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One more from Daily Kos on the Fox News crybabies who got a debate with the Democratic presidential contenders knocked out from under them.
Establishment players take aim at Fox News
by kos Wed Mar 21, 2007
One of the narratives from the Fox News debate debacle was the notion that it was the "crazy, nazi, stalinist MoveOn and Daily Kos crowd" that was being mean to poor ol' Fox News. And journalists trotted out the Dan Gersteins of the Democratic Party to fuel that narrative. All "serious" Democrats understood the need to go on Fox to "reach out" to voters, yet they were being sabotaged by us crazies.
Yet we've found that in reality, there are plenty of Democrats -- even inside the beltway -- who are tired of the propaganda games Fox plays, even old foils like Paul Begala.
Looking forward, the victory in Nevada sends a powerful message to Fox: You’re not going to be able to use Democratic debates to whitewash your right-wing bias the way Exxon greenwashes its reputation by buying off academics and P.R. flacks.
For Democrats, it sends an equally powerful message: Fight back. You can win. From its first days on the air, Fox News has smeared Bill and Hillary Clinton. And when President Clinton finally called Fox on it, the effect was electric. Across America, progressives were galvanized into action.
For those who need reminding of Fox’s agenda – using their “fair and balanced” credibility to smear Democrats and help Republicans – here’s the bill of particulars:
* Fox News’ founder and guiding genius, Roger Ailes, was the chief media strategist for President George H.W. Bush. When you have a Republican political consultant running a news network, don’t be surprised if that network becomes a propaganda tool for the Republican Party.
* After the 2006 elections, Fox Senior Vice President John Moody sent a memo to news staff instructing them: “Be on the lookout for any statements from the Iraqi insurgents...thrilled at the prospect of a Dem controlled Congress.”
* Robert Greenwald’s film Outfoxed exposed 33 similar memos from Moody before the 2004 elections. On Bush: “His political courage and tactical cunning are worth noting in our reporting through the day.” On Iraq: “Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there?”
* Fox’s Iraq coverage was so biased that a university study showed 80 percent of Fox viewers believed one of these three falsehoods: Saddam was behind 9/11; WMD’s were found in Iraq, or most of the world supported Mr. Bush’s Iraq war. Fox is entitled to its own opinions, but not its own facts.
Meanwhile, Dem pollster Mark Mellman also argues we should be marginalizing Fox's propaganda efforts.
A study by a University of Maryland center concluded, “Those who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions” about Iraq. For example, in 2003, 67 percent of those who relied primarily on Fox wrongly believed the U.S. “found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the al Qaeda terrorist organization.” Only 40 percent of those who relied on print media harbored this illusion, debunked thoroughly by the 9/11 Commission.
Instead of providing “fair and balanced” reporting, Fox has created an audience ignorant of the facts, but fully supportive of management’s ideology.
An audience that decides for itself, based on “fair and balanced” coverage, ought not to reach monolithic conclusions. Yet, in our 2004 polling with Media Vote, using Nielsen diaries, we found that Fox News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88 percent to 7 percent. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers.
None of this argues for a boycott of Fox. While harboring no illusions, Democrats should try to communicate on Fox and through every other channel. I appear as a guest and will continue to, in the unlikely event they invite me again. However, if Fox wants the legitimacy afforded by official sponsorship of Democratic debates, it needs to become a relatively objective news organization, not a dispenser of partisan cant.
Remember that statistic next time Fox apologists talk about all the independents and Democrats who supposedly watch Fox News:
Fox News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88 percent to 7 percent. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers.
Democrats made the right choice in ditching the Fox News debate, and hopefully the CBC will make the same right choice.
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