Fox News Reporter’s Guide: Think Like An Intolerant Meathead

Fox NewsMedia matters has published an interview with a former Fox News “insider” who reveals the inner workings of a modern propaganda operation. Some of the revelations have been obvious for years. Some of them will just infuriate you. Here are some highlights:

“I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up.”

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

“You have to work there for a while to understand the nods and the winks. And God help you if you don’t because sooner or later you’re going to get burned.”

“[A]nything that was a news story you had to understand what the spin should be on it. If it was a big enough story it was explained to you in the morning [editorial] meeting. If it wasn’t explained, it was up to you to know the conservative take on it.”

“My internal compass was to think like an intolerant meathead. You could never error on the side of not being intolerant enough.”

“[Y]ou have to buy into the idea that the other media is howling left-wing. Don’t even start arguing that or you won’t even last your first day.”

Media Matters has much more. Check it out. It is fascinating getting this info from an insider. Very few people associated with Fox ever speak out, even after they have left. A couple of exceptions include Eric Burns, former host of Fox News Watch, and Jane Hall, former Fox News contributor. Both cited Glenn Beck as the reason for their departure. More notable was former Fox reporter David Shuster who said:

“At the time I started at Fox, I thought, this is a great news organization to let me be very aggressive with a sitting president of the United States (Bill Clinton). I started having issues when others in the organization would take my carefully scripted and nuanced reporting and pull out bits and pieces to support their agenda on their shows.”

“With the change of administration in Washington, I wanted to do the same kind of reporting, holding the (Bush) administration accountable, and that was not something that Fox was interested in doing.

“Editorially, I had issues with story selection. But the bigger issue was that there wasn’t a tradition or track record of honoring journalistic integrity. I found some reporters at Fox would cut corners or steal information from other sources or in some cases, just make things up. Management would either look the other way or just wouldn’t care to take a closer look. I had serious issues with that.”

It’s time that more people with knowledge speak out about the damage that Fox News is doing every day to the practice of journalism. We need more people like Howell Raines who asked some pertinent questions to his colleagues about their appeasement of Fox. (Too bad he waited until after he had left the NYT). And we need more insiders like Matthew Freud, the husband of Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, who said that he was “…ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes.”

Fox News provides more proof every day that they are not a credible news enterprise. Today, as all hell was breaking loose in Egypt, Fox cut away to air their regularly scheduled broadcast of Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck!?! Is that what a news channel would do?

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5 thoughts on “Fox News Reporter’s Guide: Think Like An Intolerant Meathead

  1. Wonder if they spy on political opponents kids like the Chamber of Commerce. Wouldn’t surprise me.

  2. Have you noticed a comparative dearth of opposition voices on this site of late? Could it be that things really *are* changing — that there really is nothing they can say to what you’re posting?

    • I wouldn’t use this site as a measure for change. There are plenty of people who would oppose what I’m saying who don’t visit this site.

      However, there really is nothing they can say. Even when they come here they resort to talking points or insults, but rarely rebut on substance.

    • Interesting article, but what should we expect? The President was elected with a huge generation gap. Old people live in a brand new world of technology and instant access. It must be fucking terrifying, seriously. To live in a new, totally different world then where they grew up; they’re America really is gone. They feel the President is the most visible part of the newer age America. To be honest I really feel these people are only seeing the negatives when it comes to progress. Demonizing progress and progressives is detrimental to everyone. I can’t think of anything any progressive politician has done that makes me mad or think I no longer hold any freedom. The biggest thing is learning what everyone’s definition of progress is and WTF made them get to that conclusion. But I also don’t know why they think liberals are responsible for the demise of the prissy, sex suppressed, pre-space age country they feel is so much better than this generation’s society. I mean, I don’t get it. What’s to stop them from living the way they want? This is a free society. I don’t see any real connection between the rough patch we’re in now and progressivism and progress in general. Has there ever been such a demonization of progress like there is now?

      ps. Frum is still an idiot.

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