It would be helpful to lay out in full view just why Fox is this way, who funds it, who directs it and, significantly, why they do it. Of course, there are the puppets and the mad who work for Fox, but are the money-men who pull the strings also mad?
16
I'm most concerned by the "everyone's biased, everyone lies" defense seen here in conservative comments (and the president). "you won't find anyone better" is the kind of excuse heard from abusers.
15
We are truly living in the upside down.
12
All we need to do in 2021 is reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, updated for the internet era, and enforced by a government agency like the British Office of Communications (www.ofcom.org.uk). That agency ensures that news organization political and policy debates remain accurate and impartial, and do not devolve into persistent right-wing propaganda like the gusher of Fox and Friends. Political henchmen like Roger Ailes and Roger Stone have done enough damage to our democracy. Enough is enough.
35
Most of the comments to this opinion page are perfect examples of ‘group think’. I find it unbelievable that highly educated Americans would be affected in such a ludicrous way by this phenomenon. Seriously, nobody in the right mind could ever believe that the shrills of Rachel Maddow are more balanced than those of any Fox reporter.
3
Several years ago, I was interviewed here in Madison by Fox News. Fox News was trying to broadcast a story about ObamaCare. Knowing their biases, I was suspicious of the interview. Fox kept peppering me to say derogatory statements about Obamacare. But I didn’t take the bait, knowing that they were a shill for a propaganda machine. They didn’t want my opinion, they wanted a sound bite to fit their narrative. Therefore, I praised Obamacare, making the interviewer exhausted that I wouldn’t give them a sound bite of a doctor critical of Obamacare.
Gov. Scott Walker had been interviewed in Madison that day, and he stated that “Obamacare” is unconstitutional because it violates the 10th Amendment — the states’ rights amendment. Therefore, I told Fox News, “The 10th Amendment was passed in 1791, providing that powers not specifically stated as a federal power are retained by the states. In 1791, humans received the same health care as horses. If the 10th Amendment stood today without any checks or balances, we would still have slavery and segregated colleges, some women would not be able to vote. Presently, Walker is hoping for a Mitt Romney presidency or, absent that, he will try to kill “Obamacare” in Wisconsin using a 1791 law. If “Obamacare” dies, then 53 million Americans, including tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens, will have less health care coverage than Mitt Romney’s wife’s horse. Telecast THAT on Fox News!”. They didn’t.
64
"The conversations were predictably shallow, tilted and exploitive."
I thought you were referring to MSNBC and CNN.
Never mind.
3
Mr. Blow
I would agree with you, but then we both would be wrong!
1
Just thank God Trump doesn't watch Rachel Maddow and MSNBC. That would be horror taken to a whole new level.
1
In the third to the last paragraph Charles Blow wrote:
The intellectual giant who is Doocy once attacked SpongeBob for pushing a “global warming agenda.”
The anger and frustration we are all feeling notwithstanding, a columnist such as Mr. Blow should refrain from sarcasm in making his arguments. Doing so, makes him part of the story. In spite of appearing on Fox previously, and that part was well told, Mr. Blow is not part part of the story. The tone in his piece should reflect the professionalism readers like me expect from the New York Times.
1
You realize this is an opinion piece, right?
15
Bertrand Russell wrote in several places in his unpopular essays that "all the wars in the 20th century were won by democracies". However, over the last 30 years or so, I have increasingly realized that that a democracy is extremely fragile. Gradually, I see our founder's greatest fears may even be realized; a monarchy in the making.
The thing is, this is our fault. Democracy requires real, active participation, not just on election day, but throughout the year.
Who listened to sound bytes rather than turn off the boob tube and demand that politicians explain their understanding of policy and legislation? Who found the league of women voters debates "boring"? Who voted for the clowns who have made this mess simply because they were Democrats or Republicans? Who really thought seriously about policy? Who wanted this telegenic nonsense to pollute the airwaves rather than people who know what they are doing? Who listened to smear and gossip rather than content? Finally, who really studied anything in school about democracy and went down to the town meetings and debated civilly with the political leadership?
Ladies and gentlemen, _we_ made this mess because we didn't give a damn, though only about ourselves, and mostly treated this stuff like a joke. Well, the joke is on us now.
25
Yep.
Bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
24
This is hilarious. FOX & Friends has led the cable morning news shows for 200 straight months (that's almost 17 years for any math impaired liberals and covers 4 different presidents). So the fact that the most watched cable news show is watched by the current President who by the way got the majority of votes in 30 of the 50 states... is somehow supposed to scare and horrify that majority, is a pretty weak premise? What is really horrifying for Mr. Blow is that there is a majority of people in this country who just don't agree with him and the NYT and who don't accept the policies they support. And after 15+ years of trying to convince the American public that they know best, they are now resorting to trying to scare everyone with intellectually shallow derogatory attacks. Pretty petty for high brow journalists at the most influential newspaper in the country, don't you think? Mr. Blow, get out of NY some, come on down and have breakfast with some of the FOX viewers. We'll be glad to talk to you about why we believe what we believe, and why we vote the way we do. We're really not that scary. You're not being governed by FOX & Friends. You're being governed by the people their viewers elected... get over it and get over yourself.
9
So we are being governed by the people that elected him. In Germany one time a majority of people elected for Hitler. ( Trump didn’t win the majority of the popular vote, but why quibble about facts) just because he won doesn’t mean it’s right.
33
Idiots of a feather...
8
Did this person Kilmeade really say that Americans keep marrying other SPECIES?
If so...WOW !!
25
Fox & Fake Friends
12
Thank you for your direct and honest truth.The people of our country need it .
All things end and Trumps corruption will end too,soon.
15
Ah, not long ago, but before Trump, SNA had a regular routine parodying Fox and Friends, It was dead on, and included a list of corrections.
It moved pretty fast, about 20 items per screen on for a few seconds, but still it lasted long enough for a hundred or so to whiz by.
Now this program has become the policy of the most powerful person of this nation that has defined the Post WWII era.
Mr. Blow, thanks for trying, but you never had a chance there.
11
As much as I hate Fox and Friends, you can pretty much put in any TV "news" network and come up with the same horror. Non-local TV news has become more of running fluff opinion sections than actual reporting or well-thought out editorials.
I get all of my news from written sources, and have for an extended period of time, and I consider myself far better informed than my parents and others who rely on TV.
13
We know what the problem is, now what to do about it? Perhaps we should pressurize every business with a shred of ethics left to pull their advertisements from networks so obviously misleading people. Money talks.
10
Thank you again, Mr. Blow. I read these very important opinion pieces and am very glad to see statements of sanity. But, along with Mr. Blow, I remain horrified by the FOX News propaganda juggernaut. When will we be delivered of FOX and their best friend, Trump? A.S.A.P.!
9
I remember a time when Conservatives and Liberals could debate issues intelligently and then go out for a drink (key word is "intelligently"). However, now we are in the era of Trump where truth and intelligence are considered quaint. It's all about bluster and bullying now... and winning at any cost.
24
Fox must be lobbying state govenments and engaging in ‘’Education Surpression’’ in places like Oklahoma and West Virginia, where teachers are disrespected and poorly paid in order to stuff the pipeline to their advertisers. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Pruit, their most famous ‘enviromentalist’ is busy exporting Oklahoma’s ‘environmental standards’ ( home to the world’s first man made earthquakes) to the rest of the country. Fox requires a dumbed down vewership to stay relevant to the advertisers. The GOP is going to be a footnote in the history books if they can’t attract educated voters.
10
Rupert Murdoch is probably the greatest threat to democracy who has ever lived.
21
A point of view should be formulated after a good dose of the facts.
Too many news organisations believe they can filter the facts and deliver opinion.
The Old Fox Rupert Murdoch will be dead soon and perhaps his evil media empire will then start to crumble or his heirs will find the moral compass he has lacked.
6
I don't watch Fox so I felt the full titanic shock of some of the statements made by the Foxers. ...."We keep marrying other species...."???????? As a biologist and neuroscientist this is beyond belief. Third grade biology: We're all homo sapiens. And as a by-the-way, homo sapiens are just one of a group of primates that include the chimp, gorilla, etc. And as another by-the-way - the idea of 'races' is a man-made concept without genetic reality. I just keep thinking of George Carlin--our species (i.e., homo sapien) has made a mess of everything. Time to give another species a shot at control.
21
Every morning I:
1. Read the NYTs particularly the editorials including those by Mr. Blow.
2. Read the Wall Street Journal again particularly the editorials
3. Watch a few minutes on Fox and Friends
4. Watch CNBC or Fox Business News
I used to watch Morning Joe on MSNBC until it became virtually unwatchable. Watching the female host’s almost continuously pain expression during and discussion on Republican politics was just more than I could take as a steady diet.
I see nothing wrong with watching or reading any of these sources and must take exception to your views on Fox and Friends. It is no more partisan or elementary than say the Today Show, but I must assume from your words that you have an ideological problem with F&F. I guess you prefer venues where your opinions are not challenged, or were you somehow prevented from responding substantively on Fox?
10
I call it Fox and enemies
8
Just as the Second Amendment doesn't allow for personal nuclear weapons or individually-owned Submarines, we need to state that the First Amendment does not protect deliberate lies and falsehoods.
Fox, as an organization, is an abomination. It's difficult to wish any human being ill, but Rupert Murdoch will improve the world, much like the Koch Brothers, with his death.
18
Live by television, die by television.
4
Fox and friends is what it is - popular conservative entertainment based loosely on some news. Criticizing them for doing their job is a waste of energy. The concern is that the President of the United States bases his day on how he reacts to entertainment. This is deeply troubling and would be if it were any show on any network.
15
I was always a little leery of the quality of news coverage offered by any Fox outlet, but following the UK's News International scandal and attempted cover-up, I concluded that any family business that places its own interests above the life of a kidnapped girl, shouldn't be trusted and frankly shouldn't exist.
19
Another "I'm smart and if you disagree with me you're not." article.....yawn. I know it's an opinion piece but where are the facts? #youlookfoolish
10
Except for any truly newsworthy event, I discount Fox, CNN and MSNBC because they're no longer worthy of reporting objective news.
And please stop believing that CNN is a credible news organization simply because it's better than Fox. That's simply too low a bar.
7
After that diatribe, you’ve got to make an appearance on the show.
3
I m not "governed" by Fox news. I listen to Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. Fox is the cable news station to watch for real news and not gossip.
7
You’ve certainly made an airtight case. Well done.
8
o pontificate in a brief, analysis-free opinion piece that Fox & Friends (and with it, it's implied, most of Fox's other programs) is "shallow, tilted and exploitive" and thus a "horror" to have in the media - is not what one would expect from a serious columnist. He cites sources whose claims are not subject to review by readers, and concludes with two inconsequential statements made one day by one of the program's hosts as ultimate proof that the program is just overflowing with falsehoods. Then, to seal the verdict, he pulls up a lawsuit accusing another program host of “severe and pervasive sexual harassment" of an anchor on the basis of what she perceived was his refusal "to accept and treat her as an intelligent and insightful female journalist.” It's quite challenging to see how this skimpy, condemnatory piece can pass as a piece of profound analysis when the many discussions on Fox that Mr. Blow was a party to in the past are dismissed by him as just too "shallow [of an] intellectual pool" and evidently too dangerous to reach the American public. Finally it seems that Mr. Blow is suggesting that everyone in a leadership position who watches Fox should be prohibited from governing. In what book of wisdom could that be characterized as a very profound (sic!) conclusion?
5
Too many people are hung up on the 2nd Amendment when the 1st could use the most tweaking. This stuff is not “news” and should not be presented as such.
4
It is said that there is an app for everything. We need an app that can separate fake news from true news.
Let's hope somebody designs such app.
7
And yet there are millions of people in this country that actually swear by what they see and hear on Fox. The problem is obviously the medium, but even more disturbing is the mass hysteria in this country among the right wing that perceives anything progressive as being explicitly against their interests. They want things just "the way they used to be" when women, dark folks and immigrants knew their places and the white male was the dominant species.
29
Dario -- have you ever watched Fox at all? Your take -- like most of those of the commentariat -- are based on some hysterical idea of what Fox news presents. Now, I don't watch Fox all day long, usually in the evening (The FIve & Bret Baier). There is no mantra of returning to the way things were. What there is usually is a discussion of today's news that is reasonably objective -- both shows have liberal voices. There might be something where the left wing media may have been bleating about Russia-Trump collusion all day long -- and someone on Fox may point out that -- hey there is no evidence that has been presented that shows collusion. No leaks showing collusion. And someone might ask why Russia would collude with Trump or vice versa. All fair questions.
Or they might do a segment on college students shouting down speakers. Or they might give a positive review to a Trump rally. Or they may bring on guests who have experience in the field of diplomacy or the military to comment on N. Korea.
Hardly a call for a move back to the way things used to be. But why don't you look at Fox and find an example of what you are talking about.
20
Did Fox ever show ask why Trump won't speak to any crowd OTHER than his red meat supporters? My take is that he's a coward! Afraid of hearing the boos from Americans who dispise everything that is disgusting about this man, his bottomless pit of lies, and of course corruption.
4
To understand what Fox is doing, you have to watch Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Jeannine Pirro. Who so happen to be the primetime lineup. When there is bad news about Trump, they don't show it. They peddle false conspiracy theories without any journalistic ethics. They attack crime victims if the crimes were committed with guns, or by small town police. They are really nothing more than a propaganda arm of the billionaire conservative donor class.
6
When Kilmeade asserted that Swedes have "pure genes" he probably meant that Swedes are more genetically homogeneous than we mongrel Americans are. Without any evidence he then facetiously inferred that for this reason Swedish marriages are happier than ours are, but his attribution of happy marriages to "pure genes" is wildly speculative, and his concept of a "[genetically] pure society" is pure hogwash.
Beneath Kilmeade's "joke" it's not hard to discern the premise that certain nationalities are racially "pure," and that such genetic homogeneity confers some sort of social advantage. This pseudo-scientific idea, dear to the heart of Adolf Hitler, was tested by World War II and refuted by its outcome, when the "mongrel" nations soundly defeated the supposedly "pure" ones. Of course, Kilmeade was simply trying to be amusing, but his underlying assumptions about genetics and society are both ignorant and pernicious.
A constant flow of such racist talk, however lighthearted in intention, can't help but confirm in his listeners a prejudice against whoever they deem to be "genetically impure." Swedes and Finns? Of course not. Darker skinned non-European ethnicities? Probably so.
16
Every time I read a piece by Blow, Kristof, Krugman, Cohen, Haberman et al, I thank whatever greater power that might exist that we still have a free press in this country.
25
Mr. Blow, Please get to the root of these insipid shows and biased network- It's Murdoch and his cunning ability at monetizing anger, resentment and fear designed to pander to the oldest and least intelligent among us. I know this because I spent years in Tv broadcast association jobs where every step Ruppert took at 20th Century was out of a play book of his success in GB and Australia newsprint in the 70's and 80's. He created the filth of gotcha photo-journalism in Fleet Street , criminalization of reporting fake news like about the death of (13 year old Milly Dowler) non stop exploitation of US social friction (Hannity, O'Reilly) and constant tearing down of democratic governments- everything pro Trump- all made sense to him as payback for his father Keith Murdoch, a talented war journalist in 1915 who during the battle of Gallipoli, was publically and humiliated after exposing English military wrong headedness war planning responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 allied troops including many from his native Australia. Murdoch is anti-government plain and simple and looks for the next governmental target to tear down. It's all about payback for the Murdoch family legacy and his stable of useful idiots.
13
A delusional perception of reality is how Fox & Friends create their news. They have actually made Trumpistas question reality by replacing it with lies, conspiracies theories and fake news. Psychologically Trumpistas want to let go of their reality, their life is too hard to face or simply bored with it, so they cling onto lies which makes their world habitable. A psychological game is being played with tremendous implications on our society and democracy. Why would Fox & friends hosts play this dangerous game? Money. Who should pay for the damages from this vile "entertainment"? If done intentionally, then we should seek damages either in criminal court or civil court. On a more human level, if these hosts understand their manipulatative tactics are being used to destabilize our society (treason) and may lead to the death of a human should they be held accountable by us? Legally only the prepretator of the crime goes to jail. Our society is being destroyed by these "entertainers" and we demand our government do something about it. Oh, yea, we have no government, we only have a Pretend King Trump on his imaginary throne with his court jesters at Fox & Friends. The reality is we have a dangerous unstable unqualified man in the WH with his minions unable to impeach him for fear of retailiation and Trumpistas unwilling to wake up from their dreamland. Are we there yet?
8
The Onion is more factual than Fox
26
My issue with Fox is that people treat it like journalism when it's not. This is NOT because they're conservative. The Wall Street Journal is conservative and a fantastic journalism organization. No, what makes Fox different is that it was designed from the beginning to be an entertainment organization rather than a journalistic one. When Fox started they didn't create bureaus and hire reporters or fact checkers. The goal was to take stories from the news wires and have colorful presenters comment on them. It was to give the appearance of a news organization but without making the investment in one. That's not journalism. Sadly, too many people don't understand this.
19
the idea was to build a strong, popular platform for ultra conservative, Republican ideas, after the embarrassment of Nixon and how he felt "kicked around" by the news media, a voice in the wilderness for Republicans ... in contrast to conventional journalism which was seen as too "liberal" since it was motivated primarily by digging for facts and truth.
Murdock saw a way to exploit low information viewers for big money and he has been ruthlesly good at it.
the carpetbagger.
7
I'll take "Fox & Friends" over today's seeming companion piece, "Fox in the Stroller."
What agitprop-free fox-less fare does Mr. Blow suggest? Certainly not "Morning Joe" or anything coughed up by CNN/MSNBC…
7
Joseph Goebbels would be proud of Fox Snooze, Germany was being bombed into oblivion and he's making movies, or saying the opposite of what the citizens were seeing in the streets of Berlin.
Fox Snooze, well, they've managed to get a person elected to office that can't run a business, (regardless of what Trump says, the bankruptcy facts speak for themselves).
A bitter old man, that sees his Jim Crow world ending. Society's need their monsters, and for the Fox propaganda machine, it's anything, or anyone of color, that doesn't agree with their ideology.
17
"News" is news. It's not progressive or conservative. It should have no bias other than the truth. That is why I watch no TV, which seems to be more interested in whipping people up to a frenzy than informing us. I read all manner of publications, including opinion pieces, but I know they're opinion pieces. I can connect the dots myself (using enough good sources) and don't need a TV talking head, whether Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity, to tell me what to think.
It troubles me greatly that so many people tune into Fox, or any one source, for their news. And it is no doubt a real problem when our president does the same.
14
Maybe we need to re-think how we teach the humanities and start concentrating more on how we are all being manipulated by the media. The use of images, language, facial expressions, questions and mush more should be looked at in grater depth. We tend to think that in our free society we are free from the use of various propaganda techniques. Even in advertising we encounter the very best of propaganda forms being used. Teach our young people how to recognize these tools of manipulation that are in constant use in our society. Maybe reading Orwell should again become required reading. Thank you Mr. Blow for another outstanding editorial.
11
So, here in the good 'ole US of A my Norwegian/Polish mother married my English/Irish father. Last time I checked they were of the same species. My current husband is Finnish. Would you look at that--he married a lady of English/Irish/Norwegian/Polish descent. Last time I checked we were of the same species also.
16
The impact of Fox NEWS on voters is more of a problem than its impact on Trump. It gives generally uninformed people support in their ignorance and supports their baseless conclusions.
18
I don’t know what I pity more, the people who created Fox News or the hopeless and heedless that flock to their televisions for their daily dose of mind-numbing irrational self-indulging reinforcement. Fox News has merely provided a venue for like-minded folks to hear what they want to hear to heck with whether or not its correct and truthful. Remember when Candy Crowley moderated a 2012 Presidential Debate and fact checked Mitt Romney? She was ravaged for having the audacity of confirming Obama’s truth at the expense of Romney’s lie - that was her offense for which Fox News unleashed unbridled vitriol towards Candy Crowley. Fox “News”...what a joke. The only news I want to hear about Fox is that they violated some FCC regulations and must dissolve - forever.
23
Some comments here tote the usual what about CNN and MSNBC, which by the way are more middle than leftist leaning.
Which one of these programs is more dangerous? No question Fox. Why? The purpose of the "fourth estate," or at lease one of them is upholding the first amendment. When a media outlet becomes a diehard cheerleader for the POTUS the risk of propaganda dramatically increases and in turn can become very dangerous to individual liberty. Propaganda machines are as dangerous now as they were in pre world war II Germany. I would also venture to say after seeing blurbs about racial purity that at least some of us here have a real bent to the mindset of many Germans in that earlier mentioned time period.
19
The Fox network has done more to harm the body politic than anything since yellow journalism. Most of what they preach is inane, but there are many things that are spoken that are hurting people.
I am fed up with the "what ifs" and "how about" tactics they use to justify the wrongs they commit. This is the way the Russian KGB operates. CNN and MSNBC are not equally culpable. And when the NYT makes a mistake like accepting the weapons of mass destruction lie about Iraq, at least they recognize the error and try to fix it. Clinton and Obama are not the source of all evil.
When I meet someone who gets their news from Fox, I simply have to walk away from them. I no longer have the patience to try and reason with them any more. To a liberal, a devotee of Fox isn't a candidate for a friendship or anyone else. I can't wait for this presidency to end and for normal order to be restored in this country.
20
I made the mistake of starting to read Gibbon's history of Rome where he records the reigns of the emperors. Some of the emperors had a symbiotic relationship with the Praetorian Guard, much like Trump and Fox News. The Guard got the emperor "elected," and the emperor, in turn, let the Guard dictate policy. It did not end well for the Empire. Often it did not end well for the emperor either. Since we are a nation of laws, I trust we will have an orderly transition of power in 2020, to a sane, incorruptible president who isn't guided by simpering idiots as he tries to undo the damage Trump is doing. (I'd settle for a reincarnation of Calvin Coolidge, George W. or Jimmy Carter: the good old days, when we grumbled but didn't cry ourselves to sleep every night.)
11
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/04/09/facebook-reconsiders-unsafe-for-c...
"...Facebook is reconsidering classifying videos produced by Diamond and Silk, two of President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, as "unsafe to the community" after the dynamic duo went on Fox News' morning show asking why the embattled social media giant had labeled them as such...
Horrors...
3
I imagine that some ultra-conservatives feel comfortable with Fox and Friends because it is pushing their agenda, just as many progressives may feel comfortable with MSNBC because it has a mostly liberal agenda. But there is one big difference between these two cable news programs: one relies on falsehoods, while the other relies on facts. So, even when MSNBC crows about its moral high ground and criticizes the present administration, which annoys conservatives mightily, at least there's actual journalism there. You'd be hard pressed to find actual journalism on Fox and Friends. Indeed, they probably spend their pre-production time figuring out how to spin propaganda for the president to use, seeing as he is one of their most loyal fans along with perhaps 30 million other Americans. Is reality all that scary?
15
Marrying other species ? Didn't know Americans were marrying dogs and chimpanzees , what a moronic statement ! Doocy is aptly named too , he's a real doozy too , wonder if it's the lead in the water ?
10
But what can we do?? I despair. Maybe the FCC can help. Ha
1
Raise your hand if your elderly parents who were once sensible, thoughtful citizens are now corrupted and paranoid thanks to their regular viewing of FOX News. I recently watched a "journalist" on this network reporting on a murder trial and calling the defendant various derogatory names. I have a degree in journalism and real news reporters are supposed to supply facts, not their opinions in a news piece.
I quit going to Gold's Gym for the very reason that every big screen TV was tuned in to FOX NEWS. Despite the sound being off, you couldn't avoid the outrageous, exaggerated headlines silently screaming at you. It was disconcerting and I couldn't take it any longer.
21
the most amusing thing about this column and most comments is the progressive assumption that the Times, NBC, MSNBC, etc., aren't biased. That they don't have a very partisan view of the world -- a very left leaning view of the world. Fox may have some biases, but no more than The Times, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, etc. But they (Fox) don't pretend that they are objective whereas the main stream media does pretend they are objective.
Here you've got all these news orgs that have spent the last 18 months trying to destroy a presidency, that has constantly run stories on collusion between Trump and Russia --- when there is no evidence -- and has published op-eds asking how we can get rid of Trump. No bias? Hmmmmm.
7
1. If you think the Times, MSNBC and so on are extreme left, boy, do YOU need to get out more.
2. FOX calls itself, "America's Newsroom," not, "America's Opinion Page."
3. You're seriously complaining that an opinion page has, you know, opinions on it?
14
Here is one way to guage any network's biases.
.
Compare the number of times they interrupt, or otherwise cut-off comments made by their guests (liberal vs conservative).
.
in each & every program - FoxNews consistantly interupts their liberal guests, redicule them with intent & purpose to render Libverals as "dumb & stupid"
PBS Newshour seems the only network where they treat all their guests with respect and always let them finish their sentences, before they move to the next Q.
17
As a veteran, let me share something.
Go to any military base around our country and what are the vast majority of televisions tuned to in all their public spaces?
That right - Fox News.
As such, it is any wonder why so many active duty troops and veterans today appear to have such a poor understanding of our constitution, our system of government and the guiding principles of what our nation was founded upon?
32
You aren't wrong.
8
I heard this was the same at the CIA and FBI. I wonder now...
2
It's true, but it's up to the individual to sort through the white noise, and see what's real and what's a fabrication. But in larger sense you're right, and that's where the Flynns of the world came from. And if we think that Flynn is the only high ranking officer that thinks like that, we are sadly mistaken.
My father was a WWII veteran, and he saw so much antisemitism it made him wonder, if these people that were fighting to free a Continent from Nazis, believed the same thing, who was the real enemy. The enemy of my friend is my friend.
2
Why am I confident that the "horror" would be much less if POTUS seemed to be influenced (as Obama seemed to be) more by "Morning Joe" than Fox and Friends? The great American middle knows when they are being gulled and lied to. That is the reason for the high ratings of "Fox and Friends". If you disapprove, see to your own truth telling, or lack thereof.
4
President Obama relied on his informed cabinet and staff. Trump does not do that, primarily because his cabinet and staff are only qualified because of their loyalty to him or some other nonsense.
16
Uh, Joe Scarborough's a Republican. From Alabama, I believe.
4
independent originally from Florida.
1
And now the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast & Tribune Media would put Trump TV into 72% of US homes, unless the FTC prevents it.
We all know this is a propaganda machine, right?
The worst part of this is that when shown (not confronted) with articulable facts, those who are susceptible to this type of programming now condemn the naysayer not as wrong, but as a liar.
16
Rupert Murdoch and family are slowly destroying democracy in American. I wonder if they are proud of themselves.
14
Their joy is derived from being the global leader in Yellow Journalism and the profits that are to be made from sowing the seeds of discord and hate. Disgusting and ultra low brow no matter how you look at it.
5
Television was once one thing with very limited choices. It was a box that never shut-up, as if you had entered a video library with only three books and were forced either to turn away or have those books read to you. Now, we can easily pause and skip over advertising shouts and on-demand puts us in charge, not the stream itself.
The era of continuous streaming television is gradually coming to an end. Trump was raised at a time when television was king, when there were only three networks and what was seen, said and heard on those networks was taken in by almost all Americans every day of their lives. So, Trump evidently believes that Fox Noise and their Friends rule the minds of Americans instead of a minority out there in the great beyond who turned to Fox to avoid anything that might upset them. The numbers are in the millions, but we are a nation of more than 340 million people, most of whom don't watch Fox.
Trump's worship of Fox/Friends shows the severely limited scope of his view of the presidency. It is a symptom of his utter lack of preparation, study, for one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
Instead of growing in the presidency, Trump has narrowed. Looking back at his time as a roving bachelor and unchained married man in NY, not much has changed about him. He courts his favorite media as if it were the coin of the realm and thinks its approval is all he needs. He is stunningly mistaken.
19
It is amazing to me how at odds modern radical conservatism has become with classical conservatism. I doubt the two would even recognize each other in crowed elevator.
10
I have never watched it so am not part of the audience making it number one. Just getting the feed on its contents second and third hand is more than enough for me to watch the living definition of "fake news".
In fairness, I am sure there may be some intelligent people in its audience but one of them is surely not Trump.
You nailed it, Trump cannot comprehend even the briefest of official daily briefs so he relies on Fox 'news' to provide him with information he needs for the day as a Trump impersonating a president. Trump is addicted to Trump and evidently so are they.
12
What ever happened to objective journalism? In my lifetime I have watched the news media go from reporting the actual news in an objective way to suddenly reporting the news with a subjective twist. It’s no longer the ‘news’ but rather it’s a ‘news show.’ They bring on so-called specialists who back their own ownership’s narrow thinking. News corporations now report the news from a strictly subjective viewpoint based on the corporations’ own liberal or conservative bend. This is very dangerous and the antithesis of what news should be. To be honest I don’t know where to get my news anymore without a subjective bend to it. Alas, where is the Walter Cronkite of the 21st century? There is none.
8
MSNBC lets viewers know when they are about to hear opinion.
Other than that, they are a centrist news organization.
Fox News uses opinion for news.
They are a right-wing GOP mouthpiece.
Vast difference.
26
As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Mencken 1920
“No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” H.L. Mencken, 1926
8
well....they got your attention.
How does the saying go? Never match minds with an idiot because it will dumb you down. Or...choose your enemies well, because it is they, you will become most like.
6
It is really appalling that these idiots hold sway over so many american including the president. If there were somewhat nice and kind, I could give the people who watch some understanding but they are cruel and awful.
5
Fox is the only source I trust for news. The rest are nothing but Leftist, anti-Republican garbage.
5
"The dimmest of wits." Classic and true from the top down through the halls of Congress.
Addressing another timely New York Times opinion piece, a commenter noted that "there is no such thing as an authoritarian test drive." Dim wits who blab and and the chief tweeter who has no clue as to what he is doing are the taking us for an authoritarian test drive. We are inching towards a point where buyer's remorse will be out of the question and too late! Alas, a return to sanity seems a long way off. I, for one, can't even see it in my rear view mirror.
7
Anti-intellectualism has infected the entire country- from the anti-vaxxer-know-nothings on the Left, to the climate-change-denying-morons on the Right. Donald Trump, with his utter disdain for facts, is exactly the leader that proudly-ignorant America deserves.
13
Equally worrying is the thought the populace that consumes this garbage. To be outnumbered by idiots is one thing; but idiots that have fed a consistent narrative of fear, bigotry and racism???
This mob is to be feared.
14
Fox Cable News and 'Fox & Friends' in particular is a welcome antidote for decades of advancing an agenda shared by the author the other mainstream media, this newspaper, the Washington Post, other purveyors of one-sided political cable news but not the millions of supporters of the President. Mr. Blow should spend some time in reflection, perhaps watch Roseanne Barr to understand the 'other side...' of America's thinking voters, before he so glibly denounces Messrs. Kilmeade and Doocy. As he does with our President, Mr. Blow sets up straw men to strike down, quick triumphs backed by dubious statistics, but the greater truth is that our President appeals to we 'deplorables' including lawyers like me whose voices are unheard first by Mrs. Clinton and now putative 'defenders', both political and in the elite media.
2
When you break it down, the Playbook to drum up right wing base votes is not very complex but it is highly effective:
Blame China and Mexico
Blame immigration
Blame minorities
Blame poor people
Blame taxes
Blame regulations
Blame Obama/Hillary
Blame education
Dont mention or blame the powers that be.
15
Of course you would deem Fox to be the devil incarnate, Mr. Blow. If Obama was still our Pres, he'd probably be watching Lester Holt.
Reading your columns over, one might deem that your point of view is the same dug in, take no prisoners rant on the other side.
What odd dance partners you make. But at least you'll be remembered as one of the many slanted shouting matches of our times.
4
I stopped watching TV news 30 plus years ago and that includes local stations whose focus turned to the sensational to keep ratings elevated to generate ad revenue.
Long gone are the days of news commentators like Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Locally we no longer ha men like Tom McCall who strove to give balanced reporting.
Now we have smirking, posturing news men and women who giggle and laugh as they report some of the horrendous events of our modern world. The “news” has become a perverted reality show and makes a mockery of our actually very functional communities instead making it appear that we are all under seize my nefarious forces.
Our once “free press” has in all too many cities and towns been co-opted by external partisan owners who dictate what is or is not worthy of being reported to the unwashed masses.
Too few people read the news from greatly diminished written news sources. The loss of newspapers in communities that once had two papers each of which reported different perspectives of the news has been devastating. Seeking “truth”, i.e. a balanced perspective with which to make well thought out judgements is a difficult task.
For now I rely on the New Yorker, the NYT and occasional internet Pundits at Politico, Huffington Post and the occasional free WSJ article.
I was fortunate to attend a High School that taught and valued critical thinking and the use of public libraries. Thank goodness YouTube did not exist.
13
No one except the Left want to read or hear liberal yada yada on CNN or the total joke MSNBC.
Trump will be re-elected in 2020. MAGA.
2
Make america gag again?
7
Mr. Blow needs to spend a day watching CNN and MSNBC, and then a car ride listening to KPFA, to get the complete picture of the demise of "news" in America.
2
Fox is the President's Pravda.
14
Dear Fox and Friends: be aware that your words may lead to a decision that causes someone to die. You are complicit.
8
That is the strangest guilt trip I have heard of yet for the media. You should take a time out and think about what you said!
I don't think you are a liar but I'll bet you voted for one.
The 'dimmest wits' (Fox News) undergird an unhinged President
5
The study that showed if you watch Fox News you actually knew less about the things happening around the world.
Fox News is a intellect suppressor.
14
I recently sent a Comment thanking Mr. Blow & other contributors of the NYT. Unfortunately I thanked "Marilyn" Albright instead of the person I meant to thank, MADELEINE ALBRIGHT. With a red face, I sincerely apologize for my error.
4
Charles. Please do not hold back. Tell us what you really think. Come on. Let it all out.
3
"Kilmeade once said on the show that “the Swedes have pure genes because they marry other Swedes,” and of Finland he said, “Finns marry other Finns so they have a pure society,” which was apparently better than America because, “We keep marrying other species and other ethnics.”
Holy Mary mother of god is that racist. I mean I knew they were awful and stupid and racist anyway, but to see that in print is just...I mean, that's horrifying.
17
Faux News is not the Caucasian Information Station and ratings leader due to it's dumbed down and slanted view of reality. For Trump and many others like him, their favorite program provides an interesting view of a passive blond bimbo wedged between two men on a couch with a short skirt showing just enough to activate what's left of their pathetic hormones. Aren't Fox's evangelical viewers the least bit curious about all of those overt sexual harassment firings and lawsuits?
17
“A triumph of collective narcissism”: How Trump unleashed forbidden desires
Therapist Elizabeth Mika: Trump embodies hidden yearnings “that people do not necessarily want to admit” https://www.salon.com/2018/04/02/a-triumph-of-collective-narcissism-how-...
3
Indeed, so I don't even have to watch the show to be highly influenced by it. Wonderful!
As a very old person, it is too obvious to me that a big mouth and a bigger ego like Trump's cannot lead our country any better than Bush and Cheney, even when Bush had Dad to tell him what to do............Being "governed by Fox and Friends", it truns out, is about as efficient as being governed by the Bush family........Unfortunately.
6
Fox is an entertainment network, not a news network. One of the Caesars, I believe, said that the way to success with the people was to give them "bread and circuses." When people believe they are seeing actual news (true events) and it is simply a mirror, they remain, like Fox's ardent fans, ignorant and aggrieved. It is a challenge (for me) to avoid doing the same thing from my own social and political perspective.
5
A study was done years ago a Fairleigh Dickson University which revealed that people who watch the fox network news were LESS informed about the news than people who didn’t even bother to read a newspaper or find out about the news.
15
Fox bemoans the loss of Blow's excellent insight on an almost daily basis.
1
We knew Brian Kilmeade years ago when he was somewhat involved in youth soccer on Long Island. Dumb as a rock then, dummer now apparently. But my true joy was listening to my daughter tell me that when she worked in a law firm years ago that he was a client of, whenever she had to fill in for the receptionist and he walked in, she always made him tell her his name and she never acted like he was famous just to bug him. And it did. He's a jerk and very dumb. Gives Long Island a bad name. Having the occupier of the White House listening to someone that stupid is terrifying.
13
Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes created Fox & Friends as a "Party Media Apparatus" to disseminate disinformation and Newspeak, and to destroy language. Famed linguist H. P. Grice showed real discussion only exists because of "cooperative principle of conversation." Simply put, all participants in a discussion, no matter how contentious, agree not to deliberately lie. (This has nothing to do with differing opinions). Fox & Friends, (like Trump), competes to see who can lie the most. Any doubts? On January 25, 2018 the Times reported that in June 2017 Trump told White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn to have the DOJ fire special counsel Robert Mueller. McGahn refused, instead threatening to resign. When the story broke, Trump labeled it "Fake news…Typical New York Times fake stories." However by 11 p.m., Fox News's chief national correspondent Ed Henry reported that the story was absolutely "accurate," that he and his staff had independently verified it to be true. A few hours later "Fox & Friends" lied about their own news division's reporting in a staggering display of pro-Trump disinformation. Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy held up Friday's print edition of the Times, misrepresented what the article said, and then along with Co-host Pete Hegseth, backed Trump's claim that it was "Fake News" despite the fact that just a few hours earlier Fox's chief national correspondent had declared it to be true. Fox & Friends hosts are the most influential in American media; they are liars.
18
In some countries Fox news is the only American network on cable--sort of no news is good news while you're traveling. I did notice though that their lead Megan Kelly stood up for a white Santa Claus, i mean, if you ever saw the movie Miracle on 34th Street, where they got the real Santa Claus to play Santa Claus, he's white, though, i have to admit, the guy who just hosted Black Jeopardy would be just as good in the part.
I don't have a tv, since when they cancelled regular tv a few years ago--the shows had degenerated into 1-2 second takes, in an effort to capture viewers with fake action as they surfed channels. MSNBC is on the internet, though for a while NBC couldn't get the feed right for Rachel Maddow, which i thought might have been deliberate. Their (<italics) lead for many years was Camel cigarettes, and not too long ago they did a global warming series, which consisted of sending their leads to Antarctica to marvel at icebergs while they ran commercials for roll over SUVs. Now I think it's double and triple priced pharmaceuticals, some for made up diseases, and many for which the side effect is death. Remember that the idea behind cable was that you could watch tv w/o commercials, because..because..you were paying for it. Let's say then your favorite 5 channels (not incl HBO/ST which aired horror shows not fit for children) cost you $10/mo. How much is that now, or what are you paying for an essentially unregulated monopoly?
No commercials on Fox overseas.
4
It is appalling that so much of the American public decided years ago to ignore all media but Fox. As a result, they don't even know how much false information they are swallowing.
14
They're charlatans masquerading as journalists. I'm glad you bailed, Charles.
8
Yep, America, scramble a couple eggs in a fry pan, then take a good look at the mess. That's your mind on Fox News.
5
In a country filled with unapologetic racists, Fox and Friends is here to stay.
9
The solid popularity of Fox and Friends reflects the fact that many Americans are under-educated, ignorant and obviously racist.
11
...in part. All of the aforementioned are a bi-product of an intentionally segregated society (since slavery ended) and decades of gross under-investment in education. The other factor you didn’t mention is an unregulated movement towards mass media conglomeration where most of the messages Americans hear are controlled by a small handful of firms. Listen to last Friday’s “the daily” podcast on Sinclair Broadcasting. Our best bet would be to turn off the TV and teach more people to read.
6
Blaming Fox News is like blaming the refrigerator because you’re fat, blaming your opioids because you’re an addict, or blaming Facebook for your loss of privacy. Where’s Pogo?
1
Charles Blow for president, 2020!
8
Fox and Friends is not just commercial opportunism. It is not just stupidity.
It is carefully designed and presented in order to corrupt U.S. politics into supporting the oligarchs who want to suck America dry. American wealth has been flowing into the pockets of the upper 1% from the resources of the poor and the middle class. Trump is just a tool and Fox and Friends is a nauseating worm eating the brains of our President and all who watch it.
18
Just as bad as the Rule by a sycophantic liberal press whose emperor never had any clothes. I might actually listen to you all if only you showed better judgment.
I will gladly take Fox and Friends over Barak Hussein Obama or Hillary Clinton. That choice was on the ballot, Blow. Remember? We had an election on November 8, 2016. Trump won in an electoral landslide. So far so good. Economy booming. Get over it.
1
True, the Obama boom continues.
4
A comment that explains everything. Probably not in the way intended but comprehensive and succinct nevertheless.
7
He was definitely installed by the Electoral College against the popular will. You’re right about that. But it was far from an “electoral landslide.” That’s easily verifiable. Still amazes me that people actually believe this guy.
3
"...“We keep marrying other species and other ethnics.”
Chew on that one, Mr. Blow. "Other species?" As in, umm, we procreate with horses or cows or dogs or cats? Certain ("other") people don't matter because they're not from a "top drawer" genetic make-up? This is Stephen Bannon and the Richard Spencer territory, even if they weren't quoted. And this is the highest-rated morning cable show going on, what, four years?
The Foxhole is proof-positive of how rancid the educational system in America has become. When I was in grade school, 60 years ago, we were taught that genuine citizenship carries with it the weight of responsibility, one of the elements of which was truth. If a lie was out there, we were to not only find it but destroy it, not with contumely and rancor, but with demonstrable fact. It was like being in a court of law: "where's your proof, counselor?"
It's quite clear that Donald Trump's briefings are delivered via television. He hasn't the time nor the patience to listen to his aides; to ask questions; to cross-check with what he knows that others don't. If the viewing audience at the Foxhole was told that the roadkill on the table was really filet mignon, they'd believe it because, well, Fox said it was.
The primary engine in education is critical thinking. It's a disappearing skill, one that's held in contempt by at least 63-millions of voting American citizens who think that the moron-in-chief is the cat's meow.
They all need their whiskers singed.
13
While there may have been bias at the time, I could not discern it. How I miss Walter Cronkite, and the fact based, subjective news based on impartial journalism. Opinions are not fact. Political bias is not fact. Americans who believe in the Constitution and the rule of law, want the unvarnished truth. In order to have a working Democracy, it is critical that We the People come to our own opinions without undue influence. It is becoming more and more difficult to weed through the muck.
10
Americans now yearn for the days when the Howdy Doody Show set the intellectual standards for morning television.
Better a puppet on the tube then a rube in the Offal Office.
10
"Pathetic" is the word that comes to mind. These idiots telling Trump what to "think" is even beyond pathetic.
14
I have one word for our current state of affairs,
and it includes a movie plug. "Idiocrocy".
8
It's a documentary!
The real problem is that there are far too many stupid Americans, shallow and proudly uninformed.
14
The F&F show is beautifully filling a void for people who do not like critical thinking; who do not want to have their pre-conceived notions challenged; who want to be able to identify the failures in their lives with some culprit. It is low IQ massaging for low intellect viewers.
10
Yup, fake blonde female props always get the middle seat on the F & F couch. Ughh, seems to be their contractual standard.
9
Fox and Company resonates well with DJT just like Cat In The hat is loved by three year olds. His intellect could not grasp PBS, BBC or NPR. This bull needs Fox to walk comfortably in his private China shop. We are witnessing an ill equipped unstable toddler pretending to lead. We hold our breath, waiting for the crash
11
It's a terrorist state run as a theocracy by blood-thirsty criminals of war, what can one expect from its media but psychotic propaganda parroted by useful idiots? P.S. I mean the USA, not ISIS
6
As bad as Fox News is, If you watch the video you would see instead of the mal intent Mr Blow implies, actually a joke that the speaker himself, Kilmeade was the butt of. They were all making fun of themselves pretending to have dementia. Kilmeade then made a lame attempt at a joke by blaming his dementia on his Italian Irish heritage as opposed to all people Swedish or Finnish heritage. There was no mal intent.
1
Charles is right about 'F&F'. But it's also true more generally that relying on television to stay informed is just lazy, intellectually and otherwise. The millions who tune in to Fox News probably avoid other news sources because they don't trust "the MSM," but also because it's easier to be spoon-fed by the boob tube than to make the effort to pick up a newspaper.
5
F&F are parroting what their masters (Kochs, Mercers) tell them to say. They have no interest in the betterment of the American society; only care about their own pocketbooks. Shame.
5
Hey Mr. Blow
You should go over and visit MSNBC or CNN ( the home of fake news) and see the liberal dimwits that talk on the air there!
I doubt you will go.
Remember He. Is. The. President. And he doesn't listen to hog drivel from those Dims.
2
I force myself to watch both but not after 9PM usually. Msnbc takes a topic and burns it through the earth. The Pruitt apartment fiasco for example. They also take just part of a tweet or part of an interview and run with a one-sided interpretation of what the GOP talking head MEANT to say. If the next day you stumble on the rest of an interview you see it's much less harsh and even benign in affecting constituents. I learned the tax cuts only benefit the wealthy and Joe blue collar will get screwed on CNN and MSNBC. It turns out that a couple of hundred a month in someones pocket means a ton to half the country at least. Fox fails to report the negative such as reviving coal mines and reducing the wic program in one fell swoop. My point is both sides present their case to pertain to their "values" and leaving out the positive points is just as good as lying. This article is just another harsh rhetoric leading towards mid-terms. I'm sure he wont be invited back to Fox. I wonder how much money he made of that lying scheming network?
1
off
1
The BiG issues here is not Fox or even Trump. It’s that about 40% the US population is so dumb and bigoted, that they believe both, and so much so that they will destroy their own lives via worse climate, more prejudice, more death via guns, and reduce social progress. That is stunning. Truly stunning.
21
Any comparison of Fox and Friends or Donald Trump to kindergartners is deeply insulting. The smart, loving, funny, creative children I spend time with every week are far superior in every way possible than the dismal, dreary, and dumb cast of this show or Trump.
18
It is frightening that the president's world views are aligned with fox, though it may be that they are both being scripted to give the same message rather than ff--> trump. in either case, both broadcasting the same drivel unfortunately reinforces/validates those lies.
more power to independent media
4
I had a bizarre discussion with one of my sisters-in-law at a family gathering last year, in which she defended her vote (and love) for Trump. She lives in Alabama, and is a product of that red state, but she does have an advanced degree in aeronautical engineering and seems, in many ways, relatively normal.
As the discussion wore on, she confessed that she watches Fox "News" exclusively because it is the only network that "tells the truth". "One day, I started out watching NBC news, then switched to CBS, and the stuff I heard there was so incredibly biased that I switched to Fox to get the real truth. I'll never watch the fake news again!"
We have Roger Ailes to thank for the propaganda machine that is Fox. In his introduction of the idea, presented to Nixon back in 1970, he offered a simple premise that rings true some 50 years later:
"Today television news is watched more often than people read newspapers, than people listen to the radio, than people read or gather any other form of communication. The reason: People are lazy. With television you just sit—watch—listen. The thinking is done for you."
And that is why Fox survives and thrives even now, in the so-called "information age", when people, including Trump, who could take advantage of a broad spectrum of news sources, but choose instead to submit to the spoon-fed pablum offered by Fox "News" - laziness.
12
The problem is that the relentless focus of CNN and MSNBC on that man's foibles play right into his hands. CNN -- wake me when you can connect him to anything criminal with regard to Russia or have something other than his peccadillos to report on. You don't need to convince those of us who loath him that we're right, and those who support him have demonstrated time and again that they don't care.
Focus on how the (few) actual policies he and his revolving door of an executive branch are actually not in keeping with the things he promised to bring his supporters. How much, for example, the trade war will cost in American jobs -- they're not all steelworkers. How few coal jobs he's brought back.
Most of his supporters have the same fragile egos as their idol. Let them see how much they've been taken for fools, and we may all be amazed at how quickly they turn on him.
5
Never happen. In order for the great unwashed masses to actually learn they're being played for fools, they would have to let an alternative opinion into their thought processes.
4
It never ceases to amaze me that no one seems at all bothered that FOX is owned by an Australian conglomerate headed by Rupert Murdoch and his sons.
Trump, it is said, confers with Murdoch on a regular basis. Fine, but it does raise the question about whose foreign policy and domestic positions is Trump parroting (since he doesn't have his own)?
14
Charles Blow’s articles will one day be anthologized under the title “Undeserving of Redemption.” Agree with him though I might, Blow’s work has slid perceptibly into indiscreet moralizing.
2
Pavel, you are right on target. Thank you!
Jim in wilmette, il
As opposed to the intellectual heavyweights over at MSNBC where Mr and Mrs Schmoe hold court
2
Call it by its proper name—Fox and Fiends, as a friend labeled it during a segment where some chickenhawk advocated killing the families of terrorists.
5
I tried watching F&F once. What an utterly informationless exercise. The presentations were pure unsupported rants describing the world view of the network and the ranter. The fact that they believe the nonsense they present is utterly, totally not of interest. In the absence of supporting data and information it is simply the equivalent to a religious dogma that I am expected to believe just because they say so. And in fact, it is more poorly supported than most religious dogma, since most of those are usually related back to teachings of a holy book or holy prophet either of which have received copious historical review.
7
These three vacuous morning Dings-of-Bat blatherers are a danger to the country
12
MSNBC is opinion news, too. And this paper comes very close to the mark as well.
1
Pathetic, really. Fox News whistles and Trump jumps. The hurdy-gurdy of Fox and Friends grinds on and Trump dances. It's nothing less than a tabloid presidency. The mental level is unbelievably low.
10
It is the "white people's network." Most intelligent white people don't support this type of "news."
10
Change the name of the show, already...
“FOX & Friends With (Policy) Benefits!”
3
I hope there will come a day when the “Fox News” enablers and propagandists who have sold their integrity (if they ever possessed any) for money and airwave power, will be looked upon with the same revulsion that history will look upon the enablers in the current GOP Congress and the Trump administration.
Donald Trump may be no Hitler, but Rupert Murdoch and his crew seem determined to play the role of Trump’s “Lord Haw-Haw.”
8
"an aversion to the truth...." MSNBC needs a counter balance. Anyone who depends on either for an objective presentation of current affairs is a victim of their own naivety.
Let's assume the author and most of the audience of this editorial really are that much smarter than Fox's audience. Wouldn't the proper attitude be pity. How can you respectfully help them? Show them a better way. It should be easy for such intellectually well endowed and good willed people. What's the alternative?
Our president watches Fos & Friends for two reasons. 1. His ego is fed by praise. This, of course, is a prerequisite. 2. In between the two guys in suits sits his female object-of-desire prototype: young, white, blonde, 'beautiful,' wearing a short form-fitting dress.
8
And he can’t read anything longer than 2 sentences.
7
Thank you Mr. Blow for refusing to shut up, tone it down, "get over it", equivocate or allow your voice of reason & compassion to be silenced. I cannot express how grateful I am to all seekers (and speakers) of the truth who continue to write for the NYT, including yourself, Paul Krugman, Frank Bruni, Lindy West & other contributors such as Marilyn Albright. You are the canaries in the coalmine (I say that with the greatest respect) and you remind me why it is dangerous to "grow numb" to what is happening in this country today. Thank you.
8
Correction: I meant to thank MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, not "Marilyn" Albright. I apologize.
1
Armies have had countries (Prussia). Now, FOX has a country. Likely the first in human history.
FOX will survive eight years of Trump. And succeed overwhelmingly in sowing salt and arsenic in a verdant, fertile landscape to render it featureless, cratered, barb wired, and rich with attack dogs.
That a critical mass of American voters actively want no education, no infrastructure, no regulation, unclean air, dirty water, destroyed justice system, cops who shoot first, kids shot in school, Nazis marching with torches - is a triumph of FOX and friends. You can't buy stuff like this if you wanted; so my hat is off to their power of their evil designs.
Why wouldn't FOX rule everything when it can, when the best response the center and left can muster are weakly whispered "isn't this just terrible" and "I am not voting"?
FOX did not cause the disconnection, self-absorption, whining self-indulgence of the center left. It plain took advantage of the rot set by preachy left wingers, do gooders, smarmy and corrupt money wasters, and the cultural and moral relativists who wanted money for nothing and everything else for free.
When 30% of Hispanics, 8% of blacks, and a majority of white women vote for someone who hates Hispanics, would sooner imprison blacks, and boasts about grabbing . . . the rot is quite deep.
FOX has their guy in charge of everything now, and the center left has nothing but round table discussions among the Harvard types.
Kalidan
3
It's obvious to me that the three morons on the Fox & Friends program aren't bright enough to write their own scripts. So the question becomes who is telling them what to say. Who is feeding them the propaganda that they then spew out for the President's consumption? That person (or persons) is the true power behind the throne. Scary, isn't it?
8
Dim wit Donald, indeed and in deeds.
6
we are in deep trouble if in 2020 the ballots say 'fox and friends' in the space marked republican nominee for president.
3
The combined IQ of Fox and friends (and I am counting the fox) is well below 100.
6
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: deport Rupert Murdoch.
5
Worse than my disgust at Fox is my horror at the numbers of people who are actually drinking this in --- aside from Trump, the frightening clown.
These Americans are being charmed off their feet and are well-prepped to go along with all manner of fascist dicta. There's no building a bridge between this level of wickedness and a reasonable dialogue. Those bewitched by Fox and Trump have lost their ability to reason --- or raher, they are employing it in a mirror world, where down is up and indecency is decent; where lies hold as much water as truth, and where anything is believable as long as Trump spews it.
8
It goes without saying that all the morning shows pander to the stupidity of the American masses, and their endless appetite for "positivity" vs. the truth in all its bitter harshness. Fox and Friends is so popular because it gives the idiots the precisely calibrated upbeat, lying, cynical idiocy that twangs their twangers like nothing else until Hannity. Trump's brilliant to use this moronic show as his guide to what "policies" he should pursue to demagogue the clods best. It's like acting on definitive daily plebiscite results for the dumbest and most numerous segment of the Republican base. since Fox's own genius is to know precisely what the lemmings want to hear as they entice them to their doom.
4
Mr. Blow may well be correct in criticizing F&F intellectual level, but he shows little himself in these weekly rehashes of the same vituperation.
3
Charles has learned the proverb: "Who would sup with the devil should use a long spoon." Another phrase to remember: "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." And again: "There are great people on both sides." Remember when there were "fair and balanced" debates with duets on radio and TV? Curtis and Who? Hannity and Who? The Beltway Boys? Crossfire? Stepping stones for right-wing favorites! Now we get the same milque-toast from blatherers about not being critical of Laura Ingraham or Roseanne Barr. Ingraham answered passionate but rational argument from thousands of kids with a nasty ad hominem attack on one person. Barr supports the POTUS who makes a laughing stock of America: I guess some think her show is a miniature of that America. For years, I saw American tourists stumbling around Ireland in what I thought was a jet-lagged haze. Why so much jet lag at home?
1
Kilmeade must have been doing a bit of projection when he talked about "marrying (which I assume is a euphemism in this case) other species."
1
Trump is the fourth host of Fox and Friends albeit remote
3
Please recall Faux News’ coverage of the Obama victory in 2008.... they had their own polling showing McCain as the winner. And once again in 2012 Romney was the winner before the votes were totaled.
If fascism returns to America, the fascist party needs a microphone. They are 40% of us.
Vote for every Democrat you can find in 2018 and get extra lives by finding friends who never vote unless you drive them to the polls personally.
8
Mr. Blow, the horror started long before the fox and friends PDB.
It started when donnie paid people in his tower $50 each to wear a white t-shirt with his name in all caps as he rode down the escalator with his immigrant wife to start his campaign for president and mocking Mexicans by calling them rapist.
This is just part of what has grown out of that horror show in June 2015.
More to come.
Did I forget to mention emboldening Assad and sending a love letter to Putin by tweeting he is pulling OUR troops out of Syria soon?
4
"...kindergarten level intellectual capacity..." That fairly well sums up why Trump is a huge fan. It is easy to understand now why he doesn't show up in the Oval Office until 11am. Perhaps Fox could do us a favor and keep him occupied with full day Fox & Friends.
3
Shallow analysis with little comparison or context. Empty thesis results in no recommendations. Grade: C
1
What is a little scary is Fox is the most factual popular Republican media outlet. Compared to Infowars, Breitbart and Rush its practically erudite.
1
When the dummmies win...
The logistics of the set creeps me out.
Always a woman front and center, flanked by two men.
The perfect sandwich.
2
Sponge Bob, you rock!
2
Back when we were about to invade Iraq and the French (quite correctly) were saying we had bad intel and were making a big mistake, Fox and Friends were on a roll bashing the French and everything French (remember Freedom fries?) on a daily basis. One morning the female token/prop hosting the show at the time indignantly said how horrible that the French were not supporting us, their ally, when after all if it weren't for the United States the French could have been invaded by Nazi Germany during World War II . Kilmeade and Doocy (surprisingly ) looked like deer in the headlights and Fox quickly diverted to commercial break. When they came back, the subject was changed and no correction was made about this major gaffe. So somewhere out there, many Fox viewers (probably Trump too) have the belief that France was never invaded during WWII . Dunkirk to them is fake news! This is the level of misinformation we are dealing with.
11
"A shallow intellectual pool..." A perfect description. No wonder Trump watches the Faux News channel.
2
"The un-examined life is not worth living" .. Socrates (translated) ..
2
The fact that he looked directly at the sun during the eclipse shows that truth & reality just don't have a place in his world. It's truly horrifying.
4
Charles P. Pierce calls "Fox & Friends" "Three Dolts on a Divan." Unfortunately, they have a disproportionate influence on the Dolt in the White House. To use a word favored by the First Dolt: sad.
2
But how is Fox and Friends any different than the New York Times? One slants to the right and one slants to the left.
1
The problem is not the direction of the slant but rather the immediate, unfiltered response from the President. The NYT had an op-ed calling for the repeal of the 2nd ; if the president had tweeted his immediate support, I would also have been worried by the lack of careful and considered thought.
3
The inevitable consequence of the lack of emphasis on and funding of public education. Lack of critical thinking ability results in a reliance on messaging to form opinions. There is a small step from absorbing lies from Fox and Friends on a daily basis, to believing someone is running a child porn ring out of a pizza restaurant.
3
You know that Doocy began TV life as a comedian, right? Check YouTube.
Oh the horror Blow. To think there is someone SO SMART, like say, yourself, and yet Americans, rubes that we are, keep listening to someone else. The irony! The agony!
2
T.V. journos are commodities. They would not be there unless their presebnce were good for business and ratings.Sounds like case of lover scorned, Did author cut ties with Fox News or was it the other way around? It's a highly competitive business, and Fox News pays well, so supply always exceeds demand. Would not call Gretchen Carlson a great newswoman. Saw her afternoon show many times and realized that her heart was not in it, was not a real journalist,a news babe, as RL might describe her! But it was on FN that I learned about reluctance of Obama, CBC, Sharpton and other black leaders to condemn anti semitic rants of Minister Farakhan, and author has yet to tell us whereabouts of Deray Mckesson after killings of 5 police officers in Dallas, whether he got cold feet when invited to try out for the force. Viewers do not want to be preached to, lectured at 7.A,M.They want to be informed and entertained.Granted, Brian Kilmeade is no Talcott Parsons, but then he has never pretended to be a towering intellectual. He has a sharp wit, is funny, amusing, and was a champion soccer player. Why does the author not ask for another audition, and perhaps the next time he will pass. Millions of viewers can't be all wrong , can they Mr. Blow? I watch FN but also other networks, subscribe to Times newspaper, "l'Humanite!" and Rivarol. I am objective, with "l'esprit ouvert!"You would be a good match on Fox &Friends. Why not give it another try?
Fox News is straight out of the Joseph Geobbels playbook.. It worked back then and it still works now.
5
Trump is another old angry low-information voter whose gone down the Fox News rabbit hole - unfortunately he became president so now Fox News is making government policy, and our country looks ridiculous.
5
I don't see dimwits. I see a racist, fascist agenda to terrify "just folks" into accepting, even embracing a one-party state that denies everything our nation was founded on. From the ridiculous: Megyn Kelly insisting vehemently that "Santa Claus is White" (St. Nicholas was middle-eastern--his face has been forensically reconstructed) to Kilmeade's incorrect genetics that parallel the WORST of Alt-Right. I'm surprised he didn't pop off about "Internationalist Globalists" (latest dog-whistle anti-Semites use for Jews).
Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson, and Nicole Wallace all escaped, Wallace most spectacularly has blossomed into a cogent, razor-sharp analyst and interrogator.
but Fox's power has been terrifying since they actually shifted the 2000 election from the real winner, Al Gore, to the loser, George W. Bush, who became President.
5
Horrifying - absolutely. But consider - if the show were exactly the same, exactly - and the audience was only 10% as large ... not so horrifying. The real horror IMO is that so many Americans agree with the dim witted intellectual level, the racist opinions, the anti-science, the selfishness, egotism, hatreds, inequality, etc., etc.
No society has zero "Fox" people, few good ones have so many. Nazi Germany had as many, then a bit more.
All the cheers at their heights of power did not compensate for the horrors they inflicted on themselves (to say nothing of those they inflicted on the rest of the world). No sane, German - proud as he or she might have been, was unafraid of their government.
But heck, the money keeps rolling in, Fox Fairy Tales continues to manufacture "news", the ratings are high; why worry?
3
So what? Obama had a fixation on CNN, a network with a long-standing aversion to the truth.
3
FOX and Friends doesn't have any friends.
Only toadies, sycophants, and fellow travelers.
Those involved would sell their own mothers if the market were right, and would sell them out if the merciless glare of truth was focused on them. They are purveyors of hokum, bunk, and snake oil.
Which is why Trump watches them so much--he can recognize kindred when he sees it.
2
I must ask: why is Fox News still in business? Their license must be dependent upon their living up to basic standards, which they clearly fail to live up to. The American people grant that license presumably through the FCC. How is it that the FCC has not done its duty? Yes, we need to bring back the fairness doctrine, at the very least it would require Fox to come to terms with the standards “fair,” “balanced,” “equitable.” As is, they can just ignore them. Revoke their license—what they’re peddling ain’t news!
1
I don't have tv, I don't have cable.
Have no access to CNN or FOX or NBC or CBS or ...
Like most people I know, the only news I can watch is RT on air.
For me the horror is to be governed by the thoughts of people like you, Joy Reid, Anna Navarro and Eugene Robinson, Costa, Cooper, etc. Your hatred for Trump seems to transcend everything else, even what is good for our country. The redeeming part of all this is that no one really listens to you, but people do listen to what is said on Fox and Friends.
2
Too often news and non-judgmental or biased reporting is challenged in the manner Charles Blow has revealed in this article. I cannot watch Fox & Friends, but tire of MSNBC and CNN and their reporting of the latest and worst of Trump and team. But if one reads and follows news in print and other sources, it seems the latter hew more closely to or follow the truth. That's a big one, the truth, but the worse of the Fox facts is that Trump's tweets do follow that source. The more departures like McMaster, the more concern of so-called "policy" as set by this POTUS. Scary!
2
No matter where I go in my blue state - the gym, waiting rooms of doctors or auto mechanics, Fox News is always front and center. No matter where I go in this blue state the people who angrily make a political comment out loud in a setting where everyone is a stranger are conservative Trump supporters. The squeaky wheel gets the most grease and it's time for the silent majority to speak out (certainly a majority couldn't like Fox and Friends - I mean otherwise I'm on a bus to Toronto).
4
'Tis a marvel of the modern age, how we're being led astray. Powerlessness has been induced and we're beholden to the rigged casino where money talks and losers walk.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
1
Fox & Friends is a joke, and I often wonder whether its hosts are in on it or not (I lean toward not). But I don't think it is representative of the entire network. Shep Smith, Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Dana Perino are in an entirely different class than these clowns.
1
I truly believe there is something the Fox network does, eg, subliminal messaging, that has put the masses into a trance.
I fear, given how many media outlets the conservative right currently own and will own if the Sinclair & Tribune Media merger is approved (ability to message to a whooping 72% of U.S. homes), we will virtually have a 'state media' in the United States of Trump.
I fear America will no longer be the land of the free if the media issue isn't dealt with - head on. Any ideas/thoughts?
2
Just out of curiosity, how much does Fox and Friends pay their invited guests per appearance?
It's curious that we don't want the Russians messing with our minds, but it's OK if the Australians do . . .
1
Depressing fact of the day: Fox and Friends is the # 1 cable news program for the 195th month running.
I have never watched Fox and Friends. My ex-brother-in-law does and is totally brainwashed by them. I can't believe the stuff I've heard him spout. Hogwash and conspiracy theories;he doesn't even live in the U.S.!
It is not a news program...it was and is designed as a propaganda tool used by and for the current occupant of the Oval Office.
What a disgrace and a reflection not only on Trump but also the state of education in the U.S.
3
Now Alex, when you say "most Americans..."
are you referring to literally "most Americans," or "most Americans who are 'Fox and Friends' viewers?" You need to be more vague.
2
There is only one man we should be focused on in an article about Fox news: Rupert Murdoch. Forgot Laura Ingraham, and Fox and Friends and the rest of the circus. Imagine every word coming form every Fox commentator's mouth as if it is coming form Murdoch's. He's doing the same thing in England and across Europe. He's the world's biggest threat to democracy today, worse than Trump, Putin, Assad, Duarte and cyber attacks on our election process.
5
My mother turned 20 during WWII. All the news channels before we had cable were about the same and she didn't understand what Fox was.
During the 2012 election after watching Fox News, she asked me why Obama didn't just show his birth certificate.
2
We deserve no better
While I agree wholeheartedly with your message, I find your tone to be equally distasteful to the op-eds on Fox News.
1
How about a crowd source funded takeover of fox news? The only way to shut them down is buying the company.
1
This article spawned my new bumper sticker:
Beware of FOX FOG!
1
So much optic junk. The White Couch, the blond, the legs, the leering older guys in bad suits leaning in. Don't these guys recognize themselves?
4
Who owns Fox and what are his ties to Putin?
Faux News is both a joke and a sad commentary on the gullibility of the American public. You have two know-nothing stones, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy, flanking the blonde breezy eye-candy Ainsley Earhardt putting on a pretend news show to stoke the fires of the Trump cabin-dwellers who lap up the lie, half-truths and innuendos like Kool-Aid. The 1935 Goebbels and his team at the Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment would be proud.
2
Sure Steve Doocy sounds like a complete idiot now, but he will be vindicated when Mueller uncovers that Sponge Bob Squarepants was using his myriad connections in the cartoon community to conduct a well-coordinated and vast left wing conspiracy to brainwash kids into hating Trump by embedding anti-government messages deep under the sea.
4
This is disingenuous. Surely it didn't take you until 2008 to realize that Fox News was and is a destructive propaganda machine? Were you asleep during the Bush administration? Or was nobody paying you to be on tv back then?
Yes, but us preening ourselves and our intellectual superiority gets us nowhere. What ya gonna do about it Charles? Editorials in the NYT are the ultimate echo chamber. How about writing about solutions. Madeline Albright's recent editorial was a start.
3
Idiocracy is here.
2
When you have a Society that lacks Critical thinking you get Fox and Friends and our Current President, no different than any third world country.
3
This is what you get when you let an amoral Australian billionaire obtain US citizenship, take control of a TV network and disseminate insidious propaganda aimed at the hoi polloi. Rupert Murdoch is a thousand times worse than Vladimir Putin.
5
obviously, Blow has never watched Shephard Smith on Fox News on weekday afternoons. Smith is anti-Trump and anti-Republican in all respects, and he plainly makes it known. You won't see the same por any Democrat politicians, ever, on MSNBC, CNN or any of the major networks.
3
I can picture him very well in a senior facility with his clicker, shouting at CNN, getting on everybody's nerves. In a just world, that's where he would be. Locked up and on meds. And us, safely outside, free from his insanity.
Aah. If only...
2
I now call the show Fox & Comrades.
7
Can’t figure out the existence of Fox and Friends although know that is the only source of information for trump.
I do know that Mr. Murdoch’s sons are liberals and one daughter in law was instrumental in getting rid of O’Rieley.
So why not change the format so the hosts don’t look such idiotic liars ?
1
Being a fact checker and avid reader I had to abandon Fox. Fox “headlines” are so removed from truth telling that they are farce and generally inflammatory. Big Headlines with very small stories.
4
Brian Stelter has an excellent video on cnn.com dealing with a chronological accounting of the impending invasion from Mexico and just this topic.
My god how low have we sunk ?
2
Absolutely nauseating. This is a result of ignorance and bigotry which america is built of. Whilst there are so many intelligent folks out there, we are out numbered by the ignorant who know not what they do.....
Total nonsense about Swedes and pure genes but at least my Swedish newspapers has a science columnist who writes at a high level about the fallacy of genetically pure races. Over at the Times not one columnist can write about human difference without using, for example, "African American" as a term for a"race" not only politically constructed but "genetically constructed".
How about you Charles?
Only-Neverin Sweden.Blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
2
All news factions in 2018 are biased. The nytimes included. It's what Orwell predicted. In our terms, in our times, it's all fake news. Big brother. Whatever. It's all manipulation for money and profits. No one is sacrosanct and all sources should be regarded as suspicious. Hmmmmm... Seems like we are back in the late 60s....
1
Pick your poison the conservative right or the liberal left. Which is the greater horror the liberal media or a singular conservative voice, Fox News? I did not vote for The Tines to govern, why is it their perception that they hold the moral high ground? Perhaps they should take a poll and see the outcome? I'm sure it will be as accurate as those during the election. God save us from liberals!
1
"3 Airheads on a Couch" become the prime advisors to a narcissistic, willfully ignorant President. What could go wrong.
9
I was visiting Oxford, England in August 2015 where I met a Briton on a tour of the historic town. In the course of striking up a conversation, it turned to Trump’s presidential bid. The British man (who was a lawyer and said he went to DC for business often) said, “He could win.” I remember turning to him aghast, yet fully confident and saying, “We Americans might be crazy, but we’re not stupid.” We both then laughed.
Boy, not only do I have egg all over my face, but more importantly, our country is being run by dangerous nitwits! Also, I guess “we, the people” ARE stupid.
5
I'll tell you something else .. these people are strange looking ... I mean kind of ugly, to be honest.
2
Yes - the women wear these weird white-blonde fright wigs and the men look like they've had cosmetic surgery. And they all have these twisted expressions from spewing vitriol. Very ugly indeed.
2
Delta is ready for Mr. Blow when he is to take him out of the U.S. with all of his hatred and nonsense non stop.
2
"He was accused in a lawsuit by former co-host Gretchen Carlson of engaging in a “pattern and practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson...this would all be silly trifle...."
Um, unintentional non sequitur, I hope. #timesup
Because we live in a cause-and-effect universe, everything is as it must be: There's no escaping this iron law. But I nonetheless am deeply chagrined over my relatives in fly-over country who never turn FOX Spews off. They learn from it, parrot it, and get emotional over it.
They sincerely and deeply believe that the Clintons are killers and that Obama was the political, if not quite the real, Antichrist. Their beliefs are inexpungable. If you try to discuss them, they become angry and frustrated: Such a tactic is futile: They will happily march over the cliff with their political savior, the Liar-in-Chief. Till death do them part.
If I had been an Okie, I, too, might have been an avid viewer and supporter of "Fox & Fiends (sic)," because it's nigh impossible to escape one's intellectual environment. Apples don't fall from trees, for a reason.
2
The morons that have their buttons pushed by Fox would find another source for their misinformation if Fox were not there. There is a market out there for the intellectual wasteland that is rural America. There will always be a network or as in Sinclair's case a monolith devouring small news station that can turn on the spigot of revenues that fulfill the needs of the uneducated masses.
1
Some of us uneducated masses out here in rural Amerika turn to The New York Times for reliable misinformation. We especially appreciate the smug bigotry of most of highly educated commenters on The Times. We also appreciate the humor of the Diversity/Inclusion crew; or is that Division/Exclusion. And that Ch. Blow, talk about hysterical histrionics! He's the best. Have a good one, Babel.
I hope you're not just catching on to this.
Sadly, the fault is not Fox's or even Donald Trump's. The grave problem is many peoples' intellectual and political thinking. Donald Trump is successful because he sees many people for what they are--willing to believe what feels good to them. Trump is stunningly obvious in this: "I love not highly-educated people!". They are easily manipulated and taken in by his con games. Trump has taken his own limited intellectual interests and used it to understand a great swath of America. The majority of people didn't go to college or even community college. An alarming chunk never graduated from high school. F&F has been leading the mornings for 16 years. Who do you think that is? It's those wanting an easy to understand line about politics, taxes, military and social problems. Fox does the thinking for them. The truth and thought have been left far behind.
1
A significant percentage of our population believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It's not a very big leap to believing in what is said on Fox News.
1
Cable TV needs regulation and our FCC needs a Fairness Doctrine. Cable TV must comply with Network standards so that news is news.Fox is a propaganda arm just as Sinclair. Lies and distortions of truth is the fundamental tool of tyrants. Government for all of the people has a responsibility to protect the public from propaganda of any perspective. It is senseless to permit deliberate manipulation of voters.
Blow has explosed a level of corruption that should be taken up by all of our best colleges and universities, Law schools, churches and our best Foundations. Being a spectator to the dismantling of democracy to anti-American organizations and to subversive propaganda portrayed as news. “ in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily;...the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie ....since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.”(Mein Kampf)
So sad to see the standards of a NYT column have steeped so low — full of invective, Trump- and Fox-bashing, name calling, puerile, arrogant tone, more akin to the standard of the National Enquirer. Calling our president the “dimmest of wits”? Please be respectful. Well, against all odds, this dimmest of wit was smart enough to become president. There must be something to this Fox news watching.
3
In his second column last week, Blow called Ann Coulter "hideous." None of my liberal friends read Blow anymore; they are repulsed by his hatefulness. I've never watched Fox and Friends, but I cannot imagine that the hosts are any worse than Blow is. His shtick is incivility, fatuity, and lots of quotes to pad things out to reach the word-count minimum.
1
"In a way, America is being governed by the dimmest of wits on the most unscrupulous of networks. The very thought of it is horror-inducing."
The main horror is that there are so many dimwits in the US. Many of these intellectually challenged people watch Fox Network news.
2
And, apparently, a lot of them comment on Times Op-Ed hysterical histrionics.
This is the irony of democracy - everyone gets to vote, even those who think that shows like F&F are quality, rational analysis.
1
Sadly everyone does not get just one vote. If that were true Hillary Clinton would be president now...but with our arcane system of election laws we got Bush and we got Trump it's time that one person one vote standard came back as law. The electoral college has done us no good in modern times
1
If Doocy and Kilmeade aren't the dumbest people on TV, they certainly pretend to be.
2
I have always found the stupidity and cheesiness of Fox News far more unnerving than its conservative political viewpoint. The hair, make-up and flouting bare legs of the women commentators reminds me of the Stepford wives. God help us!
1
Fox would have us believe their lies are simply the “other side of the story.”.....well, no, they are not....they are lies. Watching Fox News in its current form should be added to the Harvard criteria for brain death, which qualify one for removal from life support and voting rolls.
1
Fox and friends is nothing less than the propaganda arm of the fascist party of America, or as they are now known, the Republican party. They are now the voice of the state. The fact that Trump's mind is controlled by them is no surprise - he's no more intelligent then Fox's other viewers. What's more scary is the number of people who are so intellectually jaded that they actually believe the dribble that Fox spews forth and call legitimate news sources "fake news." November 2018 cannot come soon enough.
3
I wish we could have traded the goofy looking Easter bunny up there on the balcony with our so-called chief executive. The Bunny couldn't embarrass us any more, I don't think. In the 19th century (British) colonials used to refer to Africa as "Deepest, Darkest Africa" (or was that Conrad?). I fear that, at the rate things are going, the rest of the world will soon refer to the USA as "Deepest, Darkest America" (or at the vert east, to Trumpland as such); and with justification. Ever wonder what a kakistocracy looks like? Just wait and see.......PRAY for a Democratic landslide in the mid terms!!!!!!!
1
Wow, according to Kilmeade, Americans are marrying other species? Well at least you would not need to worry about children being born out of these inter-species mariages. As far as I know, humans can only procreate with other humans. Did Kilmeade even go to high school? And if so, did he take biology? Or perhaps his problem is with the English language? Then what is he doing blathering away on a talkshow?
2
Best Line: "...I knew that I was swimming in a shallow intellectual pool" - always KNEW that!
Thaks for confirminhg it!
1
Mr Blow-I'm sure you would be Much more comfortable on CNN,MSNBC and ABC.As you well
know,"Birds of a Feather Flock Together.I think you should take a Good Look in the mirror before pontificating in a similar type newspaper.In the old days we would call it "Preaching to the Choir".
2
The 3 hosts on F&F are so unwatchable and without sounding arrogant, how does this pass for anything but comedy?
1
It's simply not enough to dismiss the audience for "Fox and Friends" as shallow and stupid. Our side is not doing enough to communicate with that audience, even though the truth is on our side and we have better messages and much better morals. If we weren't on such a high horse about the stupid masses, the "friends" of Fox would be voting with us.
1
Fox has yet to fully have its own #MeToo movement. Instead, you have women specifically hand selected for their beauty to broadcast deceit, defend cronyism, and support misogynistic behavior in those that want to perpetuate inequality. The Fox women are just eye-candy to keep Fox's middle aged white male audience engaged; it's propaganda soft porn. The likes of Tomi Lahren are the next generation of Fox anchors in training. True to form, beauty and rage take priority over substance, truth, or journalistic integrity. Wake up Fox women, you are simply being used.
1
I don't care if you're conservative or liberal or vegan or Zoroastrian, if you think the tweet correlation reflects well on Trump, you're insane.
Charles, stopping your appearances on Fox because you are so much smarter than them seems harsh. Depriving the audience of such brilliance seems unfair.
That there is still one network that refuses to toe the Democrat party line, when virtually all the others do, obviously confuses you with all that conflicting information that you must attempt to sort out for yourself.
Perhaps your choice of just pretending Fox - or news that doesn't follow the narrative - doesn't exist is best for one so easily confused.
3
Smarts and common sense at Fox is much greater than many arrogant lefty "pundits."
1
In a recent Pod Save America one of them told the story of how he called Fox News furious over some coverage on some issue. He managed to get his call escalated to the top where he was told, "But Fox & Friends isn't news. It's entertainment."
'Nough said.
3
Faux News purposefully lies to sell ads. Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage have done that for 30 years. You can’t shame these people... their mansions and Park Avenue apartments are at stake.
But you can vote the lily livered GOP out of office in 2018.
2
Mr. Blow, you nailed it, the dimmest of wits is very accurate.
2
I suppose Mr Trump could have followed Mr Obamas lead and spent more time with Mr Lauer or those paragons of truth at PBS who were canned?
1
Is Doocy really dimwitted, or is he just dishonest?
Is it the 'Truth' that fox & friend have trouble with, or is it sincerity?
Seems they're all pretty smart, they're just colluding in a con.
Maybe Trump & his base are captivated by this show for its daily trolling tips.
Or maybe it's just the legs.
1
I guess the best we can say at this point is thank
God Trump isn't taking advice FROM SpongeBob.
The man doesn't read. He doesn't listen. His ignorance is breathtaking in it's scope.
And his gullible followers drink it in as they wait for the shoe factory, the tee-vee tube plant and the dirt mine (coal) to return to thier hometown, all promised to them in "non-boring" speeches. Why, he will even include a Unicorn to ride to the new plant on, and a rainbow every day!!!
If MOST red-staters don't have IRA/401K accounts ( so they don't care about the market), and the rural jobs have NOT come back yet, what else DO they see in this clown that has value?
O yeah. Trump bashes Obama and Hillary. Guaranteed to get an ovation. Then he leaves them in thier trailers and doublewides and old pick-um-up trucks and goes home to his mansion for the weekends.
3
If this was 50 years ago with the current media environment and the Dread Tyrant Trump was watching William F. Buckley, I'd be upset, but not afraid for the Republic.
This situation with DTT is like him as the school bully aligning himself with the school's stupid dorks (not the smart nerds), who are all gaga about the trecherous bully actually talking to them.
2
"Fox & Friends has essentially become Donald Trump's daily briefing."
Ten words that may well define a dark era in American history.
When a "moron" (per his Secretary of State) with a childlike attention span (per my early childhood education background) discards expertise, knowledge, science, norms, alliances, decency, our bedrock values, our standing among nations, facts and his citizens' best interest, and replaces all of that with the boot-licking fawning of a sycophantic vapid TV program, "horror" is actually putting it too mildly.
And, look out! Sinclair is looming! Imagine how much POUTS' screentime will soar if they continue to be allowed to gobble up local stations. As he discards advisors and picks up the remote our national security dies a slow death.
4
In a way, America is being governed by the dimmest of wits on the most unscrupulous of networks. The very thought of it is horror-inducing.
Is Mr Blow calling Rupert Murdoch a dimwit? If so those are fighting words millions will think worth defending and even fighting for.
It's all a part of the Dumbing Down of America effort by those who stand to gain the most the dumber we get.
Follow the money.
And who seems to think all things run by those with the money are the smartest and best to listen to and follow to Make America Great Again?
You guessed it: Trump
Our plutocrats are thrilled. Our electorate is right where they want us. Dumbed Down and being led by a rather dumb acting plutocrat himself who is easily misled by keeping it dumb.
That it what Fox and Friends is all about. Keeping it all dumb and dishonestly simple.
2
"We keep marrying other species.."? Let me just type that again. "We keep marrying other species.."?
2
We have a toddler POTUS watching the adult equivalent of Romper Room and parroting its idiocy. Is this how Trump is making American great again? When is this dystopian nightmare going to end?
1
It would seem that Putin, former KGB spymaster and celebrated judo master, has an oxygen depleting choke hold on Fox and Friends resulting in network wide cerebral ischemia.
Just as the aged babushkas cheered Putin into his sly-like-a Fox second term, Fox's doxie's and their ninny-filled empty suits have doubtless been infiltrated by Vladimir's trolls to kneel before Trump's sleazy
altar. Unlike traditionalist Stalin who gutted his own nation with a good old fashioned police state, Putin is waging digitized warfare against his Cold War nemesis: The US of A. The beauty of it is his secret Fox agents are so very secret because the don't even know they're his mouthpiece or that the orange doofus is Putin's straw man put in place to destroy his old foe. The good news is Putin can only fool 40% of We The People all of the time. The rest of us true patriots must vote an unwavering Democratic ticket to restore greatness to our nation.
1
In Canada we had for a time a similar right wing network called Sun News, that like Fox spread conspiracy theories and had crackpot guests.
It lasted just over a year...it's viewership was literally in the thousands in a country of 35 million...i among most Canadians were thrilled it died a quick death.
I wish my American friends luck will dealing with Fox, they are the Goebbels propaganda machine of the 21st century.
5
Poor sad Donald Trump, so in need of the approval of Rupert Murdoch, proxy for Fred Trump.
2
Why doesn’t some other network put on a morning show called “Hen and Friends” where extreme progressive “lefties” get to tell fanciful tales about the adventures of old-timey white liberals and how they’re buying up all the bump stocks and AR-15’s and using the King James Version of the good book to make paper airplanes? ‘Make America Gullible Again” hats would be worn by all the intellectual elite pundits that appear daily to translate phrases like: “..... and rapes at levels we’ve never seen before.....”. Apparently, rape, much like hurricanes, are graded on some kind of graduated scale of intensity? OY! VEY! Thanks, Charles, for continuing to be a “voice in the wilderness”. I don’t know what I’d do out here without you and the “failing NYT’s”.
Blow frequently has his own "version" of the truth as well.
Let's take all of this with a grain of salt.
1
I find it somewhat laughable that Sir Charles Blow and the rest of the stable of writers and columnists of the time afford Fox & Friends, and Fox News a level of control far beyond what the empirical statistics suggest
Fox News reaches about 1.4 million people out of the 326+ million in the country,
Yes, it is nearly double what the "liberal" outlets achieve, but it is still a paltry penetration in the grander scheme of things.
Mr. Blow is still believing that television news has the power that it did when Messrs Cronkite, Brinkley, Smith, et al had a half-a-century ago.
Mr. Blow's premise makes his argument approach the absurd.
1
Too bad Trump isn't hooked on old SLN Weekend Updates with Rosanna Dana Anna...every tweet would waste a few characters with "if it isn't one thing, it's another" thus giving him less characters for stupidity!
America is a nation of fools by rules for jewels. It is addicted to fatuous entertainment and meaningless advertising. Trump actually is the epitome and apogee of our pseudo culture of narcissistic vapidity.
1
To think Trump is "educating" himself on their uneducated views on policies that have a direct affect on the American people and our daily lives, and it has been going on for over a year...yet it continues...they are warping the truth and sometimes just flat liars, Trump and his Fox & Friend idiots. These are scary times...
3
Fox News is like an abusive partner. They suck their audience in by telling them the world is against them. The “liberal” media is bad and lie to you, but Fox News understands and protect you from misinformation. Then they strike you with anger (Kneeling is disrespectful to our troops!), fear (Mexicans are rapists! Muslims will blow us up!), paranoia (liberals want to take our guns!), pettiness (Parkland students can’t get into college, nah, nah, nah), and propaganda (Mueller is a fascist! Slaves were happy!).
However, continuation of profiting off paranoia and propaganda has its consequences. At some point victims of abuse will get tired. It takes a lot of energy to be angry, paranoid, and filled with hate. It wears the soul down. People need hope. They need something good to look forward to. People will either walk away or Fox will cross a line that will effect shareholders and sponsors. It’s only a matter of time.
6
The morning Feather Fluffers are bad enough but the absolute loons in the evening (Hannity, Pirro)...when do their "opinions" that eg. Mueller is a "dirty cop" become defamation, slander, libel?!
Perhaps Mueller's last act of public service should be to sue Fox, bigly.
Mueller's Motto: without integrity you have nothing. Fox has nothing.
2
Since Fox hit the airwaves, the only show I have made any effort to watch on the network was The Simpsons, and I haven't tuned in to that in over 20 years. In those 20 years the portion of my electric bill attributable to time spent watching Fox would not pay for a single stick of chewing gum. I wouldn't know the blathering heads on Fox and Friends from any other trio chosen at random from all the photos of all the people on the planet, aside from being able to weed out anyone of color or with crooked teeth or less-than-catalog-model good looks.
That the Grand Pooh-Bah of America is using this (un)usual gang of idiots (apologies to MAD! magazine), as his primary, if not sole, source of what is going on in the world, does not encourage confidence. It does give sound reason for concern, if not outright hair-on-fire panic, however. That I am bald does not help me be any less worried. Sad.
2
The most powerful man on earth has been asking, through his Jester-in-Chief in the White House, "Is there no one in my court to rid me of this meddlesome woman?" The jester's Department of Justice has been making ominous noises of late . . . Stay tuned.
"Swedes have pure genes because they marry Swedes."
A horrific way to think. For years the Trump family claimed a false Swedish heritage. But the family was really German, and Trump himself married a Slovenian. Are they pure enough for Fox News? Is anyone?
3
Everywhere I go, Fox News is blaring on a large-screen TV. My doctor's office. My dentist's office. The local laundromat. The independently owned dinette. The manicure place. The hairdresser's. The car dealership. The produce stand. I don't watch television at home, but I still manage to see plenty of Fox News just going about my business. Orwell got it right--except we're watching Big Brother.
6
OK, Charles, let's do the right thing here. If someone gets his political information and is being influenced by "Fox and Friends," then let's start subjecting everyone to voter literacy tests so these people cannot influence our elections.
There, how's that? You on board with eliminating well over half of American voters because they are too stupid to know what is going on? More than a few of those voters will be black Democrats, you know.
It's all so unbelievable. How does a man who watches this drivel unironically become president? What is wrong with us?
3
I share your pain about Fox & Friends, but am disgusted by your arrogance about being thrown into the shallow end of the intellectual pool. I assume, of course, that you returned the dollars you received for your debasement, yes? So glad you figured out you were being used. Wish you had been smart enough to refuse the invitation.
2
Con artists tell people everything they want to hear, but nothing that they need to know. Why do folks put off going to the Doctor? Fall for phony elixirs? Believe they can live forever if they follow a few simple rules? Use opiates?
"Religion is the opium of the people" German philosopher and economist Karl Marx.
"Fox News is the opium of the American Right"
3
Trump's only priority is "winning" that day's news cycle. Viewing and reacting to Fox & Friends and the night time Fox opinion shows allows him to pursue that goal in real time.
Any nuanced or long-term strategic thought or policy will never happen with this administration.
To disgusting even to write about. It seems lawlessness abides in the United States of North America. As each modern president committed war or financial crimes they got away with it. And the game just got bigger and bigger and when G. W. Bush and his brigands committed crimes against humanity...nothing. Keep up the good work.
Fox & Friends is akin to Vladimir Putin's RT network; soft authoritarian propaganda for Putin's new best friend: Donald Trump.
1
No surprises in this column..three dim bulbs who appear luminescent to those viewers with even lower wattage...American exceptionalism on display. Midterms America, midterms and vote....
Fox & Frenemies
1
We have a head of government who could get his information and ideas from expensive national intelligence institutions but instead gets it from a bunch of know-nothing bigots on a morning talk show. (And what does it mean that the show has the same name as a Rainer Fassbinder movie about a gay man who is destroyed by a dog-eat-dog world?)
2
"We keep marrying other species". I know of no one who married another species. A rhino, an ant? What idiocy. There is one immigrant I would like to put on a plane and send back to his birthplace, Australia, and that is Rupert Murdock a man who has damaged our society so greatly, England too. Oh my poor father spreading his pure Swedish genes by marrying a woman of English/Irish descent (at least she wasn't another species).
2
God bless Charles Blow. Stay strong, and stay on point, Charles! Don't drop your guard, and don't accept this regime as "normal." America needs to hear the truth.
5
And you might follow this up, Charles, or NYT Editors, with an article that lists all of the former Fox characters who have recently been hired by the Trump administration, and all the inane, half-baked fables and conspiracy theories they have presented as a propaganda arm for Trump.
And just as Trump helps Fox by lying daily and calling all the journalists who hold his feet to the fire "liars," Putin's RT supports both with a flood of electronic support with trolls, bots and cycles of fake news stories for the right-wing echo chamber to feed off of.
The scariest part of all this is how brazen and successful these cons are in lying to the general public, their target audience buying it all hook, line and sinker for Trump's "bait-and-switch."
Then again, it's notable that when the Nazis formed the "Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment" during peacetime in 1933, they knew they could get away with using the term "Propaganda" in broad daylight just like Trump swore he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue.
3
“War is Peace” “Ignorance is Strength” and “Freedom is Slavery.” Fox News broadcasts to Trump’s inferior intellect these 1984 slogans. How else can you explain his congratulations to the dictatorial thugs of the world from Putin to Erdogan to el-Sissi to Duterte?
How to keep people oppressed is through constant warfare, inferior education if any at all, and through the belief that the so-called elected leader knows all and will be like Big Brother who knows best what is good for his people. Trump is not only a Manchurian Candidate, he swallows wholesale the trash that Fox pumps out including the caravans of rapists heading towards our borders. The whole thing would be ludicrous if it didn’t affect our daily lives so devastatingly.
As Winston Smith wrote in his diary: “Down with Big Brother” I say down with Fox News and be gone Donald Trump.
2
This is about Fox & Friends, a morning show. However, it's the evening pundits who are truly spewing out constant partial truths, total lies & downright hatred!! Apparently no one who regularly listens ever fact checks anything!! I don't understand why being brainwashed EVERY NIGHT is appealing to them! Yes, the MSM is mostly left, but they always have someone with a conservative perspective as well - and they DO NOT PURPOSELY lie every single day!!! I've been a registered Republican my whole adult life, but I now see clearly how misguided & destructive the conservative right are!
1
It's the dumbing down of America at its worst and a Trump love-fest. When I heard that Rupert Murdoch didn't want Laura Ingram to back down on that idiotic and insensitive remark she made about the school shootings, that was it. For Murdoch, it's all about the bottom line no matter the cost to our nation, and it's costing us dearly.
1
Do Fox viewers even know that Rupert Murdoch is not American by birth but an immigrant from Australia. Having lived in Australia I can tell you there is no Fox News Australia. The Aussie's have broadcast standards that will not allow political propaganda hiding behind the title of news. I often feel the biggest mistake of my life was not staying down under.
1
Voltaire said “there is nothing more dangerous than ignorance and intolerance armed with power “.
Fox & Friends and Trump; what a disgrace.
2
"Fox and Friends" is staffed by three nasty little Fluffers whose only purpose is to manipulate Trump.
2
Sun Tzu in " The Art of War" suggests that when the Enemy is busy destroying himself , he should be allowed to continue doing so uninterrupted by the Opponent. Putin seems to have found a parcel of American Fools and President to fight his new Cold War for him without his lifting a finger or losing a soldier.
I do not wish him good luck.
1
Trump and Fox don't share an aversion for the truth. They LIE far more often than they tell the truth.
Please stop soft pedaling around this. They're not.
As for the racist pure white society statements from Fox: our many races is not a problem, it is a strength - it's our IMpure president who's the problem!
2
Horror indeed. The horror is the abject gaslighting of kindergarten level speak to the populous, the cheerful misinformation brigade coming into homes packaged in a crayola colored set and wardrobe. Racist, bigoted, misogynistic bile swimming in fear, their words infect like mildew into the unsuspecting. And fear sells.
Recently I viewed a documentary “The Brainwashing of my Dad,” (@BrainwashingDad) that goes into depth how the nationalistic white Birchers systematically captured marked share since the Nixon era. A must see for the nation.
Having conversations with folks regarding this bombardment of lies is difficult at best when now they feel that there is no “truth” but all spin, even discounting PBS.
The koolaid was offered and folks lapped it up.
1
It should be aptly named: James Crow and friends.
2
Oh, the horror!
How have we all come to be mis-governed by President (sic) Trump or his oxymorons Fox and Friends? May the dear lord (or some deus ex machina) save America from the tweetmonster, his sychophants, and the truly fake Fox media he watches while he should be working. Amazing we are all living through a bad dream, and maybe we'll all awake one of these mornings in the near future and realize we lived through the nightmare of Donald Trump's presidency. What are the odds of him lasting another 6 years? Or even one more?
Makes you proud to be an American...Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln.....and Doocy!!!
1
Last I knew the median age of Fox News viewers was about 80. It would be reasonable to expect that those folks tend to be morning persons. I believe that Shep Smith and Brett Baier are more straight up, reasonable reporters, on in the middle of the day. I'm guessing the audience for the evening lineup are still of working age and denizens of the middle of the Bell Curve, low information and proud of it. The Fox audience is aging out and the country becomes ever browner -fine with me as an older WASP. Those two facts give some hope, but the moves Sinclair is making dampen those. We can thank Saint Reagan for helping to set us on this path. He fast-tracked Rupert Murdoch's citizenship, clearing the way for Murdoch to own US media outlets. Reagan also vetoed the legislation that would have codified the Fairness Doctrine, which set standards for media, like providing two independent sources to corroborate reporting. The original right wing media hate monger, Morton Downey Jr, soon followed, along with Roger Ailes and Fox, Limbaugh, and that trail of foul creatures leading to these 'Morning Morons' well described by Mr. Blow.
2
Like Toto pulling back the curtain to expose the Wizard of Oz for the fake he was, Mr. Blow has pulled back the curtain on President Trump for the fake he is. This sham is a hundred times worse than Trump's charity, Trump University, and the election-he's been plagiarizing Fox News to run the country-what a rip-off!
This is rich coming from the NY "Trump has a 8% chance" Times.
For 7 decades liberal media dominated the news, information and entertainment. Spewing their values to all Americans.
Now, NOW, all voices are being heard. If don't like it now hold on......the liberal propaganda machine is gone forever. FOREVER.
1
I watch MSNBC with its complement of smart, articulate women like Kasie Hunt, Katy Tur, Stephanie Ruhl, Hallie Jackson and (God Bless) Andrea Mitchell. Conversely, why is it that every woman on FAUX News looks like she could have been an understudy for the fem-bots from the Austin Powers movies?
2
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague."
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman Statesman, Philosopher and Orator. Attributed to a speech in the Roman Senate in 58 BC.
2
Look further back to what created the soil for the Fox poison to grow into a dominant media, so it could amplify a leader who is a danger to our democracy. And what created the soil for a Trump type to create a phony political persona that swayed millions.
Unfortunately, this was set in motion when naive Democrats under Bill Clinton cooperated with the GOP to repeal long standing anti monopoly laws for media. This allowed the growth of the Fox News Empire under GOP sponsorship. The Dems have no counterpart.
CNN CEO Jeff Zucker just said that “Fox News Is State-Run Propaganda: TASS Has Nothing On Them”, citing the Russian/Putin state media. So Fox is the news agency of the rw extremist party that now dominates our 3 branches and most states.
This is the same unfortunate Democratic Party that cooperated with GOP to repeal Wall St bank regulations. This sent a signal to expand big bank recklessness and crime that led finally to the 08 crash.
The big money directing our elections campaigns sets up policy norms, so enables Fox News to help redefine what’s labeled left wing and center.
Mr. Blow, you focus on the Fox harm. But can you think of any remedies?
1st -- reform campaign finance to take our democracy back. This will help media unshackle itself from big money.
Strange to think back decades ago, when TV networks saw news as a public service, not a profit maker, and was mandated to present both sides of an issue.
But that was a previous civilization.
1
Well, it wasn't that long ago that America was formed and ruled by creepy people who thought it was perfectly fine to enslave fellow humans for the profit of a very few. Virginia, at its founding, had 40% of its residents in chains. Washington, Jefferson, Madison...we hardly have descended to a low. Our manifest destiny meant murder, rape, theft, ethnic cleansing were sacred themes.
I view cutthroat capitalism as the real enemy and the cause of all this, it inevitably leads to the rule of the cruelest and the stupidest, and the most willing to use fear as a weapon.
Of course, we are falling as all empires fall. Athens, Rome, London, Berlin, Moscow, eventually those with the wealth destroy the civilization and strut about as the walls fall and the barbarians loot.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
The mainstream media has nobody to blame but itself, for being so biased and provincial that it left a lot room for other sources to fill the gap. In addition to 'flyover country' between the coasts mainstream media even chooses to ignore large parts of their regions outside of urban areas. Not only were ignored, they were belittled as ignorant, knuckle dragging racists; just look at this article.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/25/media-bubble-real-jou...
What happens to people who tell big and many lies?
Really? You are supposed to be the smart one, and you go to FOX all optimistic? Our smart ones ain't good enough.
The fact that this show is the #1 rated morning news program in our country is yet another indication that our country is filled with mostly stupid people. I'm not trying to be mean. As an American, I don't want to believe this sad reality. Our president is Donald Trump (I still can't believe it), and one of the most watched "news" programs in our nation gets the facts right 10% of the time. How else am I to interpret the state of our nation?
3
Sheep can turn in different directions either through pure, dumb luck or by the existance of nipping, intelligent and persistent dogs. Thank god for Mueller, the New York Times, PBS, and the Washington Post.
Make America think again...please.
2
There are always going to be some U.S. citizens who want to hear and believe what these inch deep/inch wide mouthpieces are paid by their bosses to say. In other words, there is a lid for every (chamber) pot.
Looks like the road laid by the founding fathers has come to an end. New thinking is required.
Lets make Trump King and move to a parliamentary system of government.
We'd then have a royal family expected to ignorantly misbehave, fornicate, and play golf.
We'd do away with dog and pony show presidential elections.
We could have multiple political parties sharing power.
Everybody wins!
keep FOX in your cross hairs...... little will change in this country until this propaganda machine is shut down, whether by lack of revenue or a reinstatement of the fairness doctrine.
This scares me down to my socks. I watch Fox periodically to keep abreast of their broadcast content. I make a game of picking out stupid statements and lies.
When someone sincerely tells me that they watch Fox and Friends I admit that I so as well, for entertainment. I then express belief that it must be a satirical news comedy. There can’t possibly be three people that dumb in a serious setting.
1
Kilmeade, who fancies himself as a historian, has the intellectual capacity of a turnip. That’s why Trump was among the first to endorse his juvenile book about Andrew Jackson.
What a tragedy for America. No one should have let Rupert Murdoch gain entry into our news media. But they did. Now we have to figure out how to combat him/them. By the way, a Monmouth University poll last month showed CNN to be the most trusted news source on TV and Fox the least.
1
Dimwitted voters feed at the hands of that show because they're helpless to the political propaganda because they are ignorant, slow and care free. The program explains them and validates the GOP culture.
Sounds about right for a country of dim-wits. That's why I'm leaving.
"America is being governed by the dimmest of wits"
Fact.
Fox and Friends is the clown car of the conservative movement and the hosts are, indeed, incredibly shallow and unthinking. No wonder the clown in the White House is riveted.
I know this is psychological babble but why is the lady always in the middle on that show? Never does she sit on the right or the left. Please enlighten me on this one. Is there a subliminal problem with two men occasionally sitting together on a panel discussing how we Americans should think?
I read the Times -- I also watch Fox news some evenings (the five and the six o'clock shows -- sometimes the 8 o'clock). I see less evidence of bias in the clearly opinion oriented shows on Fox than I do in the news pages of the Times -- and certainly the editorial page. I've yet to catch Fox in manipulation or distortion of the news -- but I've often caught the Times. A couple of examples: Charles and various writers on both sides of the opinion/news divide-- write about white cops killing blacks as if it were an epidemic and that white cops never shot whites. The Times writers never mention that more whites are shot and killed by cops than Blacks -- or that Blacks with 13% of the population commit 37% of violent crimes or that the Black homicide rate is 7x that of Whites.
And of course you never read anything in the Times that challenges climate science or suggests there may be things we don't know. Of course not. According to the Times, it's settled science.
And then a few weeks ago dictation takers from the Times printed a highly implausible story straight from the FBI explaining why they
opened an investigation into Trump-Russian collusion.
And when was the last time you opened the Times and didn't find multiple anti-Trump articles. In fact, how many neutral objective stories have you read here about Trump or his admin?
So don't give me this anti-Fox screed until you've cleaned up your own truly biased house, Charles -- or any Times writer.
The stuff about Swedish and Finnish marriage traditions -- as contrasted with the American free choice of marrying whomever they love (implication: U.S. gene pool is impure) -- is straight out of the fascist doctrine of racial purity. If this is part of the appeal that has made Fox & Friends the No. 1 show in America then we are already doomed. This is NOT conservatism, this is fascism.
2
Good for you for not honoring them with your presence. They are the network
poster child for the dumbing down of America.
2
You said it... "[Foxnews] is a show." If you want to be always entertaining, you can't always tell the truth.
1
there are more people who can read and write and think coherent thoughts than there are fox viewers. organize, register, vote.
1
Either America has the capability to overcome this hostile force against the virtues that America stands for in the first place, or not.
As with Enron, and Shkreli, and Facebook, Trump's 'notes passers' can fall, too. Roger Ailes already has, and the Fox peanut gallery is getting smaller with O'Reilly and others already gone.
Surely this attrition of demented hoodlums ripping America's soul to shreds will only continue, including Hannity and still others of the corrupt and soulless few destroyers left.
And then Trump will have to think for himself.
God help us, either way.
1
Once in ST Petersburg,I watched RT and thought it was just like Fox news:A propaganda machine.
There are some salient critiques levied against an obviously conservative network. Does Mr. Blow have the brio to report similarly on CNN and MSNBC?
Oh, that's funny -- I'd never noticed the 'r' in "FOX and Fiends" till just now....
You're WINNING, "Uncle Snoopy" Murdoch! Well done!
Corps ARE peeps, too!
"I do not read.... I like to watch T.V."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syi8J8EAwXk
Peter Sellers in "Being There". It is what our presidency has become in real life! Frightening!
1
The president of the United States has access to the most penetrating information about world through our intelligence agencies. Yet this president prefers to get his information through uninformed and sycophantic blowhards on an intellectually dishonest television program. This says everything about Donald Trump's attitude toward government institutions and the truth.
1
"The Swedes have pure genes because they marry Swedes, and Finns marry Finns so they have a pure society".
Next election slogan: Make America Rassenrein Again. I wonder where we heard that before not so very long ago.
Remember this is a nation of slavery, lynchings, McCarthy, and many other symbols of blind ignorance.
Is it any wonder that Fox and friends exists?
1
Truth is in the eye of the beholder I find Fox more honest than CNN Chris Wallace for instance the best in his field Yes Swedes marrying other Swedes makes for racial harmony and that was the whole story What part of that comment you don’t understand or disagree with ?I think it would be simpler if we didn’t have so much diversity Personally I think diversity spices up life and worth the trouble we have in the US
1
The first thing to do is to agree to stop referring to Fox News as a source of news crafted by journalists.
Secondly, calling them dim witted is givng them too much credit and a disservice to true dimwits everywhere.
1
This should tell us a lot about a large number of Americans. They are either ignorant, willfully hateful, incapable of critical thinking, or have an aversion to excepting reality. Unfortunately their leader, the President is just like them.
Could be worse.... at least J. Muggs aint still on in the morning...I hear he's actually still alive!!
Imagine the uproar if Obama constantly allowed the Rachael Maddow show to put ideas in his head.
“The hosts had a particular knack for asking the idiotic with chipper earnestness, spewing venom through simpering smiles. There was, I felt, maleficence at work with a pretense of positivity.”
This has to be one of Mr. Blow’s finest articulations.
2
America will rue allowing Rupert Murdoch to become the media mogul that he has become.
This column is the product of a man who thinks himself a super intellectual, impartial and honest man, when in fact he appears to be the opposite comparatively. I watch FOX, CNN and ABC and read NY Times, including Charles' articles and Post and find Fox more honest, entertaining and intellectual than other mediums. Fox is successful because most Americans generally agree with their viewpoints than Charles's.
2
This would be an interesting piece if it were published in, say, The Economist. Printed in these pages it is an exercise in hilarity. Or, as a friend of mine used to say, "Pot, meet kettle."
And then, unable to face any criticism, Blow scurried away to the warm embrace of the CNN safe space. There too, he gets gets upset whenever confronted by the rare Trump supporter, on those 7 versus 1 “panel discussions.”
1
Trump is president. Trump will continue to be
Trump. The Republican congress, much like the Trump base, will forgive Trump almost any transgression and will do nothing to stop Trump unless they feel that he is threatening their own reelection. The only solution is elect Democrats. Only then will our nightmare be over.
1
I have tried various times over the years at watching that station ( even just for 15 minutes ) and have each time come away feeling disoriented by the cavalcade of uninterrupted lies and radically extreme right wing propaganda.
Anyone can easily fact check any pronouncement they make, but since there are so many ( the same coming from this President ), you feel overwhelmed. It gets to the point that you just turn away feeling disgusted.
It is the same for any other totalitarian regime in the world, where they use their state run media to continuously brainwash the masses.
Time to switch them off.
1
What kind of country do we live in when Sponge Bob is more correct about science than one of the hosts of the number one news talk show in the land?
4
Citizens need to get past their naivete and educate themselves about the medium of television. It exists for no other reason than to sell something. Fox deals in bankrupt ideas that skirt the edge of fantasy, and represents a terrifying reversal on the classic trope of "state run media". We've all noticed and even made a cultural meme about the blank, hypnotic like stare on faces -- that melted intellectual discernment that accompanies those constantly flickering images, on the faces of TV viewers. That's because you are being practically hypnotized by the cathode rays that shoot from the screen, directly into the nonfiltering recesses of your brain. The production values, or cost per minute, of commercials is often TWICE that of the programs they sponsor, because the real aim and purpose of the medium is to brainwash viewers into purchasing ever more unnecessary products, or idiotic beliefs. TV is an insidious creature that numbs logical deduction in human brains, that have not evolved past the survival instinct of accepting whatever we see and hear as truth. Unplug and start to think again.
211 days until Election Day. Our living nightmare continues at least until then.
Everybody Vote!
During his campaign, Trump claimed that "nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it."
Yet, now we know that he is insecure about his own instincts and in fact, he cannot make a move that is not dictated by Fox & Friends. There used to be concern that he was Putin's puppet, but we now know that he is a Fox puppet, afraid to turn off the television for fear that without them, he will be unable to decide how to respond to events. Trump presents himself as a strong leader, but in reality he is weak and indecisive, and looks to his television for guidance.
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Besides being the most incompetent and knowledgeable of all of our presidents, Trump is lazy. He starts work at 11;00, doesn't read his briefing notes, can't be bothered to read a prepared speech and spends most of his time at his own golf course- and I am sure we are paying his greens fees - to him. So, as far as policy is concerned, he leaves that up to Fox and Friends. And, if things go south, his cabinet of chronys will take care of the fall out while he plays golf.
What I would do, if I produced my own news program, would be to invite each Faux and Friends host to be on my program. I would ask pertinent questions and not let them deflect. You cannot accomplish anything when you appear in their arena.
There are some indicators that the fox news “Fake News” pronouncements are meeting resistance. In the capital of the Confederacy—Virginia—some Republican office holders are now opening their arms to Medicaid. Why? They almost lost control of the Senate in the last elections. And, lo and behold, there was little brush back from their constituents. Fox’s and Trump’s attempts to shape the news is losing its effectiveness. Three cheers for American voters—they can wake up.
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''''“The show manages to serve as a court sycophant, whispering in the ear of the king, criticizing his perceived enemies and fluffing his feathers.”"""""
I am relatively sure the The Guardian got this backwards. And his tweets, are the whispers.
Mr. Blow, as usual is spot on. Two points he missed, though:
Point 1: Our president often waits until after he has seen the verbal acrobatics of Fox & Friends to offer responses to crises...and does so almost in their identical scripted words. Therefore, Fox, like the evil Cheney, seems to be the puppeteer running our country.
Point two: There is a reason that an almost unbelievable number of Americans believe they are listening to real news (facts?), and are influenced by this network as well as innumerable radio hosts whose programs seem like science fiction. These are almost half of our voters who are stunted by drinking the KoolAid.
As education funding keeps diminishing in our country, conspiracies are popular, and people want magic answers so badly that they will accept any "truth", we will continue to flounder. If you think things are bad now, they CAN -- and probably will -- get worse.
I am trying to be optimistic and am cautiously anticipating the 2018 mid-terms and 2020. But I have talked to a lot of Trump supporters (Fox News praisers) who have Right Wing Wax in their ears, even as some of them seem to be reasonable people otherwise. Don't know the answer. If I did, I'd run for office!
When entering a business that has a TV playing and fox is on I immediately leave. That business lost a customer forever.
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We got rid of cable tv back in 2009. Peace of mind ensued.
George w. Bush, no genius himself, was smart enough to know that FOX wasn’t a news source, even though I am sure he watched it quite a bit. Trump isn’t even that smart.
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Question: Why do do many Americans watch Fox news?
I watch the Sunday news show just to hear what they are saying and because I think the host tries to be a good moderator. But life is too short to spend a moment of my time with any of the others.
In 1974 (when Nixon resigned) the intelligent, ethically-grounded and respected broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite of CBS news was known as "the most trusted man in America."
Today, millions soak up the hate mongering, fact-free claims of the imbeciles on Fox and Friends who daily rile and defend a similarly fact-challenged president, fluffing his ego and feeding him more inanities and falsehoods that end up in nasty Tweets and as the official policy of a rudderless administration.
It's a sad and disturbing commentary on who we are as a people and what we have become.
1. Regulate social media (to prevent wholesale propaganda blitz’s which manipulate voters and undermine democracy).
2. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time requirements for broadcasters.
3. Reinstate limitations on single individuals/entities owning broadcast outlets in multiple markets.
This new digital era requires new regulations if democracy is to survive the continued media assaults by both state and individual actors with authoritarian and fascist goals — whether for power or profit (or both).
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I have never seen FOX news and don't know anyone who watches FOX news. I do know I don't know very many Americans who know or understand what is going on in the world whether they watch MSNBC, CBS, ABC,NBC or even read the NYT.
I am 70 and the world is facing many changes and I hold out a little bit of optimism. I know America cannot lead because it is stuck in a world that no longer exists.
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Instead of "Good Morning America", Murdoch and the late Ailes have foisted their version of " Goodbye America " on this nation. You have to wonder if the three constantly grinning buffoons on a couch are really as clueless as they portray themselves, or if it's all just an act for their mindless audience who know no better and have never heard of the term "fact check". Unfortunately, I'm beginning to believe it's the former, and it's not just the audience that's from the shallow end of the gene pool but the hosts as well. I'm also beginning to think both of them have a warm spot in their gene pool as well.
Often when you stay at hotels around the country the tv will be tuned to Fox in the morning. It makes it hard to eat one's breakfast. Luckily I sometimes travel with someone who asks the front desk to change the channel to something other than garbage.
Oh c’mon, guys, the zeitgeist now is “let’s laugh at “fairness, impartiality and legitimacy” and let’s toss them around and tarnish them to feel we are so powerful and developed that we are even above them. “
Further, this act gets some of you to the White House and Congress.
Horrible yet, some of you make good money out of ridiculing virtues in the very American Democracy and Capitalism.
The nightmare of this Presidency has no equivalency in our history, or maybe in human history.
Sadly Idiocracy, the movie, sounds prophetic now.
It's time for a new amendment to the Constitution: "The President of the United States may watch no more than 2 hours of television per week."
Mr Blow, you, your NY Times colleagues and every other responsible journalist must ensure that what you write (or an appropriate version thereof) finds it's way into whatever publication it is that the President's followers DO read.
At a minimum these voters need to know that their candidate and these people at Fox have no interest in anything but himself, ratings, respectively. The truth tends to require a great investment of time, energy and concern for others.
The only thing 45 or Fox are investing in are lies, hats and lawyers. Someone has to inform the voters that these so called journalists are NOT looking out for them and they don't understand that it's happening.
Can't trust the politicians to explain it to them, it has to be taught at the grassroots level by journalists. Send clips to local papers around the country. Please do something, November isn't that far off.
Dear Mr. Blow,
I believe that this elitists attitude with a large ration of venomous remarks will be the main reason Trump will be elected again. I only wish that you and your alike could see this and try to unseat our president in the next election. Until then he is our president if you like it or not.
Venomous remarks come from venomous deeds. Yes! He is our President until replaced, but once elected, no President assumes a mantle of irreproachability. He has to answer for his conduct from day one.
Joy and good humor are easy to find on Fox & Friends. So is respect for the President of the United States - no matter who it may be. Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt and Steve Doocy are nice people that don't spew venom.
In contrast, Mr. Blow doesn't seem to realise that most conservative people have good intentions and want to live in a world with civility and manners - and forgiveness. Mr. Blows opinion that the entire network is "beyond redemption" represents his Planned Parenthood value system embodied in the Democratic Party platform. There can be no joy and good humor when family values are not respected.
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Mr. Blow,
The millions of people who voted for Hillary Clinton, and the people who voted for Jill Stein, and the people who didn’t vote because Bernie Sanders wasn’t on the ballot know what you say is true.
Then there are the other people. Essentially equal in number.
Your facts mean nothing to them. They are immune. To borrow from Fox and Friends, they are a separate species, they only mate amongst themselves, and so will remain pure in their ignorance.
That, my good friend, is the long term problem that this country faces.
This is ridiculous. At the moment, our country is being governed by the Senate. 6 year terms allow it to not be at the whim of popular opinion. You can thank the genius of Madison and others who wrote this into our Constitution. There is a reason that the authors of our Constitution gave 6 year terms to the Senate, 4 year terms to the executive and 2 year terms to local Representatives. I understand that chaos in the executive branch is rattling people, but I don't think Trump is really in charge.
Fortunately, approximately 65% of the electorate disapprove of Trump. The other 35% is watching Fox. Trump is a failure as a human being and a President. His failure is attributable in part to repeating the pablum dished out at Fox, which only further exacerbates the chaos in the White House and our country. Unfortunately, Fox and Friends bloated sense of themselves gets larger as Trump tweets what he hears. I am proud to say I never watch Fox news, I wish the President would do like wise.
The assessments made in this column are all accurate but you are preaching to the choir here. How do we get the fixated Fox audience to get their news from another place? Switching back and forth between the networks and Fox is an eye opening exercise. Surveys show the difference between the mainstream viewer and those who watch nothing but Fox. When you switch back and forth you can see why.
The saddest part is that when you try to discuss this in a rational way with them they tell you that you are the one watching fake news. Some one who they respect needs to have the courage to do a "true confession" and say that the news is being managed to make this administration look good. Perhaps one of the dozens of fleeing Trump administration officials will have enough patriotism left in them to let the country know how corrupt and inept this administration is and how much their news is being managed for their consumption. But that's probably too much to hope for.
If, as Mr Blow suggests, "Fox & Friends" is the most influential show in American Media, and if it operates at a "kindergarten-level intellectual capacity," then it seems to me but the situation says volumes more about the collective intellectual and emotional capacity of our country than it does about either President Trump or "Fox & Friends."
What it says is anything but reassuring.
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Thank you for exposing Fox News for what it is. I only wish more were doing so, as the destruction being done by Fox today is so evident and important. Fox News, in my opinion, is the most destructive force in America today.
Fox is Robert Murdoch's gift to Donald Trump. It is time for any institution with an investment in News Corp to pull out of it now.
“The show manages to serve as a court sycophant, whispering in the ear of the king, criticizing his perceived enemies and fluffing his feathers.”
Is THAT what we're calling it now? "Feathers?"
None of the candidates in the 2016 Republican primary running to be the most powerful person on the planet would admit in public that they believed in evolution.
Sad on several levels. The GOP is clearly the party of non-science and unfortunately they pander to a constituency of dull intellects. Mostly because of the ongoing distain politicians show for basic education. Hopefully the nascent rebellion we are seeing among Teachers will continue to the point that public education is something worthwhile.
This is what happens when a president cannot and will not think for himself; and when a president has shortcomings that make him easy to manipulate.
A very shallow news network indeed, but you must admit that the pundits and reporters who work for Fox News are certainly well rewarded in money and popularity. Now that they have a President who does and thinks like them, the ratings are even better and for them and for him. In the Fox News world, the shiny object and its distraction media outlet have achieved their goal: how much more brainwashing can we do to boost up our ratings? The sad part of this is that the folks watching Fox News have no idea that they are being taken advantaged of. Fox News is their feeding tube and as long as they are hungry for the fake news, lies and distortions loop available all day long on their favorite channel and which by the way they take for real news, you will not see Fox News go away any time soon. I don't feel sorry for these poor folks any more, they elected a monster, they accept to be fed by a brainwashing news media, and they haven't figured out yet that they are being taken for a ride. They get what they deserve, they are becoming complicit in all that Fox News does and says. Poor America!
We should be very afraid of media like Fox. People who watch nothing else believe the lies and accept Trump as a special and successful president. When things come crashing down, then what? Or will things come crashing down when the rot is complete?
Are we being destroyed from within and by media (also Sinclair)?
Vote them out and then start congressional hearings.
Here is a summation of common FOX distortion techniques designed to turn the minds of the public away from truths:
Lack of emphasis on substantive issues in favor of the non-substantive
Placing of “experts” before the audience who are not experts
Presenting untruths from unreliable unnamed sources as truths
Propagating an unrelenting stream of nebulous only partially true information
Using contradictory piece-meal information to obscure truths
Viewing partial truths as truths
Taking statements of spokespersons out of context
Disseminating false impressions about public opinion
When confronted with inconvenient facts reaching for obscure unrelated truths
Using conspiracy theories to obscure truths
Using audience cult beliefs—religious and other—by insinuating all other beliefs to be untruths
www.InquiryAbraham.com
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Democracy now needs to get up and fight like its very life depends on it.
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I used to briefly tune in to Fox to hear what the other side was saying and to see whether they were completely ignoring major headlines (invariably). It's gotten worse and so I now avoid them entirely.
On Sunday nights, this news junkie used to head to Fox because I don't think MSNBC, of all networks, should be airing LOCKUP incessantly. But "Judge" Jeanine has become an unbearable caricature and, thankfully, MSNBC has more original programming on weekends.
Several years ago, my uncle asked me if I could find an address for "the journalist,
Bill O'Reilly," because he wanted to write him about a story. I tried to explain to him what they were really all about but it fell on deaf ears. He had already been brainwashed. Sad.
When John Kerry was running against W. Bush in 2004 I visited my sister-in-law and brother-in-law at their new house. Shortly after our arrival my sister-in-law took me aside and said something like, "That man can't be allowed to win. My God, he would be the worst thing to happen to America!" I thought she was referring to George because my in-laws always voted for Democrats. "You mean Bush?" I asked. "No, Kerry." I don't remember what I answered. A squawk of disbelief? The mystery of her conversion was revealed the next day when they put on the T.V. Fox News, all day, background noise. But when we all sat before it, I pointed out the lies and did a running commentary. It was easy. I told them what I knew of Rupert Murdock, how Fox only supported the Republican Party, and my brother-in-law saw what I meant. They were recently retired and didn't know about Fox. They never watched it again. And vote Democrat.
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With friends like that, who needs enemies?
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Mr Murdoch is not and never has been a fit person to own a media company. He has done great damage to the Anglosphere in particular and should be in jail for his crimes.
The horror of being governed by the one party system, by the single member district, by the electoral college, by lots of elections and little representation and by a press that pretends not to see any of this just because it is too complex therefore not $exy.
The horror of Fox was perfectly conveyed in this piece by Charles Blow.
Rupert Murdoch bears a huge responsibility in all this - he and his family. One wonders if he is being investigated himself in the Russia probe, so willing is he to support the propaganda techniques deployed by his network and mirrored by RT.
The oligarchs and their surrogates have overrun this country and are eating it alive. Until there are reasonable laws in place holding media and lobbyists in check, it can only get much, much worse.
Donald Trump is the oligarch in chief, and his deputies, the Trump kids, the Murdochs, Kochs and Mercers, are in charge, now - and no skin off their nose if the economy, not to mention, our democracy, goes down the drain. Look at Russia! The oligarchs are doing better than ever within that crumbling society, especially now that their American counterparts are playing along.
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Fox has the best cable "news" ratings.
And Harry Potter outsells Tolstoy.
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One of the formulas for the success of Fox ratings is the fact that it is available in every TV market across the country. Can't get cable? No MSNBC and no CNN for you but Fox is there to fill in all the empty markets. It's everywhere. Fast food joints, hospitals and every diner I've ever been to has it on. They're giving daily doses of Fox Kool Aid to all the Trumpophiles everywhere. Add to that Sinclair Broadcasting Group and the future looks pretty bleak for those of us who still cling to reality.
Our only hope is Robert Mueller and even that might be in peril.
This piece proves again that diversity was just an argument to extend race based affirmative action and Now is used for the promotion of people on the liberal side of the political spectrum, it obviously doesn’t mean respect for those you differ with. How sad.
Why do people keep calling Fox News a conservative network? They really don't have any ideology other than bashing liberals and idealizing Trump.
FOX is the single greatest factor in the dumbing down of America. And of our great political divide. And Trump and his fans are their target audience.
Spewing predigested and pre -spun propaganda 24/7, its infotainment for the Red State masses. Allegedly Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. Trump will be watching FOX. Seriously.
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Wake up and smell the coffee. Fox News has been the leadership of the Republican Party for over two decades. No doubt trump follows them as he is their creation. Unfortunately Republicans unwittingly turned over control of the party to Fox News because of Clinton and obama Derangement Syndrome. No cost was too great to pay. Well now the monster is running the country and I do not see how we get out of this.
As Sean Hannity said day after day, Terry Schiavo must be the victim of her husband and as O’Reilly said day after day, according to the Paris Business Weekly the French GDP fell 5% because of his call to Fox viewers to boycott French wine. The magazine didn’t exist and Terry Schiavo’s husband became a nurse to care for her for a decade. Both of these scurrilous men kept their jobs at Roger Ailes news network while he exposed himself to women who worked for him so that they could gaze at the soft flabby flesh of him. That Trump and his ilk celebrate Fox is disheartening, that Trump believes what Fox fabricates is frightening.
If FOX is biased, what about CNN? CNN has a strong anti-Trump bias and never misses an opportunity to bash him. Ever since the cable channels merged news with editorial content fake "news" has dominated coverage.
This is recognition of the gullibility of Republican voters. 195 months of popular misleading news. What a claim to fame. This quantity of Fox supporters will be hard to change and Charles, I will be interested to see if you get a return salvo from Fox. You were very unkind to them!
What frightens me the most is not seeing a potential change in the future. What will it take to turn people to the truth and away from the truly "fake (Fox) news?"
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"This would all be silly trifle if in January the show didn’t mark its 195th month as the number one morning cable news program and if the president of the United States wasn’t taking cues from it."
Kind of puts a huge dent in the whole "America is great" idea. Throw it in the trumpster with the idea that Republicans stand for anything but rabid anti-liberalism. and the idea that evangelical Christians aren't traitors to their faith.
It is, indeed, a horror that the President of the United States is getting his daily 'briefing' from FOX and Friends.
Between his phone, Twitter and his TV tuned to FOX, the Republican run State Media is doing great damage to America. Rupert Murdoch is one of the most dangerous men in the world. FOX is pure propaganda and is contributing mightily to the damage being done by this President. Until it gets, somehow, shut down we will have a constantly divided country. Their evil thrives on division through constant, deliberate lies. And half the country believes them as if they speak the gospel.
The Gospel of Trump is destroying America.
It would be wise for American to look at various news organization rather than at just the ones one likes.
I would be wise to pick up on the differences that each news media provide.
Fox News caters to it's listeners.
But so do the other news media sources.
I personally don't like FAUX because of it's propaganda style.
When I listen to the news, I would like just plain old fact without editorial type words that are added by personnel to 'better reach' people.
Good, bad or indifference, that is not the job of news reporting.
If the show is nothing but say editorials, which FAUX NEWS is, then it is telling people to let us do your thinking for you.
No thank you.
And that goes for Rachel Maddox also.
Some of my liberal friends tell me I should watch FOX to see what the other side is thinking. I tried. After about one minute, I felt my blood pressure rising due to the lie I heard and decided I won't waste my time listening to sycophants and liars.
FOX is just as hate-filled as Rush and it reaches more people. Plus, its very clever brainwashing means that those who watch it for "news" are totally beyond help. They don't believe facts because they've been so successfully brainwashed that nothing can reach them. They believe what FOX says because it's their bible.
The only solution, as others have already said, is to vote in November. Vote because if the democrats don't win, there will be nothing left to save. We cannot let the GOP win. They have proven they are corrupt beyond anything this country has ever seen and willing to destroy our norms, values, and people for a "win."
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Yes, we live in a very terrible and tragic time. Much of it is of our own doing: lazy democracies tend that way.
When Gore beat Bush soundly in the democratic vote, but lost in the electoral college, we should have done away with that undemocratic 'college'. But, no, we say we can't, too hard, too much effort.
Then, Hillary beats Trump by millions but Trump and his dirty-tricksters (from here to Russia, at least) find an electoral college victory. Shame is squarely on us.
You can't support democracy but not majority rule. You can't say 'one person, one vote' as a foundation of democratic rule, but allow the antiquated and illogical electoral college to remain in power.
This is just one example of our anti-American America. I taught US Government in high school and am still very interested in the debates and reasoning of the colonies. Though too 'elitist' for my taste, they had some noble virtues and arguments for constructing this living Constitution of ours. The Preamble may be the greatest sentence ever written.
So, be strong in your heart. Believe in your spirit & the good & decent people all over this world. We care. We can be compassionate. We can create a 'more perfect Union'. It is really up to us.
Money is so powerful and dirty right now, because we have failed to face it. Bullies rule. The lying, cheating, adulterous, treasonous bully is our President. Remember, he skips Vietnam, then says McCain & POW's aren't really heroes.
This is the Republican leader.
Although most Americans don't want to hear from foreigners suggesting advice go to your devices and check out Canada's CBC morning radio show. It is timely, relevant, and sentient. Then ask yourselves why there is such an astounding difference.
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The danger of Fox News, of course, is that its rank of viewers actually believe, and accept as incontrovertible fact, anything and everything that it broadcasts.
Fox News' lack of veracity is a given, but by presenting its drivel with an eye towards memorably entertaining its viewers and whipping them into an emotional frenzy, it crosses the line from fake news and entertainment into a dangerous propaganda mill with the virtual imprimatur of an American president.
It used to be said by traditional conservatives that in order to get the straight news from the New York Times, one had to hold the paper at a right angle while reading it.
With Fox, in order to get the straight news, one needs to change the channel.
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What I don’t understand is why fox viewers watch only fox and are oblivious to other media, ignoring the common thread of news that is completely different than the reporting from fox. Are fox viewers really that brainwashed? Unfortunately, Our media sources have adopted a political slant, and has become politically affiliated rather than the sharing of journalism’s truth. And America needs to change and get rid of political parties in order to put Americans first- not loyalty to party. This divide has begun to prevent government to do its job. Our need for special counsel is a prime example.
The underlying question is: what is in minds and hearts of those who are dedicated to Fox and Trump? What is the nexus in the division within our country? To be sure, there is exploitation by people who want to whip Americans into a frenzy in order to swell their ratings, fill their pockets or advance their agenda. That sort of thing is nothing new. How to get the rest of us to put that cacophony on mute so we can reason together about what affects our lives is the work at hand. For that, each of us needs to learn where the other is coming from.
After graduating from school, I had a friend at the same company that blew 6 years of college to get a liberal arts degree.
This guy was very opinionated on politics and world events; with more knowledge of poetry than world affairs, he insisted he knows better because he went to college for 6 years.
Just because you can write or have a worthless degree, this does not make another person's opinion any less valuable.
I read the complete spectrum of news sources from left to right. All of them censor and tilt the news. That's there right. Right wing Fox has stories the left leaning NYT would never publish, and vice versa. I wish there was a news source that was as straight as a math equation.
I would never call any of these news sources "shallow" or "trifle". Believe it or not CB, stories on all news sources are researched. And slanted.
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Why don't we have a whole ton of libel suits against them when they lie all the time? Just wondering. Would that end up becoming a slippery slope? Or would it expose the truth of their lies? (Irony)
As much as I despise our President, his administration, and their actions, a President Pence would be scarier. Pence has some measure of competence that would create order in the deconstruction of The administrative state. Trump just bumbles (albeit, painfully).
Just as scary are the millions of Americans avidly believing its "kindergarten level" lies and propaganda, making it the "number one morning cable news program". Even if Trump weren't Fox's main fan and target audience, those millions of willfully ignorant Americans - voters? - who are watching are crippling our country, now and for decades to come.
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Turn off the television, it destroys strong mental health. Read and write instead of going for the mind control.
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My worst nightmare is that FOX & Friends has somehow figured out how to brainwash people and control their minds. I continually observe human beings I know and love transform their attitudes and perspectives about life into hateful, conniving positions. ALWAYS someone else is to be blamed and hated. I am not talking about a normal spectrum of different viewpoints... I am talking about hate mongering. I look at them and I know longer know them. Their critical thinking skills seem to have evaporated and replaced by cruelty and disrespect. Often, I ask myself are we watching a modern day version Rome collapsing from within?
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DJT must know that to make good decisions you need information from many sources or else people will take advantage of you for their own gain? No?
Why must be know? He surely hasn't shown it.
In Canada we have very expensive cable where "tiers" are added at about C$10 each. A while ago I was adding a "news" tier that included various legitimate news sources, plus Fox News. I asked the helper from Rogers (Cable) why Fox news was in the "news" tier. Shouldn't it be in the Comedy group. He laughed uproariously.
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It's blame TV. That's perfect for Trump, who if you look at his history and personality, ultimately self-identifies as a victim and blames others.
There are a couple of key misnomers repeated by the defenders of Fox News. First is the conflation of mainstream and liberal media. This is at the heart of Fox's branding. The truths that may lie in the political middle are always interpreted as being liberal by Fox enthusiasts, because they inherently exist to the left of Fox's narratives. This then has the effect of casting what is in fact reality as being liberal and therefore "bad."
Second is the comparison of outlets like MSNBC or CNN to Fox News and saying "they do it, too!" It is true that MSNBC, and to a lesser extent CNN, seek out left-leaning viewers, and can become too echo-chamber like. Neither is remotely as committed to fictionalizing as Fox, but no one is well served by only consuming self-affirming information.
The difference is that Fox News has honed the echo chamber to a craft. Actual news is only a raw material for their ultimate purpose, which is reaching and monetizing a core audience. News, therefore, is crafted into narratives that fuel a victimized conservative feedback loop, venturing ever farther from reality in order to stay interesting. The yarns spun by Fox News are first and foremost about giving that audience what it wants.
To Mr. Blow's point, that audience now includes a raging narcissist in the White House, whose very psyche craves exactly what Fox News makes. This means the feedback looped unreality runs directly through the public and foreign policies of the US. This will not end well.
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The power of the boycott. Fox News has no standards of truth or decency. It is up to the public to deliver legal consequences for their dissemination of conspiracy theories, hate mongering, and outright lies. Sean Hannity never paid a price for his nonstop lies about Seth Rich’s murder in DC in 2016. Rich’s parents begged him to stop. The boycott is the only answer to conspiracy theory news networks.
Good point about Hannity and his vicious campaign re. Seth Rich not to mention his arrogant refusal to apologize. So here's a question for all you Fox apologists? Start giving examples of how CNN, MSNBC and others whom you feel "slant" the news as badly as FOX. Give examples of fabrications, lies etc.
My question is why? Why does this media out let choose to spread Kremlin anti Democracy information. Can't be just the money. Maybe Fox should be a part of the F B I investigation.
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Lots of appropriate criticism of Fox and Friends. However, very little about CNN which spends ALL day in anti-Trump attacks over everything. Not that they are wrong in the assertions, but in the scope. It is basically a 24 hour Trump bash. Yet, when real news occurs like the Syria gassing, Israel’s response, terrorism in Europe, etc they are nowhere to be found.
On the contrary, I saw coverage of Syria on CNN and MSNBC so stop making things up. As far as 24 hour "Trump bashing", consider the individual who is being bashed - as you call it - I call it exposure. Trump is a non-stop, outrage machine, an offense to all things decent and a threat to our democracy. In all my years as a citizen I have never seen a US president openly, and with such bile, attack the press which every high school social studies student learns is the first step towards autocracy. We have a right to know what he does, where he goes, who he talks to, his plans, his vile history. Good for the press. Press him hard.
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While the very thought of America being “governed by the dimmest of wits on the most unscrupulous of networks,” Fox, is horror-inducing, far more terrifying is it is evidence that our democracy is in dire trouble. The only way that will change is if the rest of us rise up and defy Fox and the politicians and other media who let it be as though it’s a normal part of democracy. I am proud to have boycotted Fox media and voted against every politician who is supported by it since it’s inception. But I also feel very lonely and in deep fear for the survival our democracy.
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The truth of the matter is that it is heartbreaking to most Americans to see our nation's government being led by people who have no intention of preserving the best parts of it. It is something that I never thought I would experience in my 73-years as an American citizen. Americans cannot blame ignorance since the news media is doing its job to inform us of what Trump and his enablers would rather us not have knowledge of.
I can only hope that most decent, law abiding, Americans who value our nation for it's best parts will vote in the mid terms and help put a stop to the tragedy that is befalling our nation and its citizens.
As an American citizen I do not want Donald Trump in the White House and I do not want his enablers in Congress. They all most be voted OUT!
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I remember how repulsive I thought Rush Limbaugh was when I first heard him. I had the same reaction to Fox and Friends. They could all serve as a tutorial on demagoguery, but apparently, people don't care that their emotions are being manipulated as long as they can nod in agreement. I don't like it when I see it on the left either even if I may agree with the points being made.
This is the "dumbing-down" of America. I am so fortunate to have lived during the time that this would be seen as something to correct! I am 81 years old and still involved in lifelong learning which includes a healthy component of suspicion.
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The decline of the US: began as a tragedy and is ending as farce.
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Did anyone think Trump had a world view? The people who voted for Trump voted for him because he had no sophistication or nuance. Knowing Trump is watching every morning must be trying for Fox knowing how easily Trump's fragile Ego is bruised.Playing up to Trump daily must tie the producers in knots.
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Initially it was Roger Ailes who created faux news, and now it's Rupert Murdock who runs the game. They pull trump's strings and he jumps. Murdock knows he's controlling trump, who is a willing puppet, just so long as people are paying attention. The symbiotic relationship between the network and the resident at the Whitehouse seems clear to me, but why do people swallow the swill dispensed by those two? Is the audience that insecure and fearful? It seems plain that's what must be behind such enormous hate and willingness to swallow any lie, as long as it keeps the duped on top of their perceived social structure.
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It has been evident during this long fourteen months of the reality TV show called the Trump Presidency that knowledge, facts, and expertise are not part of the equation. We have seen how Trump frequently tweets about something he sees on Fox and Friends or some other Fox show, hires “only the best people” to run our government and they are talking heads who flatter Trump’s needy and fragile ego.
But it is becoming more and more apparent as this excellent column points out, that despite all of the experts and knowledgeable people that Trump could listen to, he listens to the banal, factually wrong and insipid commentary of the three Trump whisperers on Fox and Friends.
It would be laughable except for it is affecting our democracy,
Witness the fiasco over the misinformed tweets by Trump about the 1200 Central Americans fleeing violence and traveling to the border hoping to peacefully apply for ayslum either in Mexico or the US. It is more fear mongering and red meat for the base. “Rape at levels never seen before”, “wanting to take advantage of DACA, “ caravans, etc all generated from slanted and inaccurate reporting from the Trump whisperers.
So it is no longer a wry amusement that instead of consulting experienced experts, Trump is hanging out watching Fox and Friends. As Blow summarized, it is very scary that our democracy is being governed by the dimmest of wits and the most unscrupulous of networks. It is even worse than we thought.
Nice to see that there are those who continue to keep an eye on “the opposition” but we still need to keep a sharper eye on ourselves and make sure we don’t blow the midterm elections and the repudiation of corruption that currently runs rampant in this administration. Let’s stop fixating on them and start fixating on our message of cleaning up Washington, politics, and standing up for all working people, education and fair taxation. Push back on racism and not on the racists. Stay positive and leave Fox out of the equation - please!
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Let's call the influence of FOX "News" exactly what it is...brainwashing. The susceptibility of such a major portion of our population to the spell that they cast is a critical threat to the very continuation of our country as a functioning democracy. Those susceptible ones have already given us the Trump administration and everything that's wrong with it. The more misinformation that FOX spews out and causes to become widely accepted the more difficult it becomes to have any kind of reasonable debate, based on fact, about the genuinely serious issues confronting us. The situation only seems to get worse with each passing day...but it HAS to be fought somehow.
The late Oliver Saks might well have diagnosed me as suffering 'expressive aphasia'...because Fox and Friends, and in particular Mr. Doocy, leave me speechless and confused. Words fail me when I watch this carefully crafted channel portraying half-fact, utter nonsense and polemics as 'Fair and Balanced'. Fox News now proclaim themselves as being “Real News. Real Honest Opinion” - which is of course the antithesis of 'Fake News' with which all other media is Presidentially tainted if it is critical or unfavorable towards him. In WWII the Japanese used radio DJ Tokyo Rose in an attempt to undermine American resolve - today President Trump has Fox and Friends.
Yep. When I was in third grade I had a better understanding of the world than those three. It's just a set of Repubican talking points in the guise of a news/discussion program.
And believe it or not, the three stooges on the weekend version are worse.
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As frightening as Fox's control of presidential policy is today, keep in mind that Sinclair is out there taking over network news outlets at a rapid pace. Soon, many uninformed views who think that they are watching ABC or CBS news will not discover that these are Sinclair owned stations that are spewing the same propaganda they can watch on Fox. We are on the edge of a truly dangerous First Amendment-killing situation. If we value our free press, we're going to have to fight for it in the days ahead.
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For Some of the people All of the time, a willing suspension of disbelief. But in journalism ownership matters too.
It seems to me that Fox News is only a symptom and not the cause. What we need to figure out is what makes Americans so vulnerable to things like Fox News and Donald Trump. Why are many of us unable to tell a lie from the truth? Why do many of us like Fox News? Is it the enormous and growing inequality that makes many of us feel desperate and hopeless? Is it the lack of education that enables us to think critically? Is it the lack of affordable healthcare that contributes to our feeling of doom and gloom? Is it all of these things that make us find blame in different looking and acting people? Fox News didn't happen in a vacuum; it's a product of our society today. Someone like Trump would not have had a chance in a society that cares about its people enough to educate them and provide services for a decent living. US has failed, so now we have citizens that fail us.
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Take solace in the - demographic viewer-ship - fact that FOX "News" is about to decline in the relatively near future. Be alarmed that under FOX dictates, Trump will do even more harm in the interim.
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I live in the western suburbs of Chicago and I try to engage in political discussion with pretty much everyone I encounter. I'm betting the odds of "oh I don't care about politics/I never vote" is about 80%. This is why we have the government of Trump. People are encouraged not to care. Why bother? It doesn't matter. They're all the same.
I've been horrified for years. Obama was like an Oasis from corruption and unethical behavior for the last 40 years.
Where do you find candidates that are ethical, easy on the eyes, have no skeletons, and speak well? Please...tell us all and get them to run for, well, anything.
It's pretty ironic that Trump, the man who never stops ranting about "fake news," himself turns to the actual fake news.
Trump's tweets would be a bad enough echo chamber for the Fox propaganda, but they have a full time mouthpiece - not to mention policy crafter - in the president. He ought to draw a salary from Fox.
Actually, Trump would be so much happier as a talking head on "Fox and Friends" than he is in the White House, maybe we can work out a win/win deal here...
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This problem began long ago - circa America's inception - when our elite ruling class publically professed one set of policies, but privately practiced the diametric opposite, such as "all men created equal" despite the teeming human chattel pocked about the heartland. There is a price for hypocrisy, and that we have a talk show leader is clear evidence that rot and rust are static. All aided and abetted by a chattering class of vindictive, vengeful buffoons. Well-paid sycophants, at that. Self-correction is out of the question. An errant asteroid slamming the whole thing a few miles closer to center earth seems to be the only cure, sad to say.
Fox "News" is fair and balanced in the same way that Donald Trump is a truth-teller.
The popularity of this vapid propaganda operation and the the Trump presidency are symbiotic. There would be no president Trump without a major segment of the U.S. electorate deciding that they value conservative ideology over truth and rationality.
Why aren't there laws against blatant and systematic lying and disinformation campaigns by new media outlets. Does free speech include using a televised bully pulpit to deliberately mislead its audience?
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Since we get most of our information from the media, I propose that, on an annual basis, all news people take a civics test while on the air.
Give him some time and he’ll invite the cast to positions in his cabinet. But then who would give him his morning briefing if they aren’t on TV?
Fox panders to an audience whose thinking is mostly on the fifth grade level. The vocabulary is simple and the happy network starts cant help but put a spin on it because that is what they are paid handsomely to do. Hopefully with the exposure of Facebook people will finally realize that these anchors are not your friends and are laughing at you all the way to the bank. Sean Hannity is a perfect example a rich person who has the inability to put a meaningful sentence together. However they have not thought that a boycott of sponsors can end there shows. Let hear from Ms. Laura when she returns with her three children and see if she is ready to throw hate at teenagers. The ignorance of these people have been exposed. If Trump continues to obtain his parrot information from them it is more motivation for the democrats to drag five friends to the voting booth. A country run by TV show is insane and it needs to come to an end sooner than later.
Charles is once again right on target. One need only to visit a tire store or auto mechanic to understand that the ubiquitous tv is most likely set to Fox. Therein lies the problem.
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The media has accurately reported lately that the President no longer feels constrained by his staff, handlers, facts or reason. What the media fails to report is that his millions of voters are feeling equally unrestrained - by evidence of his past and current misdeeds, his incompetence, his serial lies, his discrediting of norms and institutions, and the ethical disaster that is his administration.
Even if America comes to its collective senses in the next two election cycles, the hatred, bigotry, scapegoating, xenophobia, and willful ignorance of his supporters will live on.
The question is whether the USA can survive it?
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It never ceases to amaze me how many hotel breakfast areas insist on having this "show" on during the breakfast hour. When we travel and must be in that common area, I have asked and asked for them to put on HGTV - at least the Property Brothers don't spew venom.
I'd rather go through Micky D's drive through and listen to engine noise than be a captive audience for Faux News' blather.
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Every sponsor of Fox is complicit. Every cable provider and satellite provider is complicit. Every viewer is complicit. Not only should everyone vote Democratic in 2018 and 2020, everyone should tell people to change the channel. It’s really that simple.
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It's not surprising that Trump is in love with Fox. It's one of the few media outlets that fits his mental capabilities. It also explains why they get high ratings. Most of us have numerous sources of news and opinion, so our focus is not on the one media "source" that appeals to us. We spread around our attention versus sticking to one that says what we like to hear.
When going through the checkout, I always wondered who bought those "Alien found in barn" rags. Now I know.
Hillary Clinton nailed it when she identified "the vast right wing conspiracy" in January 1998. Her assertion was in the context of the Starr investigation, and thus seemed self-serving at the time, but democrats were, then as now, too complacent about the insidious threat that has now come to malevolent fruition in our midst.
Fox and Friends, as well as Trump himself, has done more than enough to the dumming down of American political discourse. It is not hyperbolic to consider Fox as a cancer threatening our national cohesion, pitting one group of Americans against another to benefit the rich and powerful. The ill-informed need to wake up and realize how they are being played, not only by Trump, but also Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs, and the Mercers, who will sell them out in a nanosecond for more and more tax breaks and political power. Trump and his influential backers are less Americans as they are prototypical of Russian oligarchs, something that Trump and Murdoch are determined to instill here too.
I deliver Meals on Wheels. It is uncanny how many of the recipients have FOX at any hour I stop at their homes. They are all voters. Right now Rupert Murdoch rules the country via this arrogant president's ignorance. Who in their right mind thinks this is acceptable? FOX and Pravda have become synonymous.
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Fox "News" in general has done, and is doing, more damage to this country than any other single entity. And, they've only gotten worse. Fox is pure propaganda, but those who consume it on a daily basis believe it speaks the Gospel truth. Unfortunately, there is little we can do, except call them out.
Fox is certainly a negative and destructive force in this country, but it is wrong to place the blame solely on Fox or Trump for the unfolding disaster. Neither Fox nor Trump would have power without the willingness of tens of millions of (mostly white) Americans to abandon critical thinking and eagerly embrace blatant lies. Without the enthusiasm and support of those Americans, Fox would be out of business and Trump out of office. We need to understand the source of the problem to have any hope of solving it.
It is the "kindergarten-level intellectual capacity" of Fox & Friends that makes it so appealing to so many of our fellow Americans. We are not an educated nation. As proof, one need only observe that we elected Trump. We have failed to fund education properly for generations.
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"I was simply being used to help give the show the appearance of fairness, impartiality and legitimacy, when it was anything but."
Speaking of the appearance of fairness, impartiality and legitimacy which are anything but, your comment reminds me of the occasional conservative one finds on CNN.
The Fox programs not only present fake news, they also demean women just by being on the air. On almost every Fox News program, the women commentators are obviously dressed in clothing that is inappropriate for a business setting. For example, on Fox and Friends, the woman is always dressed in a cocktail dress, heavy makeup, big earrings, and high heels.
Why these intelligent, educated women would allow themselves to be used to get higher ratings is a mystery. It may also help to explain why so many woman have left Fox News due to the obvious sexism and harassment that has permeated the network. Ironically, this may be one of the reasons that Trump is so comfortable watching Fox.
You can only get Fox on satellite here in Canada. We have very high standards for journalism on the airwaves. Fox is biased entertainment and opinion (lies) masquerading as news. It doesn't qualify to be on our airwaves.
All 3 of the major broadcasters here have excellent standards, but far and away the best is the CBC. (Canadian Broadcast Corp). Partly funded by taxpayers, the CBC is the gold standard for the industry here. Anyone can watch the flagship show for free anytime. CBC The National.
What puzzles me is the fact that so few people in the states watch the PBS Newshour. It's simply one of the best news shows in America.
Horrific as it is, this is the result of freedom of speech and an uneducated public who, in the face of being marginalized by the policies of the condescending left, have found a home where their fears and frustrations are heard.
Fox is simply taking advantage of it.
It all comes down to education , cultural environment and upbringing. The quality of public education, especially in large cities, is abysmal. Young adults in America need to get any job to survive , especially if they don’t belong to a family who put educational values first. Missing out on good education and open minded environment and media , these young people grow up with a segregated mind , unable to connect with vast mental opportunities that are everywhere. I feel sorry when I start a conversation with somebody and realize that this mind is stuck, calcified, unable to have any kind of vision . This is particularly bothersome now with the availability of so much information on line , where one can get all sort of news from different angles and ponder where the truth lies . These congealed minds covered with “ Teflon “ are the real cause of the existence of Fox News and the manipulators within this tv media know very well that they were able to capture a huge fish , trump, and were able to domesticate him and get hold of his narcissistic mind . It has become a kafkesque unimaginable drama .
Although the subject of virtues and vices is often ignored in discourse it is a convenient tool for discussing human nature. Where Fox wields its magic is by comforting its viewers in their vices. You won't be challenged on Fox to be empathetic to those unfortunate to be labelled takers. You won't be presented nuance and difficult questions. You will just receive a steady drumbeat of 'you versus them' - those unfortunate to be born into poverty or suffering from crime in their neighborhoods.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox, created a business model making money off ignorance, racism and anti-intellectualism. Fox is Erasmus' Folly parading itself as harmless conservatism.
The hate, lies and bile of Trump is a mirror to Fox.
Sure, Fox has the veneer of truth. The sets appear polished and sparkling. The people in the screen appear authoritative. But they are merely mouthpieces providing comfort for shared, indulged bitterness and spite. And that is all their viewers want. That is what they tune into.
And now it is the mouthpiece of the state. God help us.
Highest rated? Doocy was a goofball comic relief character on Washington, DC, local television long ago. A reporter he is not.
My favorite part of every show is where all three hosts turn to the camera and say, "What do you think Donald?"
(Fahrenheit 451 reference, forgive me)
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Any discussion of the Fox machine's toxicity is incomplete without including the role of the puppetmaster himself, Rupert Murdoch. A man of enormous cynicism and great understanding of propaganda and power-acquisition over the course of his too long career.
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Truth has a liberal bias. Facts have a liberal bias. It is called change - research - analysis - free and open thought - discovery - science - progress. We are at a huge crossroads - do we move ahead and progress as a country - or do we play to fear, hatred, and divisions and slide backwards. Fox represents the backwards slide. Hate radio - Rush, Hannity, et al - the backwards slide. It is sad to see so much of the country taken in - hypnotized - brainwashed.
To Trump's disabilities, we must include his addiction to Fox & Friends. This bond is a reflection of his narcissism as it is the mirror endlessly telling him that he is the supreme, supreme leader of the world. Blow's 'Opinion' provides an excellent model for depicting Trump's choices as a way of seeing him anew: the food he eats; the decoration of his homes; the women he has used and abused; his wardrobe; hairstyle; friends; reading material, sources of entertainment, etc. Although he's a very destructive worldwind, Donald Trump is more like a cartoon figure than any elected official I can think of. This noisy, menacing man is also of no value. The more we connect him with his choices, the smaller and more ridiculously 'real' he will appear.
Seeing how easily he is manipulated the hosts must joke to each other "Let's see what we can get Trump to say today." Or, what would you like Steve?", "I don't know, what would you like Ainsley?"
Horror inducing is absolutely right. To think that the president of our country gets his policies and talking points from a TV show that has been proven to be demonstrably false only tells us that IQ45 believes he is the "pretend president" in a reality show and all that matters is his ratings. And let's face it, no matter what else is going on in the world, every single newscast, newspaper, online media outlet, cable station, etc., all they focus on is what IQ45 is saying, tweeting and/or doing.
We indeed are living the spectacle and it is a creation that will eventually destroy us all.
I think 'shallow intellectual pool' may actually be a compliment, my view of these people and their network are much darker.
The problem is the people's naive and inexplicable trust in the words of the media. It is very difficult to learn the truth when the media are, alternatively, politicized, bought by certain interests, and run by scribblers bent on inventing, rather than reporting, news.
To live in peace, shut your eyes and ears, think of life as eternal struggle of Good and Evil, and keep you hand on your gun, either figuratively or literally speaking.
At a certain point, I have to start blaming the consumers rather than the marketers in the market place of ideas. Yes, Fox markets things that are particularly repugnant. But Fox couldn't do that without consumers who gladly buy the product, tens of millions of them in fact. It's those consumers, might I say that "basket of deplorables," that makes Fox really tick.
Donald Trump is drawn to others who are (like himself) proudly ignorant, yet arrogantly willing to share their ignorance far and wide. Fox & Friends is simply the most widely-watched example of ignorance---falsely presented as common sense---in today's world.
Absolutely true but the worst part; The Fox & Friends crowd will never read this or, if they do, will label it 'fake news.' And that's really Sad!
Fox News shouldn't have been allowed to host one of the presidential debates. It's propaganda tv.
Oh, sweet November, you can't come fast enough!
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I tire of this habit of taking the most outrageous thing someone has said, and using it to create a caricature of them that we're supposed to believe in. Not only is it unfair, it doesn't work. Most people see through it.
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Perhaps if Democrats spent more time arguing their policies, we wouldn't be left stammering "but, but the Access Hollywood tape," after the election. I'm sure Mr. Blow places great emphasis on that impotent recording.
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And know what? Sweden actually is a racially homogeneous place, and I don't think it's bigoted to point it out.
You just proved the point of Mr Blow's erudite article.
Ummm, I think it was the use of the word “pure” to describe the genetic makeup of fair-skinned Europeans, and of the phrase “we keep marrying other species...” in reference to interracial marriage that made the Sweden and Finland comment so appalling.
It is disappointing when legitimate journalists appear on Fox. By their presence, these journalists are contributing to the illusion that Fox is a news network when it is a propaganda machine.
Of all the things I don't miss post cutting the cable, Fox News is at the top. Now, I have only the FoxNews website, which lives down to the standards set by the cable network emphasizing half truths, lots of salacious stories, including my personal favorites, ones about female teachers having sex with underage male students. These are usually good for three days coverage. Missing from the site? Anything about the latest slam on Trump or... Fox News.
fox and friends, has established itself, now common knowledge to be untruthful, biased, and basically an affront, to our best values, honest press, honest journalism, they are a propaganda machine, bad for our country. thank you Mr. Blow for the truth, respectfully
Wait. They said Americans marry other species?? What does that even mean, dare I ask?? How does anyone take these people seriously?
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He who rules Fox News commands Donald Trump;
He who rules Trump commands the American idiocracy.
He who commands the American idiocracy controls American elections.
(What would John Mackinder say?)
And yet they Fox "personalities" likely believe that they are actually patriots. They are wrong. They have forgotten their "Julius Caesar" (if they ever read it): " I would rather be a dog and bay the moon than such a Roman".
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Are the highest ratings of this propaganda in GOP-controlled states, where we know the education level is kept low?
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Don't forget how much Trump relies on opiated states.
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With a president with such a weak internal compass, so susceptible to the opinion of others, the power those influencers wield is scary. People used to speak of "President Bannon," but perhaps the most influential power shaping this presidency, transferred via his Fox puppets to his Oval Office puppet, is Rubert Murdoch ... time to speak of "President Murdoch"?
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I recently started watching Fox as a result of the daily diatribes in the Liberal MSM against traditional values, men, heterosexuals, self-discipline, and individual responsibility.
Fox - at least - isn’t dedicated to destroying all I deem important.
It is laughable, beyond all measure--that Mr. Blow can whine about the partisanship of one television show--or one network, for that matter. Let's admit that Fox & Friends tilts right. After all, I do watch the show from time-to-time, and some of what Mr. Blow says is accurate. They do support Trump. Loyally.
But so what? Again...so what? The media in this country, aside from Fox News, talk radio, and a handful of internet outlets--is infested with Progressives. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, all carry a serious left tilt. The NY Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Boston Globe--and most of the country's newspapers are left-wing propaganda outlets.
But it's worse than that: our education system, from elementary school right through university has become one big socialist training camp. College campuses have in fact become factories churning out massive quantities of group-think.
The Left in this country has become so thin-skinned, so triggered, so steeped in political correctness, that they have absolutely no tolerance for any dissenting voice. Until every single media outlet espouses the Progressive line, the Left won't be happy. They will continue, as does Mr. Blow, to wail about the handful of media outlets they can't control or can't shut down.
The majority of our media are supporters of liberal causes, cheerleaders for the progressive ideology, and shills for the Democrat party.
No wonder trust in the media is at an all-time low these days.
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Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace, Evan McMullin, Jennifer Rubin, Hugh Hewitt, Susan Del Perscio, David Jolly, Rick Wilson, George Will, and Joe Scarborough, among others, have all either appeared as contributors or host their own shows on MSNBC.
Know what they all have in common?
They're Republicans.
Liberal media indeed.
The arguments you make here is entirely unsupported by research but fully in line with the fact-free musings of your talk radio heroes.
I listen to Rush and Levin, and Sean just to keep abreast of the professional palavering class. I have yet to be edified.
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FOX is unique in it's ramblings. But it is effective. Add to that a bevy of overpaid disc jockeys spewing the Trump word. Don't forget the pious Mulligangelicals mutterings of forgiveness. And coming soon, Sinclair. From my perch above the 49th the fact that a solid third of Americans fall for this is frightening.
So what you're saying is that Rupert Murdoch is actually the President of the United States.
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Murdoch's crew got shot out of Russia in a running gun battle. He was trying to horn in on Russian outdoor advertising by flattering Putin with a lot of free billboards, but the competition did not appreciate him trying to ingratiate himself with their capital provider.
Murdoch's ex has been dating Putin, was claimed by Murdoch to have slept with Tony Blair and recently was tagged as a possible Chinese agent by our own Intelligence Services. Did I mention Jared and Ivanka were visiting her in Croatia during the campaign?
So, the way I see it, Murdoch is a desperate old man out to leave a mark before he folds. He's beholding only to those who can help him. Bringing down a Republic, in the UK or the US, is his main aim, I guess.
Years ago, there was a cartoon in Playboy. It showed a man and a sheep (presumably a ewe, at that time) checking into a hotel. The man at the registration desk was saying, as he proffered a roomkey, "And that will be room 214 for you and Mrs. Smith."
When someone talks about "marrying other species," that's what it means: something not-human. So far as I know, that is not happening, because (if nothing else) of the inability of something non-human to be party to a contract.
In democracies the dog wags the tail.
In Trump America the tail wags the dog.
Time to replace the dog.
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Sad commentary about the intellectual capability of Fox News viewers.
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Can we hear more about the other species we are supposed to be marrying?
My suggestion is that none of hese folks set up as geneticists.
It is a demand side problem.
Fox launched in Canada and left after 3 years because not enough audience to make money.
Not so different than drugs. We killed Pablo Escobar in 1993 and the drugs keep coming.
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I have tried to get some of narrow minded Fox and Friends adicts, to listen to NPR, and watch Public Television, just now and then. So they have another source and not be limited to garbage they’re being fed constantly by Fox and Friends only. I think, they rather eat poison instead.
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Watching CNN and Fox on adjacent TV screens at the gym, one experiences the sensation of occupying parallel universes. It's not only their spin on events, but what they choose to report. The Monday morning after the students' March for Life and the Stormy Daniels interview, Fox's lead story involved a pair of Arkansas twins being persecuted for their religious beliefs, with nary a mention of the other two events. If Fox is your preferred news source, what are you going to believe?
Charles...pleeeeeese. Fox is NOT « conservative » It is hard and radically Right. As is today’s Republican Party. We gotta straighten out language for the American People. The Right’s domination of discourse through our words is part of the way they control our country. We gotta ressurect truth in our speech.
The cartoon, unreal world that is fox leads us to a very real nightmare for most Americans.
Let's just come right out and say it. Fox TV appeals to folks who just want to be "entertained." Thinking is just too hard.
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