazi troops, when in fact THE EXACT OPPOSITE was true! Nice going genius! He has YET to make any kind of a REAL apology for his blatant act of journalistic, historical and intellectual dishonesty. This Wikipedia Entry lists just a few of the ways Bill has gotten himself in hot water with his ignorance, egocentric bluster and outright dishonesty. I'm sure there are many more chronicled from various sources.



What I have put forth here just barely scratches the surface of why Fox News cannot and SHOULD NOT be taken seriously or at face value. I'm not an acedemician/media analyst but I do know one thing, I HATE being intentionally lied to by a so-called "news channel" whose sole reason for existence is to push the hopelessly bankrupt and incompetent agenda of a GOP completely beyond redemption (as I've said many times, it's NOT the same GOP we once knew as the Party of Lincoln. I dare say, Lincoln and Ronald Reagan both would have VERY HARSH words for the current GOP), I would hope that you the reader would be prompted to do your own research and investigation into whether Fox News is giving you the real story or is it pushing an agenda. The danger of relying on only ONE news source to begin with should be clear to ANYBODY with half a mind, but the sheer stupidity and folly of relying only on Fox News should be clear to nearly anyone.