Question about Fox News

[kydo]

Ok first off, I am all for free speech. However there is nothing about news coming from Fox. I know I am preaching to the choir. This is not anything new, we have known this for decades.

My question is what can be done to stop Fox News from continually presenting what they want to happen as news?

To me this whole election cycle and the ensuing post election smear campaign is outrageous.

Fox News should have its plug pulled and be removed from the air waves for inciting fear and panic through the spread of lies and rumors as truth. It is damaging our country.

I blame Fox News for everything right now. Yes there are other right wing propaganda organizations but Fox News is really different and I don't consider them protected by free speech. Fox News claims to be fair and balanced and that right there is false advertising. They rarely have news, they have lots of opinions and versions of the truth that they pass as fact. It has got to stop!

This media outlet has gone far beyond just reporting the facts. Facts are not important to them and it is hurting our country. When a good chunk of the American people believe Obama was not born in the US, that he is a Muslim. he is coming for your guns, illegal's have more rights than whites, only poor people use food stamps, there were weapons of mass destructions in Iraq, there is no climate change, reagan was a saint, unions are bad, liberal are stupid, fetus are more important than babies, the pill is bad viagra is great, republicans can cheat but democrats must be impeached, ayn rand is a great writer, the insanity never ends.

What can be done other then turning it off? I have never watched Fox News other then when things like Obama winning happens. And I don't tune in for the news I tune in to see the sad faces. But after a few seconds it becomes unwatchable I have to change it. The only thing worth watching on Fox News since they came to being was the Karl Rove Meltdown.

But even though I don't watch Fox News, I still have to deal with the effects it has on their viewers. Having to deal with people that watch Fox News is very stressful for my state of mind. Fox viewers are always mad, very loud, act like brats when you tell them no and totally wig out when you say something that goes against what Fox told them. God forbid you back your argument with facts. I swear Fox News should change it's slogan to FOX who needs facts.


Can I sue Fox News for the pain and suffering they are causing me?

[Bluenorthwest]

1. For decades? FoxNews is just 16 years old. One decade only. No decades.

And the real problem with FoxNews is not that they exist, it is that the Republican establishment does not speak out against the most crazed memes of their pundits. The audience that watches FoxNews is tiny and aged. They do not win their timeslots, even among cable competition. Most of their daily programming has under one million viewers. They are like some folks passing out radical fliers on the street corner, meaningless until someone like McCain picks up the message and spews it forth....

[kydo]

3. feels like decades

I know they came to being sometime in the 1990's and we are in 2010's.

And I am not questioning their right to exist, I have no problem with that. It's the blatant disregard for the truth. It is to the point that the lie is repeated for ever it becomes the truth.

And yes it would be great if the republican leaders would speak out against this behavior, but sadly many of them believe what Fox says as true. I know there are many that don't fall in this grouping.

Once there was regulation that helped keep news organizations from slipping down the slope of propaganda over news.

All I know is it is impossible to solve most of the problems this country is facing when 50% don't accept facts.

[narnian60]

2. Oh, wow! Every word you said has been a thought ( or action) of mine at one point or another.

Thank you for writing it all so well & sharing it. Yes, you're preaching to the choir, but I need to hear it continually that they are nuts, so I don't lose it!

[tritsofme]

4. Well just to be clear you are not "all for free speech"

Actually it sounds like just the opposite for you.

The first amendment protects us all, and I am very happy for it.

[kydo]

5. Yes I am "all for free speech."

Yes, the first amendment does protect us all, and I too am happy for it. However, my gripe is not about Fox News' right to free speech. My gripe is about Fox News claiming to be News in the first place. They are in that grey line area of yelling fire in the theater when there is no fire.

[tritsofme]

7. So who shall serve as arbiter of what is and what is not news?

There is no grey area, they are engaged in protected speech.

My solution is pretty simple, I don't watch it. They should be marginalized, not targeted by government because of politics.

[kydo]

8. yeah but how do we marginalize it

without infringing on their right to yell fire in a theater even though there is no fire.

[Blue4Texas]

10. Not really, Murdoch has said is entertainment

[kydo]

11. then why is it called Fox News?

Shouldn't it be called Fox Entertainment?

[Blue4Texas]

12. Fruit of the poison tree

If entertainment in fact but call themselves news, don't have to be truthful lol pretty clever actually

[COLGATE4]

9. I am a strong proponent of free speech. But at the

same time our sister democracy, Canadan has successfully enacted laws which prevent a news station that lies to the public from getting a license (i.e. Fox). Don't see why we couldn't do the same. Preventing lying is no affront to free speech.

[careyfamily]

6. Fox News is America's Radio Rwanda

Please study Radio Rwanda. You might not be able to envision mass murder in the US, but hate speech is not inconsequential. It divides people. We are gradually becoming the "other" in the minds of many. Study history so we don't repeat it.

http://www.rwandanstories.org/genocide/hate_radio.html

The U.S. - "We believe in freedom of speech"

Its stated aim was “to create harmonious development in Rwandese society” but nothing could have been further from the truth. It was set up and financed by Hutu extremists to prepare the people of Rwanda for genocide by demonising the Tutsi and encouraging hate and violence.

Some people - including the Belgian ambassador and staff of several aid agencies - recognised the danger and asked for international help in shutting down the broadcasts, but it was impossible to persuade western diplomats to take it seriously. They dismissed the station as a joke.

David Rawson, the US ambassador, said that its euphemisms were open to interpretation. The US, he said, believed in freedom of speech.
TALKING IN CODE...

The radio told people to go to work and everyone knew that meant get your machete and kill Tutsis. Many Rwandans, however, knew the threat. ‘I listened to RTLMC’, said a survivor, ‘because if you were mentioned over the airways, you were sure to be carted off a short time later by the interahamwe. You knew you had to change your address at once.”

Who was behind the radio station?

RTLM was set up and financed by hard-line Hutu extremists, mostly from northern Rwanda: wealthy businessmen, government ministers and various relatives of the President. Its backers also included the directors of two African banks and the vice-president of the interahamwe (militia).