Did we really need a Fox News?

Chew Toy McCoy

Pleb
Site Donor
Posts
7,512
Reaction score
11,717
Until recently I always thought of CNN as middle of the road, but I've also never been one to glue myself to a news channel or religiously watch the nightly news.

So were conservatives watching CNN and feeling their views and concerns weren't being covered or did the puppet masters at the top feed them a network that would make them more pissed off, polarized, and divisive?

I also feel it was created with a higher purpose than conservatism. Something needed to be created to get us to point our anger at each other instead of the people at the top with the money and power. You're not going to get that with everybody watching the same news source.
 

Eric

Mama's lil stinker
Posts
11,293
Reaction score
21,743
Location
California
Instagram
Main Camera
Sony
Until recently I always thought of CNN as middle of the road, but I've also never been one to glue myself to a news channel or religiously watch the nightly news.

So were conservatives watching CNN and feeling their views and concerns weren't being covered or did the puppet masters at the top feed them a network that would make them more pissed off, polarized, and divisive?

I also feel it was created with a higher purpose than conservatism. Something needed to be created to get us to point our anger at each other instead of the people at the top with the money and power. You're not going to get that with everybody watching the same news source.
I think Conservatives never felt they were represented prior to Fox News, CNN and all the mainstream networks deal in truth, not ideology, which most Conservatives base their entire agenda on. They're all about outrage and emotions and Fox News tapped into that, it was nothing new as talk radio had been that way forever but capitalizing on it as actual "news" was a new angle.
 

Edd

It’s all in the reflexes
Site Donor
Posts
2,725
Reaction score
3,307
Location
New Hampshire
Back before Fox News was a thing, my conservative father called CNN the Clinton News Network many times and seemed to think that was clever.
 

Roller

Elite Member
Posts
1,392
Reaction score
2,696
It’s not about giving conservatives a voice, at least not primarily. It’s to enrich the Murdochs and others by attracting an audience of malcontents with a steady diet of content that vilifies anyone who isn’t them, no matter how outrageous the claims. The more they fan the flames, the harder it is for their viewers to look away.
 

Herdfan

Resident Redneck
Posts
4,689
Reaction score
3,571
I think Conservatives never felt they were represented prior to Fox News, CNN and all the mainstream networks deal in truth, not ideology, which most Conservatives base their entire agenda on. They're all about outrage and emotions and Fox News tapped into that, it was nothing new as talk radio had been that way forever but capitalizing on it as actual "news" was a new angle.

Have you never watched MSNBC? They are farther left than Fox is right. At least Fox does do hard news during the day. MSNBC is all opinion, all the time.
 

Cmaier

Site Master
Staff Member
Site Donor
Posts
5,209
Reaction score
8,250
Have you never watched MSNBC? They are farther left than Fox is right. At least Fox does do hard news during the day. MSNBC is all opinion, all the time.

None of that is true. MSNBC is left, sure. But to be “farther left than Fox is right” they would have to do things that Fox does - like just make up stuff, show video and lie about what it shows, edit video to leave out words when they want to lie about what someone they oppose has said, totally ignore news stories that don’t fit their narrative, etc. And MSNBC is news during the day.
 

SuperMatt

Site Master
Posts
7,862
Reaction score
15,004
None of that is true. MSNBC is left, sure. But to be “farther left than Fox is right” they would have to do things that Fox does - like just make up stuff, show video and lie about what it shows, edit video to leave out words when they want to lie about what someone they oppose has said, totally ignore news stories that don’t fit their narrative, etc. And MSNBC is news during the day.
Fox appeals to the lowest common denominator and then focuses on making them even dumber. It’s a Nixon fever dream.


If Fox News had a DNA test, it would trace its origins to the Nixon administration. In 1970, political consultant Roger Ailes and other Nixon aides came up with a plan to create a new TV network that would circumvent existing media and provide "pro-administration" coverage to millions. "People are lazy," the aides explained in a memo. "With television you just sit — watch — listen. The thinking is done for you." Nixon embraced the idea, saying he and his supporters needed "our own news" from a network that would lead "a brutal, vicious attack on the opposition."
 

Yoused

up
Posts
5,508
Reaction score
8,681
Location
knee deep in the road apples of the 4 horsemen
At least Fox does do hard news during the day.
Yes, and we have seen what they do to it. "Hard news" can easily be "reported" in agenda-driven/ideologically-framed ways, sometimes even with 100% accurate and complete content. Like, for instance, through careful selection of stories – which all news outlets do, but most of them do not select stories that promote distortions and outrage.
 

SuperMatt

Site Master
Posts
7,862
Reaction score
15,004
Yes, and we have seen what they do to it. "Hard news" can easily be "reported" in agenda-driven/ideologically-framed ways, sometimes even with 100% accurate and complete content. Like, for instance, through careful selection of stories – which all news outlets do, but most of them do not select stories that promote distortions and outrage.
In the nights following the murder of George Floyd, many news networks showed scenes from protests all over the country. Fox kept returning to a loop they put together of looting in Philadelphia. They played that one loop of the one incident over and over.

Also, “hard news” is not just the opposite of opinion. It means news of widespread importance, as opposed to routine stories or human interest stories... which are also real, factual news.

Cambridge definition:

serious important news that is considered to be of interest to many people, either in a particular area or country, or in the world
 

Yoused

up
Posts
5,508
Reaction score
8,681
Location
knee deep in the road apples of the 4 horsemen
In the nights following the murder of George Floyd, many news networks showed scenes from protests all over the country. Fox kept returning to a loop they put together of looting in Philadelphia. They played that one loop of the one incident over and over.
Nevermind the fact that Fox constantly uses footage or images that are not directly connected to the story that they are reporting, not always explicitly identifying it as relevant content but always at least making the implicit connection. Other news outlets do make errors, but with nowhere near the frequency and usually owning up to the error, which Fox never does.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

Pleb
Site Donor
Posts
7,512
Reaction score
11,717
I think Conservatives never felt they were represented prior to Fox News, CNN and all the mainstream networks deal in truth, not ideology, which most Conservatives base their entire agenda on. They're all about outrage and emotions and Fox News tapped into that, it was nothing new as talk radio had been that way forever but capitalizing on it as actual "news" was a new angle.

Good point about talk radio. Whenever I drove through bumfuck USA as a youth the radio options were God talk, right wing politics talk, and ranchero music. I was just passing through. I can’t imagine living where those are your only options. This is also probably why right-wing governments aren’t in a hurry to high speed internet up rural areas.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

Pleb
Site Donor
Posts
7,512
Reaction score
11,717
Yes, and we have seen what they do to it. "Hard news" can easily be "reported" in agenda-driven/ideologically-framed ways, sometimes even with 100% accurate and complete content. Like, for instance, through careful selection of stories – which all news outlets do, but most of them do not select stories that promote distortions and outrage.

But I do admit Tucker Carlson’s lightning round of waffling around on how to blame the Ukraine situation entirely on the US left was entertaining. That guy really investigates every toilet seat. Sometimes the good stuff doesn’t even make it into the bowl. Tucker’s there to scrape it off, package it, and hold it under your nose.
 

SuperMatt

Site Master
Posts
7,862
Reaction score
15,004
Nevermind the fact that Fox constantly uses footage or images that are not directly connected to the story that they are reporting, not always explicitly identifying it as relevant content but always at least making the implicit connection. Other news outlets do make errors, but with nowhere near the frequency and usually owning up to the error, which Fox never does.
Like the images of empty store shelves from the early stages of the pandemic (during Trump’s presidency) that they show when they talk about Joe Biden.

They are full of 💩, and perhaps their viewers know it, but they don’t care.
 

GermanSuplex

Elite Member
Top Poster Of Month
Posts
2,514
Reaction score
6,139
This is pretty crazy. I don’t agree with Tucker, btw…. “Highly liberal ally”? He refers to McCarthy and Elise Stefanik as liberal allies. In what world? Still, having the Republican leader shredded on Fox’s flagship program is pretty wild.

 

gollum

Power User
Posts
48
Reaction score
42
I believe that fox news is just as much needed as cnn. They're polar opposites and for the most part, I don't think cnn is moderate. I actually get most of my news from nbcnews but there are good items on fox, such as the border crises, we hear so little about that anywhere else.
 

Edd

It’s all in the reflexes
Site Donor
Posts
2,725
Reaction score
3,307
Location
New Hampshire
This is pretty crazy. I don’t agree with Tucker, btw…. “Highly liberal ally”? He refers to McCarthy and Elise Stefanik as liberal allies. In what world? Still, having the Republican leader shredded on Fox’s flagship program is pretty wild.


Guessing it's bait to have McCarthy on the show to eat shit like Ted Cruz did recently.
 
Top Bottom
1 2