Please, someone buy Fox - By Jennifer Rubin

[DonViejo]

The Financial Times reports on the discussions between Disney and Fox, reportedly now broken off:

Rupert Murdoch is not used to hoisting the white flag of surrender. Yet his willingness to explore a break-up of 21st Century Fox and discuss the sale of prime film and television assets to Walt Disney suggests that, at the age of 86, the media mogul may have lost his appetite for a fight. … By even entertaining the discussions, Mr. Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, have effectively put Fox on the block, a target for content-hungry companies such as Verizon, the telecoms group, and the John Malone-backed Charter Communications. … The media landscape is already in a period of profound structural change. … Still, the prospect of Mr. Murdoch and his sons contemplating a sale of Fox’s prized movie studio, cable channels and international investments — such as Sky — has stunned investors.

Fox News was not said to be part of the contemplated deal with Disney, which owns ABC, but another buyer might want a cable-news outlet and not have similar anti-trust concerns. That prospect — the potential that Fox News does not for all eternity have to be right-wing state TV — should excite all Americans. Let’s face it: No single entity has done as much damage to political discourse or spread the style of paranoid, xenophobic populism as has Fox. It incessantly pushed birtherism, kept up a drumbeat of negative propaganda about immigrants, followed nutty conspiracy theories (e.g. Seth Rich’s death) and most of all set out to destroy media outlets that were legitimately trying to cover reality and the Trump presidency.

Fox News has become a no-hard-questions zone for President Trump. Bound and determined to create a parallel reality, it covers ludicrous, trumped-up (pun intended) “scandals” involving Hillary Clinton instead of the real ones involving Trump. It has ceased to act in the public interest, preferring to act in the White House’s interest. Fox News has become so divorced from reality that it largely ignored the GOP’s Virginia debacle, the biggest political news story of 2017 (aside from the Russia scandal).

Imagine a Fox News that had a robust news operation that stopped looking to indict Clinton and, instead, covered major developments even if they didn’t help Trump. Imagine if the panels on news shows contained intellectually honest conservatives (e.g. George Will, Bill Kristol), not cartoonish propagandists (Laura Ingraham). Imagine if every show, opinion or news, had to stick to the facts and abide by the same journalistic standards other news outlets adhere to. Marvel at the possibility of getting rid of the Fox “look” for female journalists (blond hair; excessive makeup; solid, brightly colored dress, often sleeveless; plenty of leg shots) and hired the best and most knowledgeable journalists.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/11/08/please-someone-buy-fox/?utm_term=.a5df100e3be0

[blue neen]

1. Hits the nail on the head here:

"No single entity has done as much damage to political discourse or spread the style of paranoid, xenophobic populism as has Fox. It incessantly pushed birtherism, kept up a drumbeat of negative propaganda about immigrants, followed nutty conspiracy theories (e.g. Seth Rich’s death) and most of all set out to destroy media outlets that were legitimately trying to cover reality and the Trump presidency."

[niyad]

2. forget buying the damned thing, let it diea deserved death.

[NewJeffCT]

3. I have enjoyed Rubin and her anti-Trump articles

but, calling George Will and Bill Kristol honest? Sure, they are anti-Trump, but that doesn't make them honest intellectuals. Will used to be honest and smart back in the 1980s, but he's degenerated since that time and is often little better than a Tucker Carlson at times. And, Kristol was one of the leaders in promoting the Iraq War lies.

[PJMcK]

6. Kristol is always wrong!

Plus, he introduced the country to Sarah Palin. For that alone, he should spend the rest of his days chained to a chair and forced to watch every speech and interview with Palin.

[Pope George Ringo II]

8. I'm going to stand up for George Will here

You say he's "often little better than a Tucker Carlson at times." I would point to George Will's tie rack and insist he's a little better than Tucker Carlson all the time.

[NewJeffCT]

11. OK

I stand corrected on that. I used to enjoy watching Will and Sam Donaldson debate on Sunday mornings. Nowadays, it seems Republicans all debate using the Gish Gallop method of debating - throw out so many lies that the other person can't possibly refute them all.

[blueinredohio]

4. Maybe we could start a go fund me page

[awesomerwb1]

5. Who would buy it and change the racist/anti immigrant/lock her up winger format?

That wouldn't be a smart business move. IMO, not happening.

[PJMcK]

7. One of Ms. Rubin's comments leapt out

She wrote, "Surely there is a tech company or cable mogul willing to take on the project of making Fox great again."

When was Fox News ever "great?" Since Roger Ailes started this mess, it has been the same formula for decades. It was never great but her suggestions have merit.

[Dave Starsky]

9. I wish I had Gates/Soros fuck-you money.

I would take enormous pleasure in buying Fox News and then scuttling it. I don't care how much it cost. I would televise the packing of the desks, the escorts out of the building by security, and the razing of the building to the ground by large machines. Hell, I would probably recoup a significant portion of my investment just by putting all of this on pay-per-view.

[maxsolomon]

10. Rupert Murdoch will have to be 6 feet under

He'll never part with his Propaganda Machine. His sons? Who knows.

Rubin is Whistlin' Dixie.