Complaining that Fox News isn’t news is like complaining that a lemonade stand isn’t a bar. It’s not supposed to be. That’s not its purpose.
The purpose of Fox News (or certainly of the Fox News “personalities” and commentators) isn’t to present “fair and balanced” anything. The purpose of Fox News is to give focus and affirm the anger that a lot of people naturally carry around with them.
You feel powerless and victimized; you’re angry; you’re just looking for a way to focus and affirm that anger. And there’s Glenn Beck, railing and crying over the gross injustices of all the people in power who are immoral idiots bent on destroying everything that’s decent and good.
Or there’s Keith Olbermann, doing exactly the same thing.
And the presidents of both their companies happily count their money, knowing that, of all things, anger is the gift that keeps on giving.
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Posted by ginamarie33 on October 21, 2009 at 11:54 am
Preach it!
Posted by Tim on October 21, 2009 at 12:39 pm
What do you think of Matt Drudge? : )
Posted by skerrib on October 21, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Is it deliberate that the kid in the pic looks just like Hannity? Amazing resemblance!
Posted by Lauri on October 21, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Hey now. Equal time for equal crime!
If not the right-bent camp selling anger, the left-bent camp is always there to pick up the slack & sell artist-elitist/tree-hugging/pollyanna-ishness to the other half of the masses who like to sit over their green tea & soy milk and scoff at how the Fox Watchers just don’t get it.
Posted by John Shore on October 21, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Lauri: Soooooo you missed the line about Keith Olbermann.
Whaddam I gonna DO with you people?
: – )
Posted by becky johnson on October 21, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Love it!
Posted by wickle on October 21, 2009 at 3:25 pm
“Complaining that Fox News isn’t news is like complaining that a lemonade stand isn’t a bar. It’s not supposed to be. That’s not its purpose.”
Dang … Right after I wrote my Fox/Obama piece, I read THIS. I wish I’d written it. Rest assured, I’ll be ripping it off.
Posted by Obama vs. Fox « A True Believer's Blog on October 21, 2009 at 3:28 pm
[...] after I wrote my piece, I found this one from John Shore. It’s better. Read it. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Fox News Channel [...]
Posted by texastee on October 21, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Who’s the kid?
Posted by John Shore on October 21, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Skerrib had it almost right: it’s a picture not of Sean Hannity when he was young, but rather Sean’s 5-year-old son, little Adolph.
Posted by John Shore on October 21, 2009 at 4:23 pm
(Kidding! It’s a stock photo.)
Posted by Dallas Jenkins on October 21, 2009 at 5:51 pm
There’s a difference between Fox News’s news division and their personality division. Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly aren’t meant to be news, that’s correct. But Shepherd Smith IS meant to be news, and it is fair and balanced, at least according to most media watchdog groups during election seasons.
The difference between Fox News and the other networks is that Fox News doesn’t claim to be something it’s not. Beck/Hannity/O’Reilly don’t claim to be moderates, just like John Stossel never claimed to be anything but a libertarian on 20/20. At least they’re up front about it, unlike the 80% of the media that votes democrat every election but claims to always practice journalistic objectivity.
You also have to remember the reason that people are angry–one of the reasons Fox News became so popular so quickly is that conservatives couldn’t find balance at the other networks. Their anger came from not getting what they wanted from media– I’m not talking about a conservative bias, I’m talking about balance. When every pop culture outlet (entertainment magazines and shows, MTV, movies, network TV, etc.) leans to the left, it starts to piss you off, and you’ll take what you can get. Fox offered something different even before it went brazenly conservative in prime time.
I’m a libertarian, so I get my fix from South Park!
Posted by John Shore on October 21, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Oh, sure, Dallas: just show up here and know what you’re talking about, why doncha? Bastard! You don’t see me showing up at your film blog talking about camera angles and proper lighting, do you? No. I wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I did—but still, I have the class not to do it. And don’t you forget it.
Oh, all right, fine. Fine. You’re right. I shouldn’t have lumped together Fox News and Fox P.U.’s. (Get it? Cuz of the smell? Get it? Didya get it?) I went back and modified what I wrote to reflect that mildly hyperbolic oversight.
But I won’t forget this, famous film director Dallas Jenkins. I’m gonna get you for it. Oh yes I will.
Posted by Mike (FVThinker) Burns on October 21, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Did anyone catch O’Reilly, in the run-up to the election, blather on about the love affair with mainstream media with Obama? I don’t disagree that there was a cult-of-personality thing going on for a time, but then O’Reilly pulls out this intellectual pop-foul:
He cited how Fox ‘News’ scrupulously analyzed media coverage of Obama showing that the other networks did more Obama-favorable pieces ["look! He can string sentences together!!"] than Obama-unfavorable pieces. He then showed how Fox had just about a 50-50 favorable/unfavorable split as decidedly fair and balanced….”so there you pinheads!”.
So, to meet Fox’s high journalistic standards, we should demand that we see a 50/50 split on stories that give us the the fair and balanced coverage of, let’s say, genocide in Darfur. We should demand to see the pro-genocide stories right along with the anti-genocide stories. …what a pinhead.
[Gotta say, though, I have been impressed with Shepard Smith on the rare occasion I catch him]
Posted by ric booth on October 22, 2009 at 9:38 am
Well said, John. Very well said, actually.
Posted by Christian on October 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I also think that many people don’t want to think for themselves so they let others (sort of) do the thinking for them. In this way the brain has much more room for things like righteous outrage and vindictiveness. Not to mention reality television and the E! channel. Since most people only read one book a year and that is usually at the beach (correct me if I’m wrong Mr. Author) what more can you expect from Fox or their alpha-competitors. The people at PBS understand this – they know they could never survive on advertising and still be thorough (and before the conservatives start slamming PBS don’t forget that it was they who put Bill Buckley on the air for nearly 30 years).
Posted by John Shore on October 22, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Okay, you guys need to stop now. I’m going to leave the comments to this post open in case anyone else has anything to say here, but (and no offense to either of you, please), you guys need to take your exchange elsewhere. Feel free to arrange here where that is–but that’s it, please. Thanks for understanding. (It’s a good exchange; I’m sure people will be interested in following it.)