He will now be able to devote his remaining life to the things that are really important to him, like Satan worship.
Joking aside, there’s no denying his influence. Say what you want, but the man re-made journalism and made a fortune in the process. The only debate involves whether that was a good thing.
Fox news self-imploding aside as a lib I love Trump ~ seriously! 😛
btw, I remember when Ingraham/Carlson were at MSNBC and were moderates. 😮 Yea, Ingraham hosted a show w/Ronny Jr. IIRC. Group think indeed. But faux news basically just makes shit up! Full stop!
Yielding back the balance of my time …
Yeah that was actually their defense in the Dominion case – as a news organization, we have the First Amendment right to just lie.
Like that guy said to Flounder in Animal House – you fucked up, you trusted us.
Ironically, the two yrs before MSNBC, it was called America’s Talking who’s president was … wait for it ~ “After network president Roger Ailes left NBC to join Rupert Murdoch in launching the Fox News Channel for News Corporation, America’s Talking officially signed off on July 15, 1996 and was replaced at 9 a.m. by MSNBC Live, hosted by Jodi Applegate.”
Remember Ailes had a talk show at 10pm IIRC where he would interview “celebs” and one of his interviews was RFK, Jr. Oh what a tangled web “we” weave.
Another show ~ “Ask E. Jean – A call-in advice show hosted by writer E. Jean Carroll.” 😛
And so it goes …
When Bernard Goldberg wrote his book about Media Bias, he attributed that bias to groupthink rather than an active effort to slant the news. When everyone in a newsroom thought the same way, it was easy for reporters to miss certain aspects of news stories or for them not to consider valid stories important enough to cover. Fox News came along in 1996 and began offering a more right-of-center perspective on the news. It didn’t take long for them to pass CNN and MSNBC in the ratings. While Fox News always featured prime-time hosts who offered opinions rather than news, there were many excellent journalists who worked there. Former Fox News president Roger Ailes may have been a deeply flawed human being who treated some female employees in truly reprehensible ways, but he was adamant about a separation between the News and Opinion sides of Fox. He also refused to allow opinion hosts to attend rallies for political candidates. But that changed after Roger Ailes was (rightfully) fired.
I am disgusted by what has become of Fox News. I have been a member of The Dispatch, an online conservative news organization that was founded by Jonah Goldberg and Steve Hayes, since its launch in 2019. Steve and Jonah were Fox News contributors who resigned from Fox in 2021 after Tucker Carlson released Patriot Purge, a 3-part “documentary” on Fox Nation (FNC’s streaming service) about how January 6th had been a false flag operation. Ailes had died by then, so even if he hadn’t been fired, he wouldn’t have been around to prevent it.
What’s happened to Fox News is the result of greed, fear, and Trump. They were afraid that if they didn’t “respect their audience,” i.e., lie to their viewers, they would lose market share to even more right-wing outlets like Newsmax and OWN, and that would hurt their oversized profits. That is why they couldn’t tell their viewers the truth about Trump. Actually, that’s not completely fair. There are news programs on Fox News, like Special Report with Bret Baier, that have reported the truth about Trump. Unfortunately, most Trump supporters seem to prefer Hannity. At least they fired Tucker Carlson. That’s nowhere near enough, but it’s something.
The Bulwark’s better. But those guys aren’t half bad.
And Tucker was replaced by Watters who unlike the Whiner-in-Chief would never be caught even occasionally dissing Trump, even in private. And btw Lachlan drinks the Kool-Aid.
This is fantastic. I enjoyed the read. My only critique is I’m not sure how your description of Fox (which is accurate) is any different than what goes on at CNN or MSNBC. I actually worked at CNN at one point in my career (briefly). You can replace every mention of “Fox” with “MSNBC” and it’s still accurate.
MSNBC is owned by Comcast.
MSNBC may be slanted in a left wing direction (Morning Joe still works there, so take it with a grain of salt). Comcast does not.
You can say the same about any of CNN’s corporate parents. Although I don’t consider CNN to be left at all, merely less conservative than Fox.
Murdoch has always been very active in pursuing a conservative agenda. He’s not above setting aside politics for money though (ex his support for Tony Blair*).
*-Despite their previous working relationship I’m still amused that Blair cucked Murdoch.
When I was in college, I was a member of the College Republicans and, as a result of that membership, was called a fascist on multiple occasions (once by Ralph Nader). When I was in law school, I was president of the Federalist Society. In my Con Law class, I said that because segregation affected interstate commerce, the Interstate Commerce Clause gave Congress the power to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. My professor then remarked, “Ah, the moderate position from the Federalist Society.” I started working in pizza parlors in high school and continued doing so through my first year of law school. I worked for different people over the years, including a rather intense guy named Rocko. One evening, as Rocko and I were rolling dough, he said to me, “I think there should be mandatory sterilization for all women on welfare.” I replied that I thought that was a horrible idea and that I would rather see welfare programs ended before a requirement like that was enacted. He replied, “You know the problem with you, Mike? You’re just too damn liberal.” That’s me, a just too damn liberal, moderate, fascist son of the ruling class. (Son of the ruling class was also Nader.)
My point in telling these anecdotes was to show how where you may believe a person (or news channel) falls on the political spectrum really depends on where you fall on that spectrum. I knew a self-identified communist in college who told me the Village Voice was a right-wing radical newspaper. I don’t watch Morning Joe, but from what I’ve heard, Joe Scarborough has moved leftward since he married his co-host. Assuming that’s true, a person may still identify him as a conservative if they are still to his left. MSNBC clearly markets itself as a left-wing version of Fox News. I think CNN considers itself middle of the road, but personally, I would identify it as center-left, like most of the mainstream media. But that’s me.
The mainstream media is owned by large corporate conglomerates. What ever they might say on air is different than what they’ll do in private ie where they send their political donations and lobbying. In any event I don’t see them making any genuine attempt at anything economically left wing.
For example, while MSNBC would be considered left wing, Comcast installed one of their lobbyists (Ajit Pai) into the FCC while Trump was president.
Trump’s presidency tends to distort things. I don’t consider CNN (or anyone) to be left wing because they’re criticizing Trump. That just means they’re awake.
$787 million.
You should double that.
Smartmatic’s lawsuit ain’t finished yet.
I think part of the reason Rupert was willing to pay that much to settle the Dominion suit was because he knew that Newsmax and OWN, who are also being sued by Dominion (and Smartmatic) would never be able to pay such a large settlement or verdict. While I am sure he didn’t like writing that check, FNC is so insanely profitable that he could afford it. I think he’s hoping Dominion and Smartmatic put Newsmax and OWN out of business. Unfortunately, even if that happens, I am sure some other conspiracy-obsessed right-wing competitor would rise to take their place.
The documentary Outfoxed showed that Fox ‘News’ involvement with the Republican Party and in spreading their propaganda (from Newt Gingrich at the time) and not being an actual news organization went back to the founding of Fox ‘News’, long before Donald Trump (which Fox ‘News’ generally opposed when he ran for the Republican nomination in 2016.)
Rupert Murdoch has always been not just a partisan unelected politician but a totally sleazy liar. He is the personification of everything that is wrong with humanity.
A quibble. Fox was originally skeptical of Trump, not necessarily opposed. When Falwell Jr. stampeded the Evangies towards Trump (Cruz probably is still thinking “How in the Hell”), they spotted it and started moving his way en masse as did pols like Jordan and Stefanik. Or maybe it was that Trump guaranteed higher ratings.
And now for… That Menendez stuff reminds me of a fond memory: seeing John “I’ve got larceny in my blood” Jenrette being shamed out of a Capitol Hill grocery after being caught in an inept attempt at shoplifting by the leather-lunged proprietor “May I help you, Mr. Jenrette?”, volume 11. The happy result was that he sent Rita (“Zombie Island Massacre”) to do the shopping thereafter. Nice woman and a complete knockout.
I keep writing and re-writing a response to Michael McChesney’s post. I am going to boil it down to two brief points and then give up.
1) I think anybody who ever had high hopes for Fox News didn’t know anything about Rupert Murdoch.
2) I think the phrase “Fox News came along in 1996 and began offering a more right-of-center perspective on the news” is very interesting. It does not seem to show a committment to truth, facts, or objective reality. Why not? I guess as a corollary, I think that anyone who thinks Fox News had any comittment to the truth BEFORE Ailes was fired is badly mistaken.
Some of the anchors at Fox News believed in the truth. I can remember Shep Smith devoting large blocks of time to debunking all the craziness from Hannity or Tucker. Fox’s viewers were not very happy with that.
They were never “fair and balanced”. The idea was appealing; but it took maybe two or three watchings to send me back to NBC. And the descent from reasonably bright and honest anchor/t-heads to dolts, knaves and fools like Hannity, Tucker, and the Judge took a while.
Chris Wallace and the guy who got fired for correctly calling AZ should get some credit along with Shep Smith.
Jonah Goldberg hired Chris Stirewalt for the Dispatch after Fox fired him for calling Arizona correctly. I really can’t recommend The Dispatch enough. Their political reporting is first-rate, as are their opinion writers. The New York Times hired away David French, but he still hosts their Advisory Opinions podcast with Sarah Isgur. The Media Bias Chart placed Advisory Opinions exactly in the middle with a mix of fact reporting and analysis.
Here ends my unpaid endorsement of The Dispatch and the Advisory Opinions podcast. I believe they are currently offering 1-week free trials, no credit card required.
Australias gift to the world.
Along with Trump’s mother, the only good argument against taking in immigrants.
As an Aussie meself, he has always been a greedy prick… Murdoch and Packers, same shit, different toilet.
I apologise for him, but he is no longer a citizen of our fair shores.
He saw the free speech the the 1st amendment allowed and walked right through the gaping hole to spit vile and falsehoods for a quick buck… ok, lots of quick bucks.
Unfortunately, Lachlan is a complete peice of shit who thinks of himself in the same way Drumpf does… never wrong and has never faced consequences for any action, ever.
It is really a good news, worse news situation.
Next stop: the Rotisserie Infernale. Probably did more to destroy my old party than anyone, incluing Trump.
The GOP self destructed.