The Lies They Tell: How to Stop the Fox Propaganda Machine

[EV_Ares]

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
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I posted this over here from Alter Net as I as I know most others on DU feel that our candidiates should not go on Faux as it only furthers their legitimacy and does nothing to further promote the dem candidate with the way they handle their interviews. This article gives a really good message about Fox news as we already know.
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As presidential aspirants announce their candidacies in an already mind-numbing procession, the "Sliming Bowl" is well under way. No candidate has been smeared more than Barack Obama, and no smearer more relentless than Fox News, as this short video by Brave New Films demonstrates.

"Sliming" is the rabid, rapid, media barrage of persistently repeated lies and innuendo mastered by the right-wing media machine, which aims to tar candidates with negative associations before their campaigns get rolling. Or alternatively, to bruise them enough so that they will suffer under the burden of damaged goods as they try to gain footing.

The conservative roots usually puts out a speculative story through Fox News or Matt Drudge (of the Drudge Report), a powerful mouthpiece for the Bush White House. Then the right-wing echo reverberates as the lies make their way to talk radio and the right-wing blogosphere. Eventually, it gets picked up and carried by the mainstream media, with few understanding where the story originated.

In fact, disinformation conjured by the conservatives often has its most profound impact with the steady cooperation of the corporate press in repeating their lies. How many people still think that Al Gore said he invented the Internet?

Edited to conform to DU's copyright policy. Please limit citations of copyrighted material to 3-4 paragraphs and a link to the original posting.

Lithos
DU Moderator


© 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/48286/

[mmonk]

1. There are always going to be politicians that will seek

exposure and votes in the wrong places. The last few years have definitely bourne that out.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Make Lemons From Lemonaide

At the front-end...I hope the Nevada Democratic Party recinds its invitation to Faux. I have long advocated that Democrats stay away from the Faux cesspool...or if they do appear, not to be coward by the bullying tactics (eg Bill Clinton).

Faux claims that Democrats need to reach the Faux audience (like a fish needs a bicycle)...and if that's the case, let's make the most of it. I'd love to see all the candidates get on that network and use the airtime to discuss its distortions, lies and use as a tool of misinformation. Let's spend an hour talking about Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes...the slimeboaters, Washington Slimes...make it a total review of Hillary's infamous Vast Right Wing Conspiracy...Faux is Ground Zero for that group now. But I know Hillary won't participate...Rupert bought her off last year.

[EV_Ares]

3. Kharma you are 100% correct. I have always wondered how anyone

could make that argument. I imagine, you as I, know a devoted Faux listener/watcher. It makes no difference when a dem goes on that network what they say, what they prove, those sheep will not change their way of thinking or what they are going to do in the voting booth. The dems do not need to even look their way, Faux needs them a lot more than they need Faux; they don't need Faux at all.

[KharmaTrain]

4. We're Still Not Confident In Our New Skins...

Welcome to DU :hi:

Many Democrats...especially those who are in the House...were so used to being in the minority and whipped whenever they spoke out, they're still not quite sure where the solid and high ground is. While people like Barney Frank and Jack Murtha now can open up...they come from the age when Democrats did control...the others are starting to get their legs. I think this is a good thing and that the many new Democrats we've elected are working hard at doing their jobs and not getting sucked into the Beltway bullshit (at least so far).

The problem with Faux...and that will be its undoing, is it brought above ground a Repugnican propaganda machine that thrived in its own underground for many years. They developed their own lingo...buzz words, talking points and into their own reality that now looks so out of place...it went from cool to fool over the past 3 years...it's 15 minutes have passed. Faux Noise won't go away, but it has and continues to parody itself into the fringes.

The netroots and the internet has filled a void for information that bypasses Faux and the controlled corporate media just like the Fax machine and VCRs brought down the Soviet propaganda machine...when the powers that be lost the ability to control the information and thus the "dilogue".

[EV_Ares]

7. Thanks for the welcome. Also, I think as you say Faux or State TV is

mostly noise anymore. I think for one thing, it has got out there enough that they are part of the republican machine and Obama brought it to light. Regardless, their credibility is not what it used to be. I have even noticed that the news at the gym is not turned to Faux like it used to be. To me it is an indication of a loss of some of their devoted listeners. I know this is miniscule but still a possible indication.

I like the way things are going as far as more and more people going to various sources. I like to get other viewpoints as well to keep me honest but the internet, the bloggers, we are starting to do a little better on countering Limbaugh. Jon Stewart has done wonders I think as he has attracted a vast audience and evidently it is working, you see our Faux is trying to get a comedy show off the ground; I'll let you watch it for me.

So, anyway, looking forward to the demise of Faux, if not today, tomorrow.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Me Three

The number of swing votes that are also Faux viewers is a miniscule and irrelevant value. Nobody who is a rabid viewer would vote Dem, even if the repub was Satan. And those that aren't radical rightists are too few to care about.
The Professor

[Atman]

8. Actually, I have a Fox-watching friend who HATES Bush...

...but he actually thinks Fox is a real news channel, still. How would he know otherwise? He only watches Fox news, and they never tell him that they're a front for the GOP. But this guy is totally fed up with Bush and the republicans, and even cast his first-ever Dem vote for Kerry. But he still watches Fox.

Go figure.

.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. While I Certainly Believe You. . .

. . .i would guess the number of those folks is so small that it isn't worth pursuing them through Faux. At least your friend has you to inform him!
The Professor

[Atman]

10. He told me Billo was "a hard hitting, straight shooter"

who "tells it like it is." It's been a weird transformation. I've known this guy for years, and I've posted about him several times here. He voted for Bush in 2000, because he has always been a republican -- lord knows why, since he's an hourly-wage factory worker who makes jack for money. But his family has always been republican, and he tells me how his dad used to tell the family who to vote for, so he always just did.

But he's also a vet, and the last straw for him was Bush's treatment of vets and cutting benefits. This was well before the 2004 election that he started saying how much he can't stand Bush and regrets voting for him.

But I don't entirely agree with your premise...a lot of people really do think Fox is a real news channel. As I pointed out, newswatching is a habit. You pick a station/channel you like and you tend to stick with it. Where, exactly, are loyal Fox viewers ever going to hear about Fox? Not from Fox, that's for sure.

.

[ellacott]

6. Excellent post. n/t