Environment

Fox Nation Loves Corporations, Hates Mother Earth

Posted by on April 12, 2011 at 1:02 pm. 2 Comments :

The Fox Nation is featuring a story about an initiative at the United Nations to protect the environment and it is, not surprisingly, creating a flurry of outrage.

Fox Nation - Mother Earth

The item, which links to an article on Canada.com, is titled “U.N. Proposal Would Give ‘Mother Earth’ Same Rights as Humans,” and describes the draft document that seeks to create parity in the environmental debate.

“The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to ‘dominate and exploit’ – to the point that the ‘well-being and existence of many beings’ is now threatened.”

The article quotes supporters noting that there are plenty of advocates for commercial and state interests that seek to exploit natural resources and that this initiative seeks only to provide balance by creating an advocate for the welfare of the planet.

The outrage expressed by the Fox Nationalists is typically hypocritical of those who defend corporate power over individuals. They have no problem with Supreme Court decisions that define corporations as persons, but to do the same for the Earth is something they regard as unthinkable. Never mind that corporations are notoriously insensitive to the harm they cause to the planet and its inhabitants. And forget that the Earth and its ecosystem is something we all rely for our existence.

The only voices the right believes should be heard are those who oppose the environment. And the real shame is that these rightist eco-terrorists are actually successful in persuading some Republicans and Tea Baggers that Climate Change and other risks to the environment are hoaxes and nothing to be concerned about.

Rupert Murdoch Falls For Global Warming Hoax

Posted by on March 1, 2011 at 11:35 am. NO Comments :

The big environmental news of the day is that News Corp CEO, Rupert Murdoch, has announced a major milestone in his empire’s march to “energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.” In a memo to employees he wrote…

Murdoch: I am proud to announce that News Corporation has reached its first major sustainability milestone: We have become carbon neutral across all of our global operations and we are the first company of our kind to do so.

With this statement Murdoch has revealed himself to be another cog in the worldwide conspiracy to concoct a crisis over claims of Climate Change and the environmental risks associated with it. Never mind that, according to Murdoch, News Corp will save tens of millions of dollars a year as a result of its eco-initiatives, in addition to reducing its output of carbon emissions by fifteen percent. The larger issue is the deception for which Murdoch is responsible and his promotion of Global Warming as a credible theory.

Rupert Murdoch

Fox News has been a stalwart clarion for exposing Global Warming as a hoax. Their indisputable proof generally consists of video of snow storms in New England during February. Sean Hannity has said that such compelling evidence proves that, “The debate’s over. There’s no global warming.” Glenn Beck contends that Climate Change is a conspiracy to enrich General Electric and other environmental profiteers. The network’s Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon, ordered his anchors and reporters to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed,” and to “IMMEDIATELY” (his emphasis) point out that the data has been “called into question.” He fails to note that the data was called into question by representatives of ExxonMobil.

With this history of attacking the proponents of Climate Change science, we should expect Fox News to begin its probing new series denouncing Rupert Murdoch as a deceitful purveyor of environmentalist propaganda any day now. He ought to replace Al Gore as the new eco-terrorist of the year. Perhaps they will even examine his relationship to environmentally friendly technology providers in the newsprint and workspace energy fields. There may be a financial incentive for his deceit. If so, I’m sure Fox will get to the bottom of it. Right after they’re done exposing the plot against incandescent light bulbs and the Global Teachers Union Caliphate.

Liba Rubenstein, News Corp’s global energy initiative director, confirmed the company’s commitment to the environment as well as its respect for an independent press saying that…

“Our corporate commitment from an operational and business leadership perspective doesn’t bring with it an editorial mandate.”

In other words, despite the fact that the parent corporation is convinced that Climate Change is a real problem, they will permit Fox News to continue to deceive their audience by falsely asserting that Global Warming is a hoax, even as Fox is required to participate in the reforms sent down from corporate. So we can expect Fox News to continue to bash environmental science, but I wouldn’t expect them to report on this announcement from their boss.

Another Leaked Email Exposes More Fox News Bias

Posted by on December 15, 2010 at 10:11 pm. 2 Comments :

A few days ago an email leaked from Fox News revealed an edict from the top brass to the troops ordering them to negatively characterize the health care bill’s public option proposal whenever they mentioned it on air. Today another email, this time addressing climate change, demonstrates that the first was not an anomaly.

Media Matters is reporting that the same news executive, Bill Sammon, issued these marching orders to producers and talent:

“Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.”

Sammon’s rejection of climate change science is absurd. The facts are affirmed in hundreds of peer reviewed studies by independent researchers. His complaint that the “theories” are “based on data that critics have called into question” exposes the rank anti-intellectual bias favored by Fox News. If all it takes is for some critics to call something into question, then how can Fox claim that their network is “fair and balanced” when millions of critics have called that into question? Fox News believes that the way to achieve balance is to pair every truth-teller with a liar. There may be a twisted sense of balance in that, but it isn’t journalism.

In addition to the blatant slanting of the news by Fox’s editors, producers, and commentators, there is a measure of hypocrisy here that is mind boggling. Sammon’s memo seeks to align his news room’s perspective behind a false premise that climate change is unproven. However, the CEO of Fox News parent, News Corporation, has made it clear that he believes the climate change debate is over. And he isn’t the only one:

Rupert Murdoch: “News Corporation has always been about imagining the future and then making that vision a reality. We seek new ways to reach our global audiences and we address those issues that have the greatest impact on their lives. Global climate change is clearly one of those issues.”

Bill O’Reilly: “I have never understood the resistance to the concept of global warming. […] America needs to stop arguing over the cause of global warming and begin a disciplined 10-year plan to use fewer polluting agents, more conservation, and tons more innovation.”

Glenn Beck: “You’d be an idiot not to notice the temperature change,” [Beck] says. He also says there’s a legit case that global warming has, at least in part, been caused by mankind. He has tried to do his part by buying a home with a “green” design and using energy saving products.

There is obviously a disconnect between what these people say one day and what they say the next. All of them have been critical of environmentalists and climate change science at one time or another. Beck has said that all Global Warming activists are socialists and that television networks like NBC are shilling for the Obama White House when they engage in “Green Week” promotions. He might want to catch his own show during Green Week when it sports a snazzy green-tinged version of the Fox News logo:


It’s impossible to resolve these hoary contradictions without copious amounts of drugs. The lip service these people pay to common sense scientific facts is immediately reversed by their articulation of ignorant criticisms that are wholly lacking in substance. It is why recent studies have shown that just watching Fox News makes you functionally stupid. It isn’t accidental. As the emails that are now getting leaked from Fox illustrate, it is by design. Fox is purposely making their audience dumber by the hour.

Fox News Caps Flow Of Oil Spill Stories

Posted by on August 26, 2010 at 10:45 am. 1 Comments :

A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism analyzed the coverage of news stories about the Gulf Coast oil spill. The results show that, while everyone else was busy trying to plug the leak, Fox News was putting a “top kill” on coverage of the catastrophe.

“CNN spent the most time on the spill story. From April 20 to July 28, nearly half (42%) of the CNN airtime studied was devoted to the subject. That compares with about one-third (32%) on MSNBC and about one-fifth (18%) on Fox.”

During that same period Fox News led the coverage of hot button issues like illegal immigration, the inept Times Square bomber, Elana Kagan’s alleged Marxism, Shirley Sherrod getting Breitbarted, the New Black Panther Party (all six of them), and now the non-mosque in Manhattan leads almost every Fox broadcast.

In addition to providing less coverage of the oil spill overall, Fox News had an interesting division of time in the coverage they bothered to present. Of the three cable news networks, Fox spent the least amount of time (17%) on issues pertaining to BP and their responsibility for the leak. And, not surprisingly, they spent the most amount of time (39%) being critical of the government’s role in the affair.

Once again Fox News demonstrates the practice of “omission bias.” This has long been a part of their effort to subvert journalism. They did the same thing during the Bush administration when the PEJ found that Fox produced less coverage of the war in Iraq than any of their competitors. And just a couple of weeks ago, Fox didn’t broadcast a single story about the million dollar donation to the Republican Governor’s Association by their parent company, News Corp.

As a result of this perversion of the press, Fox’s viewers will remain amongst the most ignorant in terms of real knowledge of news and current events. That’s a bigger problem than just the nuisance of ill-informed FoxBots wandering the streets. It impacts all of us because these news-deficient dolts vote in large numbers. And their voting decisions are driven by the disinformation they absorb from Fox News.

That’s why it remains a critical responsibility for the rest of us to pay attention to the dishonest practices by which Fox News operates. We must not only correct their mistakes (i.e. lies), but we must also expose their omissions and make certain that the public stays informed about the issues that matter most to their lives.

How Can There Be Global Warming If It’s Snowing?

Posted by on August 4, 2010 at 12:34 pm. 11 Comments :

Six months ago the rightist media was tripping all over itself to proclaim that Climate Change was a hoax. Their evidence was that in the midst of winter it was cold along the North Atlantic coast. Apparently they were snowed in so badly they couldn’t get weather reports from anywhere else in the world, like Australia which was suffering from record high temperatures and drought. And therein lies the problem. These climate deniers are so stupid that they repeatedly mistake weather for climate. This is what they were saying at the time:

“It’s going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries uncle.” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

“It’s breaking Al Gore’s heart because the snow is also burying his global warming theory.” Eric Bolling, Fox News

“It’s interesting […] that people are going, ‘how can there be global warming if it’s snowing and it’s fairly cold?’ ” Steve Doocy, Fox News

“[It] must send chills up the spines of global warming adherents, for whom this winter has been marked by discontent.” Washington Times

“Just another nail in the coffin of this whole Global Warming thing.” Rush Limbaugh

“It is strange that he [Al Gore] has just disappeared in the largest snow fall in Washington, DC history.” Glenn Beck

“At some point maybe somebody in the government will wake up and say, ‘Hey, it’s colder. It’s not hotter.'” Ben Stein

“It is some of the coldest air in this part of the country in 20 years. Proof that all of this hype over global warming could be just that – hype.” Neil Cavuto, Fox News

The temperature data for the month of June confirm that it was the hottest June EVER! So what I’m wondering is why haven’t these same phony meteorologists come forward to issue corrections and announce that Climate Change is a real and growing problem based on this chart for August 3, 2010:

Could it be because they are: 1) Hypocrites; 2) Liars; or 3) Idiots?

Fox Nation Says Obama Is Toxic

Posted by on June 19, 2010 at 11:13 am. 6 Comments :

Fox Nation has portrayed President Obama in so many unflattering poses that it’s hard to keep up with which demonic entity they are associating him with at any given point in time. He has been juxtaposed with terrorists, tyrants, mobsters, and that old standby, Hitler. Today the Fox Nationalists, in an attempt to disparage the President, have tread on new territory.

In the wake of a massive oil spill, courtesy of British Petroleum and the regulatory apparatus of the Bush Administration, Fox is apparently trying to cast Obama as a horrifying freak, a monster, an alien. That will surely be well received by the FoxPods who frequent their web site. But it is just another example of the childish and disrespectful level of discourse that is routine for Fox News. To the Fox Nationalists the enemy isn’t BP, it’s the President, the victims on the Gulf coast, and the people in the public and private sectors struggling to repair the damage.

The funny thing about this is that the idiots at Fox have utterly mistaken the imagery they are attempting to exploit. The picture they have inserted to represent Obama is actually the comic superhero, Toxic Avenger. He is a fighter for justice and the bane of evildoers, particularly evil politicians and others in positions of power. Note the American flag that is part of the Toxic Avenger’s logo.

What’s more, the Foxies have once again demonstrated that they have tin ear when it comes to political messaging. The Toxic Avenger became what he is by having been shoved into a vat of chemical waste. He is the victim of noxious pollutants that represent a lethal danger to society. Gee, is that reminiscent of any current event that is presently dominating the news and the public’s attention?

So while the President is currently battling the worst environmental catastrophe in our nation’s history, Fox attempts to cast him as a monster, but instead portrays him as a champion of justice who has been grossly deformed by environmental contaminants. And the image even shows him with a mop, ready to clean up the mess caused by the greedy and evil corporatists, and the politicians and regulators of the previous administration, who permitted this disaster to occur.

Nice work, Fox. I’ll take the Toxic Avenger any day over the Bush defilers of the planet, the criminals at BP, and the Republican apologists for the oil barons.

The Opportunity At CNN: Replace Campbell Brown With The Daily Show

Posted by on May 19, 2010 at 6:15 pm. 6 Comments :

CNN Daily ShowNow that Campbell Brown has announced that she will be signing off of her CNN show, CNN has an opportunity to advance the state of journalism. They are the network that claims to be the champions of straight news and they dismiss the partisanship that is so deeply ingrained in Fox News and, to a lesser extent, MSNBC. So if they are serious, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves and begin to construct the sort of ethical news enterprise to which they claim to aspire.

The first thing they need to recognize is that they presently have no exclusive claim to being non-partisan. The only difference between them and their competition is that their hosts are not overtly partisan. But the substance of many of their programs is just mashed together panels of left and right pundits who argue with one another. That’s not non-partisan, it’s multi-partisan. More importantly, it’s not journalism.

If they are serious, CNN needs to fill this timeslot with a program that doesn’t seek to attain some sort of fabled balance. Balance is a phony metric. Journalism is not served when you balance reporting about say, the dangers of cigarettes, with a segment about how smoking cures cancer. The standard should not be balance, it should be truth.

One of the best examples of truth-telling in the media today is The Daily Show. Sure it’s funny and the correspondents are clowns (which is something they have in common with Fox News correspondents), but there is a determined effort to cast aside bullshit and back up their humor with facts. The technique of juxtaposing video of a politician making contradictory statements was a Daily Show innovation that has been picked up by some “real” news programs.

Am I seriously proposing that The Daily Show replace Campbell Brown? Let’s just say that I’m only half joking. It’s important to note that The Daily Show is not a news information show, in that it is not a collection of reports about what happened during the day. There is a presumption that their viewers already know what’s going on. It is also not political satire. It is media satire. Almost every segment is about how the media covers stories rather than the content of the stories themselves.

I think that a daily program that addresses the way news is presented would be a welcome addition to CNN’s schedule. By eight o’clock in the evening there has been plenty of time to observe and critique the reporting that occurred during the day. If they need additional time they could do the previous day. This would be more than a dry exercise in fact-checking. While taking a more sober tone than Jon Stewart, it could still be a raucous affair that would be both fun and enlightening. They could use dynamic and fast-paced Entertainment Tonight style graphics and charming, but well informed, hosts. They could even bring in special correspondents on occasion (I would recommend Stewart or other actual Daily Show personalities).

This show could provide true competition to the O’Reilly/Olbermann/Grace block that dominates the time period. It could also be a bellwether program that holds the media feet to the fire. They would have to play fair and include CNN’s flubs. Preferably it would be produced independently. But if they executed it right, I think many viewers would find it a refreshing change from the shoutfests on the other cable nets. Then CNN could use it to anchor a slate of truly responsible newscasts.

The only question is: Are the program executives at CNN smart enough to listen to me? Of course, they probably don’t even know I exist. Consequently, look for CNN to add another interminable hour of John King.

Glenn Beck Calls Rupert Murdoch An Enemy Of The Free Market System

Posted by on May 6, 2010 at 12:54 pm. 3 Comments :

In another of his patented rants, Glenn Beck has taken aim at a new target that you would think might cause some blowback. Beck was merrily castigating Al Gore and Global Warming, as he often does, and tying it to some sort of criminal conspiracy that will eventually topple free enterprise. He never really explains how that will happen, but he does have pictures on a blackboard that have arrows pointing to each other, so there you have it.

On this occasion, however, Beck was stepping on some pretty big feet. In the course of his rambling he had this to say about some of the media complicity with what he believes is an environmental scam:

“Do you ever wonder why there’s green week every other week on NBC? Do you ever wonder why NBC is such a shill for this White House? President Obama, and anybody who falls in line with him, will get more control and more power over business and whatever else they decide to gobble up.”

I wonder if Beck knows that his own network also participates in green week campaigns. They have even displayed specially designed green-tinged logos in tribute to the movement during his own program

What’s more, Beck’s boss Rupert Murdoch might be one of those people who has fallen in line with Obama on this issue. Perhaps he is seeking more power to gobble up stuff. In an interview a few years ago, Murdoch made it quite clear where he stands on Climate Change:

“We want to help solve the climate problem. We’ll squeeze our own energy use down as much as we can. We’ll become carbon neutral for our own emissions within three years, and be entirely transparent throughout the process, publicly reporting our reductions and offsets. But that’s just a start. Our audience’s carbon footprint is 10,000 times bigger than ours, so clearly that’s where we can have the most influence.”

Murdoch was adamant about the role his company would play in persuading his viewers to do their part. [He has since launched an energy initiative encompassing the whole corporate enterprise.] He spoke explicitly about how he would incorporate climate science information into his programming, both on the news and entertainment side of his operations. And he was confident that these efforts would be productive.

“I think when people see that 99 percent of scientists agree about the serious extent of global warming, it’s going to become a fact of life.”

Murdoch even said that he would support a mandatory emissions cap (i.e. cap and trade) and that having a pro-environment platform would be a litmus test for his future campaign contributions. These are positions that place Murdoch squarely in the enemy camp so far as Beck is concerned. It makes Murdoch just another big media mogul seeking power and favor from the Obama administration.

Of course, Murdoch’s position may just be a public relations move to cast himself as a concerned citizen. He has also said that having a green corporate program is an effective employee motivator. So we need to take his words with a healthy sprinkling of salt. It is difficult to buy into his rhetoric when almost everyone on Fox News fiercely contends that Global Warming is a hoax.

What makes this even more surreal is that Beck himself could be his own enemy. In an interview earlier this year with USA Today, Beck said that he believes in Global Warming:

“You’d be an idiot not to notice the temperature change,” he says. He also says there’s a legit case that global warming has, at least in part, been caused by mankind. He has tried to do his part by buying a home with a “green” design and using energy saving products.

It’s hard to find a more potent example of disingenuousness and hypocrisy. But if anyone can top it, it will be Beck. I just have to wonder if Murdoch knows that Beck considers him to be the enemy of the free market. And will Murdoch still want to carry this dead weight, who has lost more than a hundred advertisers and a third of his audience, now that he knows what Beck thinks of him? In fact, considering Beck’s collapsing program performance, canceling him would be a recognition of the free market.

Myth Blusters: Sarah Palin Headed For Discovery

Posted by on March 25, 2010 at 10:55 am. 1 Comments :

The news that Sarah Palin’s Alaska has been picked up by the Discovery Channel should not come as a surprise to astute observers. After all, there are great opportunities for synergy with other Discovery properties.

First of all, Discovery has been on the forefront of environmental education. They broadcast documentaries on the subject frequently and even have a network devoted to the subject: Planet Green. This melds perfectly with Palin’s broadcast experience on the environment, which centers around her beliefs that global warming is a hoax and that we should “drill everywhere.” Her current employer, Fox News, also has an official position that states its commitment to the planet and reducing its carbon footprint, yet employs climate change deniers to convince their audience that the whole thing was trumped up by fascists and marketing executives at GE. So now both networks present people on air that are diametrically opposed to their official policies – and to science.

Secondly, Discovery’s schedule is loaded with complimentary programming. For instance…

  • Dirty Jobs: A peak into the world of politics.
  • Deadliest Catch: An examination of the loopholes in health insurance policies.
  • Cash Cab: Intimate stories of taxi rides with Washington lobbyists.

I haven’t actually seen any of these shows but I’m pretty sure that’s the gist of it.

But the big opportunity exists with Discovery’s best known show, Mythbusters. Just imagine the wealth of Palin-related material that Adam and Jamie can explore and debunk.

I can’t wait for their show Death Panels; or the trip to Alaska to find out just how much of Russia is visible from Palin’s porch; or their experiments on shooting wolves from helicopters; or the investigation into where that bridge to nowhere really went.

Congratulations Discovery. You have tea-bagged yourselves one heckuva star. I’m sure she will bring to the network a measure of respectability and credibility that you have long sought. And as for viewers…you couldn’t imagine a more compatible demographic of anti-science, God-fearing, creationists. I expect this show to be a ratings bonanza – for about fifteen minutes.

Late Breaking: Discovery will be airing Palin’s show on its TLC: The Learning Channel (which may have to undergo a name change). Her program will appear alongside “What Not to Wear,” “Paranormal Court,” and “Cake Boss.” And soon the premiere of “Sarah and Todd Plus Five.”