FOX NEWS INSIDER: “Stuff Is Just Made Up”

[Turborama]

Source: Media Matters

February 10, 2011 7:20 am ET by Eric Boehlert

Asked what most viewers and observers of Fox News would be surprised to learn about the controversial cable channel, a former insider from the world of Rupert Murdoch was quick with a response: “I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up.”

Indeed, a former Fox News employee who recently agreed to talk with Media Matters confirmed what critics have been saying for years about Murdoch’s cable channel. Namely, that Fox News is run as a purely partisan operation, virtually every news story is actively spun by the staff, its primary goal is to prop up Republicans and knock down Democrats, and that staffers at Fox News routinely operate without the slightest regard for fairness or fact checking.

“It is their M.O. to undermine the administration and to undermine Democrats,” says the source. “They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.”

And that’s the word from inside Fox News.

Note the story here isn’t that Fox News leans right. Everyone knows the channel pushes a conservative-friendly version of the news. Everyone who’s been paying attention has known that since the channel’s inception more than a decade ago. The real story, and the real danger posed by the cable outlet, is that over time Fox News stopped simply leaning to the right and instead became an open and active political player, sort of one-part character assassin and one-part propagandist, depending on which party was in power. And that the operation thrives on fabrications and falsehoods.

Read more: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102100007

---

Much Much More at the link.

[ewagner]

1. okay....but....

how do we get this out to the people who actually watch faux news? We're just preaching to the choir here...:shrug:

[Turborama]

2. I've sent it out on Twitter and added it to my Facebook.

People without Twitter or Facebook accounts can email it to everyone in their address book and make it into a viral email that gets forward around.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head.

Also, this insider needs to go public. I mean REALLY public and go for interviews on national news networks.

[pacalo]

5. As he said in the interview, those who publicly criticize their operation get swiftboated.

Unbelievably, when Obama said they weren't a legitimate source, the insider said even news sources from the beltway criticized Obama. The insider said other media don't call out FN for what it really is because they don't want the hassle they'd get back. Amazing.

[begin_within]

23. So it's intimidation on top of propaganda.

Even the legitimate media outlets are afraid of them? Wow that's bullying, if anything is. We might as well just formally switch over to fascism then, we virtually have it now.

[66 dmhlt]

78. Surprise, Surprise!

EXTRA! EXTRA! Faux News Reported to Be Making Shit Up! And in Other Breaking News, Water Has Been Found To Be Wet ... The Sun Rises in the East ... The Pope Is Catholic ... And Bears DO Shit in the Woods!

[Turborama]

79. Your ticker is worng

Faux news haven't admitted it. An ex-employee has.

Having said that, he sriously needs to go fully public on all fronts with it. Otherwise it is just more "Bears are catholic" material.

[Turborama]

25. Just did an experiment. When I 1st posted it it had About 94 results on Google. Now 57,100 results

In the space of about an hour or so.

This thing is going viral all over the internet.

The guy needs to come out though, hopefully he's got some documentary evidence to back it up.

[Turborama]

28. Screenshots of how it started going viral in one hour...

One Hour Later...

[tblue37]

31. He is probably afraid to, since FN is so obviously willing to

go after anyone who sas anything bad about them in public.

I also remember when Paul O'Neill, W's former treasury secretary, wrote a book criticizing the CheneyBush administration, saying they had targeted Iraq from day one and always had planned to auction off Iraq's oil reserves to the highest bidder. He also had other unpleasant truths to tell. O'Neill said he wasn't afraid to spill the beans because he was "rich and old" so they couldn't do anything to him:

He describes those cabinet sessions as being "like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people". At the end of them, he said, cabinet members were left to make policy like "blind man's bluff" guessing what the president's wishes were.

When the Treasury secretary went to the Oval Office for weekly discussions, he found he did all the talking. "I wondered from the first, if the president didn't know the questions to ask," he tells Mr Suskind, "or if he did know and just did not want to know the answers?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/12/usa.booksa

But he very soon softened his claims, and I assumed that they pointed out that they don't have to personally harm him to put him in a world of hurt. No doubt he has loved ones they could target, and since they controlled the gvernment, they could also go after him in all sorts of other ways (for examplke, the way the current government has gone after Assange). Similarly, FN is the propaganda arm of the Repub Party, and the powers in the party can no doubt bring a lot of pressure to bear on anyone who goes off the reservation.

[cannabis_flower]

76. It's back down to 28,200 now nt.

[Turborama]

82. I just got 58,300

[Zax2me]

41. Have the source go to other sources

Many will not trust Media Matters who have their own agenda impression among those thatare 'lost' as fox zombies.
MM would be doing a great service by dispatching this source to the AP.

[IamK]

73. also have the source has a name....

[nxylas]

75. You can't

They just have to utter the magic words "Soros-funded" and, in their minds, Media Matters' credibility is instantly destroyed.

Besides, they already know that Fox News is biased against Obama. That's why they watch it. And they don't really care whether what is being said is true, as long as it confirms their prejudices.

[peacetalksforall]

81. You have to protest to the airports, restaurants, bars, doctors, hospitals - make a case

to them - ultra Republican fairy tales - not American, Unfortunately, the Republicans do the same thing - making things up - in the Houses of Congress and the Pentagon, Intel. This is one sick country.

[pacalo]

3. The "National Enquirer" of broadcasting.

[rfranklin]

4. Actually, The National Enquirer is usually more accurate ...

when it comes to stories about public figures who could win judgments against them.

[pacalo]

8. I guess it's going to take a major libel lawsuit against that p.o.s. outfit

to effect change in its unethical practices as Carol Burnett did with the Enquirer.

[MrMickeysMom]

15. I recall that lawsuit...

In fact, the Natl Enquire (as much as it could) changed its attitude.

Isn't it obvious that it takes a law suite? It should take a village, but getting your ass sued has a more direct impact.

Of course... if the "village" stopped reading, watching and listening to their product, that would be something beyond impact, eh?

[pacalo]

19. Money, money, money. Hit 'em where it hurt$.

[AlbertCat]

39. if the "village" stopped reading, watching and listening to their product

Fox News is part of News Corp, which loses money every year I've heard. Murdoch has to supplement it already.

[MrMickeysMom]

56. Hey, maybe he'll dry his pockets doing it!

Bastard's got deep ones.

[white_wolf]

52. If by a village you mean

an angry mob with torches and pitchforks then I'm game. I mean Fox is pretty much the Frankenstein monster of the News world.

[TomClash]

6. Really?

In other news . . . somewhere, somehow . . . someone is breathing.

[ejbr]

44. ...

:rofl:

[SpiralHawk]

7. Republicon occultism and bullshitism is a plaugue upon America

Ptooooey....

[Enthusiast]

22. Bullshitism is a good word

for it. It is nearly a religion. And it is taking the country down.

[lonestarnot]

61. bullshitism! Ptooooey! Spit!

:puke:

[AmandaMae]

9. well that's a shocker

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. Sort of like William Randolph Hearst

I just read some stuff about him. Whoa!

[dotymed]

11. If we cared enough to start a peaceful revolution

"we" could have THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE REINSTATED......

[denverbill]

That's why they should not be given press privileges at the White House and elsewhere.

It's no different than giving Jeff Gannon a press badge. If every incompetent, political hack is treated like a respectable journalist, there is no point in being a respectable journalist.

[Phoonzang]

12. If this story is just limited to Media Matters, it doesn't...matter.

A mainstream unbiased news outlet (yes I know there aren't any) needs to pick up this story. You'd figure CNN would want to take Fox down a peg.

[newtothegame]

13. It'd be nice if he came ou for credibilities sake. He isn't even working there anymore. nt

[Turborama]

32. I agree and am hoping beyond hope that he will.

Maybe he's being careful and doing it slowly.

As you said, he needs to for credibility's sake.

[edhopper]

14. Talking to a fox viewer:

"Here are a hundred and fifty examples where Fox invented a story and lied about the facts."

"Where did you get that?

"Media Matters."

"OH, they are just a Soro's funded leftwing group."

"Well here is the same info from Factcheck, the NY Times, The Wash Post, the BBC, Snopes, official US Governemt Documents, and The Vatican."

"All those are part of the Leftwing media, I get my News fair and balanced."

[OnyxCollie]

20. Have you been talking to my friend, Sheldon?

He said the exact same things.

They all do. It's actually kinda creepy that such responses can be programmed into people.

This phenomenon will become more understandable if we reflect
on the psychology of the communication process. A communication
cannot be viewed as an isolated stimulus automatically evoking a certain
response. The surrounding circumstances make an enormous difference
insofar as the response is concerned. If we want to predict the
response, we have to consider not only the content of the stimulus (what
the communication asserts), but also the predispositions of the recipient
and the perceived role and nature of the source. One of the most important
questions, in connection with this last-named variable, is
whether the source of a communication to me is perceived as a person
whom I know and trust, or as somebody having no person-to-person
tie with me. In the former case, I shall very probably accept the communication
as truth; in the latter, belief will depend on my image of
the basic motivation of the source. If the source's perceived role is that
of a mere purveyor of information who has otherwise no axe to grind,
I am likely to accept the content of his communication matter-of
factly, without an urge to look beyond. If I see the source as a human
being expressing spontaneous opinion, I shall take that opinions imply
as something with which I agree or do not agree, and if I wish I can
freely acknowledge the source as an authority whose views, as views,
carry weight for me. But if the role of the source includes elements
extraneous to the supplying of facts or views-e.g. if I see him as interested
in maintaining a power position in which I do not share then
a barrier will be set up between him and me, and I cannot spontaneously
internalize his message.

Kesckemeti, P. (1950). Totalitarian communications as a means of control: A note on the sociology of propaganda. The Public Opinion Quarterly 14(2), 224-234.

[pacalo]

24. Isn't that the truth! What in the hell was put in that KoolAid to make it so potent?!

Even common sense can't penetrate their zombie-like mindset. It's like the after effects of brainwashing. If a Democrat said, "Grass is green", they would say, "No, that's what the liberal media says. Fox News says grass doesn't exist & I'm sticking with them."

[EyeofRamen]

27. My husband had a client change her insurance

from Progressive (dirt cheap, good coverage) to Traveler's (not as cheap, OK coverage) simply because she didn't "agree with the owner's viewpoints."*



*George Soro has a controlling interest in Progressive.

[Control-Z]

57. That is not uncommon

and is done on both sides of the aisle. I would gladly pay a little extra, a lot extra if necessary, to support a democratic product or service. It makes me especially happy to take money away from republican businesses.

If I knew the political leanings of every company I do business with, I would be buying blue only, every time.

Edit to add: Welcome to DU! I hope we're what you were looking for.

[CrossChris]

16. It's a shame that even smoking gun confessions like this...

have no traction with the right.

[AC_Mem]

17. I've been waiting for the day...

That the Faux insiders start spilling the beans on this awful network of mis-information.

Transparency can be a beautiful thing.

Annette

[Enthusiast]

63. That day could change the world. nt

[Kingofalldems]

18. K and R for the freepers

[Shadowflash]

21. Falls under the heading of

'Duh.'

[pacalo]

26. But how often do we get to hear it from one of their ex-employees?

[Shadowflash]

71. True that!

[Kweli4Real]

29. I found the paragraph below interesting ...

“It was a kick ass mentality too,” says the former Fox News insider. “It was relentless and it never went away. If one controversy faded, goddamn it they would find another one. They were in search of these points of friction real or imagined. And most of them were imagined or fabricated. You always have to seem to be under siege. You always have to seem like your values are under attack. The brain trust just knew instinctively which stories to do, like the War on Christmas.”

Sounds a lot like what goes on here.

[moondust]

30. Does it cause mental illness?

Marinating the human mind in bullshit for an extended period seems like it would eventually do some psychological damage, possibly affecting one's ability to act rationally.

:shrug:

[The Hitman]

33. This article has no real persuasive value.

I agree 100% with what the insider is saying. But we need the name of the insider. For all we know, the insider could be Keith Olbermann.

K&R anyway.

[RandomThoughts]

37. Exactly that is why you have to stick to concepts not labels.

I am pretty sure many on MSNBC have seen my posts, however there could be filters that are to blame between my posts and them for the lack of correction of beer and travel money due.

But they either have not advocated for the paying of the beer and travel money due to me, or have been stopped by something for doing that. They know where they are, I don't need to know.

I only need to know the concepts I support, and that supports people with similar concepts. Maybe them, maybe not.

[spooky3]

53. Is Keith a former Fox News employee?

He worked for Fox Sports at one time but are these the same organization?

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Brought to you by the department of DUH!

:hi:

but this needs to go viral, and people need to learn just how "fair and balanced" they are... we control, you obey.

[AsahinaKimi]

35. FOX NEWS

"JUST MAKIN SHIT UP" eom.

[saras]

58. This needs to be on a T-shirt

FOX NEWS
Just Makin' Shit Up

[AlbertCat]

36. “Stuff Is Just Made Up”

No kidding...

:eyes:

[nolabear]

38. Tsk. Where is Keith when we need him?

I'll be happy to share but we could use a big dog in this fight.

[tavalon]

40. Luckily, the news that Faux ain't news is slowly ebbing,

but some of it is just going to require some folks to die off. Their demographic is pretty skewed to the older watchers.

[WillyT]

42. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[certainot]

43. if limbaugh and hannity can say it from 1000 radio stations and never

get challenged then it's true. fox rides the talk radio bandwagon. fix the radio and fox dries up.

[Stevenmarc]

45. The Jane Akers case gave them permission to pull the news out of their ass.

[sofa king]

46. But don't you dare mention the Volkischer Beobachter...

...or the unusually high rate of homosexuality and sexual impropriety among their politicians... or support for big business over the beleaguered majority... or attacking the unions... or hostility to social out-groups... or misusing a terrorist incident to increase power and curtail civil liberties... or starting international wars of aggression based on false pretenses... or Prescott Bush... or an affinity for lapel pins.

Because Republicans are NOTHING LIKE THE NAZIS.

[Enthusiast]

64. Great post!

I was thinking the same thing. Republicans are nothing like Nazis, they don't even wear military uniforms.

[MaeScott]

47. K and R. nt

[Canuckistanian]

48. Randi Rhodes mentioned this once

She knew some people who worked at Fox and they said they hated their job. The propaganda was so obvious.

But they stayed because they were professionals and it's hard to find work anywhere else.

[Kall]

49. No surprise about Fox News

Good thing President Obama tells Bill O'Reilly that he "respects it", though. Eh?

[Control-Z]

59. But we all know what the president meant, eh? n/t

[Kall]

83. You don't say you respect Fox News...

... if you have any care about exposing their harmful "journalism". It legitimizes them. You say they're a pathetic partisan circus, and you certainly don't give them Presidential interviews.

[Mimosa]

60. Did the Prez actually say he 'respects' Fox News?

Yikes. Maybe President Obama thought that placating the likes of O'Reilly would influence Fox to lighten up on the anti-Obama propaganda.

I think the President was mistaken to have given O'Reilly an interview. It elevated O'Reilly and supported the fiction that O'Reilly is a legitimate 'journalist.' He is not.

[populistdriven]

62. I respect a cornered rabid dog

doesnt mean he thinks highly of them

[humbled_opinion]

50. How is it possible that

FN pulls the most viewership of any cable news outlet in every time slot and every age bracket some shows pull more viewership than all the competitors combined. Those statistics are real. Are there that many ignorant people in America?..... Ok...ok... well even if there are, don't you think by now that with all the misinformation and spin other channels would have been able to seriously discredit it? Why can't they? MSNBC has Rachel Maddow and had KO for years unable to dent fox's slynesss.


http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/02/10/cable-news-ratings-for-wednesday-february-9-2011/82275


There is political spin put on all the issues of the day and yet somehow Fox's version of the event is received unquestionably by masses of people.

The way I see it is that what FOX does so well is that it paints Liberals as the spin masters of all the social issues, they make it appear that Liberals want power and control over the people by increasing the size and scope of government and that all the progressive ideas are all about redistribution philosphy and government control and regulation of capitalism.

The fox mantra always accuses liberals of throwing more tax dollars at social problems and bringing everyone rich and poor to a proletariate state. Fox has been very good at convincing people that Communism was a failure and that Marx's manifesto is what progressives want in America, in order to bring social and economic justice to the proletariate.

How do you compete with this?

[Enthusiast]

65. In other words -they are really good at lying.

Limbaugh does the same. He tells his audience, "Look, this is the way liberal are, blah blah blah." But liberals are nothing of the kind. The truth doesn't matter because millions have just heard it proclaimed by the bully on high.

We must remember that many commercial outlets play Fox on their TV sets. This partially accounts for the disparity.

[druidity33]

74. It's in EVERY cable package...

including the most basic. For a very long time it was the only station i could get with an antenna where i live. MSNBC, Link, and Current however, are available in Special packages, Satellite or Internet only. You basically have to have more money to watch better programming... and you have to remember the higher numbers on the "dial" where they bury the good stations. Not to mention the fact that many businesses that have a TV on all day have it tuned to Fox. Why? I don't know, but i'm guessing because it's the only station where if you turn the volume down/off... you won't be missing anything.

:)

[mwooldri]

84. Too true, but the cost of getting the better stuff is coming down.

If you have a Roku box, look up online for The Nowhere Man - and the term Roku. This guy does an awful lot of "behind the scenes" stuff for that little box of tricks.

Through this device you can now get Al Jazeera English, CNN International, BBC News (UK version, not BBC World), France 24 and others - live.

All that is needed is for some entrepreneur to get a whole mass of streaming servers and set up something like Netflix but for *live* streams and charge a nice low price for it each month. The Cable TV industry will *hate* it, the "phone" companies like Verizon and AT&T will *dislike* it (competes with their offerings) - but this could be the nail in the coffin for traditional TV distribution.

[druidity33]

87. ah, but...

for those of us with Satellite internet and bandwidth limitations, that's not a possibility.

For me, just having a good internet connection would be a boon... can't get any streaming video or downloads. Well, i can do about 18 min of YouTube vids before my connection will crap out. Really terrible...

:(

[TxVietVet]

51. Some of the clowns that love FUX news (not) are a sick bunch.

That can be really sick in the head over FUX news' bu$hit. They will get openly belligerant at anyone who says FUX news or bill o'liely are just propagandists. Some are actually convinced that o'liely is the greatest thing since Jesus Christ. beckkk is another sick POS. I tried watching him yesterday and he keeps his conspiracy class going and going and going. I mean, you really have to be f*cking dumb not to see how much of it is just plain bu$hit.

[Enthusiast]

66. It's a religion called Bullshitism.

Well it is.

[bullwinkle428]

80. "Exxon-Mobil paid more in taxes than they made in profits!!1!1!" - I actually

saw this post made by a Fox News worshipper on another board I used to frequent!

I think I made the decision to not even bother with boards like that soon after, as there was no way in the world that I could ever get through to anyone like that...

[ProfessionalLeftist]

54. Fox is the worst but be aware that all of the corprat-owned media thrives

on fabrications and falsehoods. All of them.

[Marr]

55. The worst thing about Fox is it gives the other big corporate outlets cover for

framing the public debate in a very extreme way. Fox allows them all to push the most partisan narratives by reporting on 'what people are talking about'.

[Enthusiast]

67. Truly, that is the 'worst thing' about Fox.

Sorry to sound like I'm wearing a tin foil hat but this is clearly part of the plan. It is a very organized and planned propaganda. Those participating aren't necessarily aware of it either.

[RandomThoughts]

68. The interesting part is the levels of made up.

There is producer injected metaphor 'made up' see alot of that on MSNBC also, you can tell when the teleprompter readers notice it sometime also.

Then there is 'the guy on the phone' commissar inspired 'made up'

Then there is 'it sounds better' made up.

Then seed 'it is made up' to prime something later.

Then there is advanced 'it is made up that is part of an overall strategy to push a concept.'

The worst of the 'made up' is when people are just messing with people and laughing at them for being dumb. That is mean spirited made up.

The hiding of what is going on 'made up' can trace some of its roots back to ww2, when news was regulated for the war effort, and how much of that did not end in some groups, although not 'military' still the concept of reporting on some things to move cultural groups or to give false info in the cold war struggle, since the enemy is the people themselves, is a very interesting concept.


My favorite obvious 'made up' is when some 'person' is hyped out of nowhere, and it is obvious they are some person being 'placed' in media. Usually they have a high intelligence quotient, so most likely from an established group like military or intelligence, SOA graduate, or something like that, but you see lots of stars just pop up in their late 20 or 30s that are probably 'placed' in media.

Really interesting stuff.



There are many types of 'made up' and they are not all the same.

[Turborama]

69. Good thoughts, vry well made & not what I'd call "random" at all lol.

Thanks for sharing them.

:hi:

[RandomThoughts]

70. Your welcome.

[Tripod]

72. fuck

[Gman]

77. Confirmed: Dog Bites Man!

[craigmatic]

85. We all knew that but the real question is "how do we stop them?".

I guess we'll have to win more elections and reinstate the fairness doctorine.

[LaPera]

86. Who's surprised? Media Matters.....

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102100007