Fox and the Rove propaganda machine: A Canadian view

[skeptic9]

While googling for something else I came across an "Ottawa Citizen" article that may help answer two questions that have been troubling me:

1. After more than a week of getting hammered over Richard Clarke's book and testimony, how can Dubya's numbers be going up?

2. How have millions of Americans been fooled into believing that Dubya is a strong leader, that "he's a uniter not a divider", and that "he's brought dignity back into the White House"?

Here's a Canadian view on the popularity of Fox "News" and the comfort it gives both to the Bush White House and to the millions of regular Fox viewers. From

http://www.friends.ca/News/Friends_News/archives/articles11010301.asp

'Right of way: How Fox News beat CNN at its own game by James Gordon

Source : Ottawa Citizen, November 01, 2003

... Fox News network launched on Oct. 7, 1996, to about 17 million subscribers, and quickly gained millions more. Owner Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire includes the Fox broadcasting network, 20th Century Fox, and publisher HarperCollins, installed Roger Ailes as his news channel's chairman and chief executive.... After hiring prominent conservative journalists and commentators such as Brit Hume and Bill O'Reilly to set the network's tone, Ailes set to work catching his main competition, the Cable News Network, and attacking anyone associated with it.... Since then, all its shows have continued that upward trend. Fox has become the undisputed champion of cable news, regularly trouncing CNN and MSNBC in the ratings....

Tom McPhail, a former Carleton University professor who now teaches communications at the University of Missouri,... says {Fox} benefited from the new political culture of patriotism and "us vs. them" mentality that followed during months after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. "They've thrown the book on objectivity out the window, and become the unofficial P.R. agency for the Bush White House," he says. Fox further solidified its reputation as catering to ethno-centric Americans during wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was accused of being nothing more than a cheerleader for the administration's overseas campaigns, and refusing to delve into deeper issues. In one New York Times article, {Brit} Hume, managing editor and anchor of Fox's 6 p.m. newscast said he avoided giving too much airtime to reports about civilian casualties in Afghanistan. "OK, war is hell, people die," Mr. Hume said at the time. "We know we're at war. The fact that some people are dying, is that really news? And is it news to be treated in a semi-straight-faced way? I think not."

Whether Fox's jingoism or Republican slant is a bad for news is debatable, but it is certainly one of the driving forces behind the network's popularity, according to Aly Colon of the Poynter Institute. He says Fox tries to address a particular constituency that wants to see the news in a way that reflects their worldview about government and issues, which many U.S. citizens have felt has been not available. He sees it as a possible HARBINGER OF A RETURN TO THE WAY JOURNALISM WAS LOOKED AT BEFORE THE 1950S. People bought newspapers they knew were in line with their political point of view. Naturally, each of those newspapers believed its slant was "true," and that the other six newspapers available were full of lies. Mr. Colon says Fox truly believes it's being objective, and that all who disagree with it are fundamentally wrong. ...

Rich Hanley, head of graduate studies in communication at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, says despite the official line from the network's press office, Fox is well aware it's not being objective, and that's the secret to its success. "People know what they're getting when they tune in to Fox News, because they're ruthless in their conservative focus," says Mr. Hanley, who has appeared on the network's most popular show, the O'Reilly Factor, several times. "Roger Ailes has basically created a community of like-minded folks in the cable news environment, and all their programming comes off the same philosophical stake."'

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

1. Roger Ailes was the political operative behind Mitch McConnel

He basically ran McConnells winning campaigns in Louisville, and then statewide in Kentucky, so Im familiar with whats up w. Fox as a political informercial for the GOP. Ailes' work is notorious.

[skeptic9]

2. Thanks for reading the FIRST paragraph, which recapped ...

... the history of Fox News for those who haven't been watching as closely as you have over the years.

What do you think of the ANALYSIS in the item, about how the advent of cable and the Internet may be taking journalism back where it was before World War II?

[Killarney]

3. My thoughts

What's unfortunate is that even though everyone on DU realizes that Fox is neither fair not balanced (nor accurate) not all the viewers realize it. I've brought up "Fox is conservative leaning" to many people in conversation and they have denied it! They say CNN is left-leaning and Fox is independent. They really don't know! It's shocking to say the least.

I think that it would be less disturbing if they came right out and were honest with people and said "we're conservative and we're proud" but they lie and say they are fair and people BUY it. Also, people think it's ok that Fox is the way they are because they say CNN is liberal and it balances out. That is false! CNN is not liberal.

It really bothers me.

[Blasphemer]

4. In their world, it's true...

Conservative = Objective and Independent. Anyone that disagrees is a flaming liberal. It's black and white for them. They probably haven't even watched CNN lately and hold on to the "Clinton News Network" beliefs of the 90's.

[SoCalDem]

5. Perception becomes reality..

People on the extreme right do not see themselves as zealots.. They see Fox as "just right"..like the porridge :)

We all see news through a philosophical prism, so they see nothing unusual about "their news network"..

Openminded people actually understand how there could be many different interpretations of a story.. Zealots see only one way.. That's why Fox is "dangerous"...

Right or wrong...Love it or leave it... black or white...good or bad..

Fox is "simple"...and that's why it makes our heads explode..

Life is nuanced and complicated..

[skeptic9]

6. I'm glad Al Franken went to court to end their alleged "copyright"...

... on the slogan "Fair and Balanced". That's the best example of an Orwellian inversion since the publication of Orwell's "1984" fifty-six years ago. The slogan is the opposite of Fox's UNfair and UNbalanced reality.