Fox Business Network Is On The Case

Posted by on February 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm. 2 Comments :

Last year the Fox Business Network filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Treasury Department documents related to the Toxic Assets Relief Program. After filing the request, FBN launched an advertising campaign promoting their tireless efforts on behalf of the American people.

I have no problem with the FOIA requests, in fact I support them. They are an important part of a transparent democracy, and news enterprises have always used them to provide a complete picture of what our government is doing on our behalf. They do it in the interests of journalism, not some disingenuous grandstanding as protectors of the people. It is unseemly for a network to puff itself up simply for doing its job. Bloomberg also has FOIA requests pending, but they aren’t banging the drum about it.

Now the puffery is ascending to new highs of absurdity. Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee is patting himself and his network on the back for being champions of the people. He is engaging in a sustained campaign of self-flattery that he paradoxically says “is not a wild publicity stunt.”

Magee: “One of the ways that we want to differentiate ourselves is to tell our audience that we are trying to protect their interests. We think that’s a wide-open field. CNBC seems to always be the friend of the CEO and that’s fine, nothing wrong with that. It has served them well.”

This statement is a direct contradiction of what his boss said when FBN debuted:

Rupert Murdoch: “…a Fox channel would be ‘more business-friendly than CNBC.’ That channel ‘leap[s] on every scandal, or what they think is a scandal.'”

So it is FBN that has always sought to be “the friend of the CEO.” Now, in the midst of a Wall Street driven economic collapse, they want to pretend that they are the network of the people. What a crock! The truth is, they are engaging in pure self-promotion. FBN has tried to cultivate the image of being a business channel for Main Street, not Wall Street. But from the beginning, that pretense has been as phony as their “Fair and Balanced” sloganeering for Fox News.

On top of all of this, FBN wants to claim as their victory something that is not really a victory and with which they had little to do anyway. Documents referenced in the FOIA request have already begun flowing. Over 1,200 have been released, 300 of which were previously undisclosed. FBN’s attempt to take credit for this is plausible only if you completely forget that President Obama, on his first full day in office, issued an executive order requiring agencies in his administration to cooperate with FOIA requests. This explicitly reversed a Bush executive order that mandated withholding information if at all possible.

Emerging from the secrecy-obsessed world of George W. Bush may feel strange, but FBN should recognize that they haven’t moved any mountains. They are just in a new era of openness that makes news gathering a little easier. It is more than a little pathetic that somebody else loosened the top of the jelly jar and FBN thinks they’ve grown new muscles.

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Meet Bill Sammon: The New Fox News DC Chief

Posted by on February 26, 2009 at 1:33 pm. 8 Comments :

The “Fair and Balanced” network, Fox News, has just promoted Bill Sammon to VP And Washington Managing Editor. Just so you know who will be heading up the political newsgathering for the so-called news network, here is a collection of his writings:

Bill Sammon Books
  • The Evangelical President: George Bush’s Struggle to Spread a Moral Democracy Throughout the World
  • At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election
  • Strategery: How George W. Bush Is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media.
  • Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism from Inside the White House
  • Misunderestimated: The President Battles Terrorism, Media Bias and the Bush Haters

Bill Sammon is no less ideological or partisan than Bill O’Reilly. Now he will be in charge of all Washington news decisions. That means both establishing the tone and slant of stories they report, and determining what stories to refrain from reporting. He will also continue to appear on Fox News offering his opinions as a news analyst. Fox still hasn’t learned that opinions are not a part of the journalist’s responsibilities.

See the full contingent of Fox News authors here.


Rupert Murdoch Won’t Apologize For Racism

Posted by on February 24, 2009 at 12:46 pm. 1 Comments :

The overtly racist cartoon published last week in the New York Post stands as evidence of the intractable racism that still infects the right-wing media.

Today, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the Post as well as its parent News Corp, issued what he regards as an apology:

“Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.”

“Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you – without a doubt – that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.”

So Murdoch spoke to a number of people and now he understands the hurt that was caused. But he still is only apologizing to those who “felt offended” – as if they were responsible for the pain. What’s more, he characterizing those who were hurt as simpletons who misinterpreted the intent of the cartoon.

What Murdoch does not do is apologize for racism. His new found understanding doesn’t include a grasp of the hatred that is embodied in the insults and violence expressed in the Post’s cartoon. He doesn’t comprehend that his so-called apology has little meaning when it exists in a vacuum unsupported by his actions. After all, he has done and said nothing about his editor’s defense of the cartoon. Col Allan, in his response to the controversy, complained that…

“…there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past — and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback. To them, no apology is due […and that the cartoon…] is a clear parody of a current news event.”

Apparently it was not so clear as Mr. Allan thinks. If Murdoch has to emerge from his lair a full week after publication, what is clear is that there has been public repulsion to the cartoon that is not going away quickly enough for the media mogul. But he probably won’t have to worry about business at the Post (Well, not more than usual since it has lost millions annually for over a decade). His readers have risen to the occasion to support the cartoon and its message. The vast majority of the comments attached to the online apology either defend the cartoon or berate Murdoch for apologizing. And amidst this rush to embrace hate are comments like this one:

New York Post Cartoon Comment

That comment is representative of many of the comments posted on the paper’s web site. Who will apologize for that?

Murdoch’s bully boy, Bill O’Reilly, has repeatedly hammered web sites like Daily Kos and the Huffington Post for what he says is hate speech. He attributes every comment on those sites to the name at the top of the page. In reality it is just an open forum where people speak for themselves. More often than not, objectionable content is quickly smacked down by other commenters. But in O’Reilly’s mind it is still the site’s responsibility. So I wonder if he will show some consistency and condemn the New York Post for comments like the one above. Especially since it is not an aberration, but the consensus.

Actually, I don’t wonder at all. In fact I wouldn’t be too surprised if Osinko turned out to be O’Reilly himself. After all, it was O’Reilly who ventured into Harlem and…

“…couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship […] There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, “M-Fer, I want more iced tea.'”

Osinko – O’Reilly / O’Reilly – Osinko — Hmmm…..

New York Post Cartoon


Peter Chernin Breaking Up With Rupert Murdoch

Posted by on February 23, 2009 at 4:23 pm. 1 Comments :

The most talked about thing on the Fox studio lot this morning, after Slumdog Millionaire’s eight Oscars, has got to be the news that CEO Peter Chernin is heading for the exit. Chernin has run the entertainment side of Rupert Murdoch’s empire since 1996, the year Murdoch launched Fox News.

The Chernin legacy is one of profound accomplishment. He is an old school Hollywood exec who demonstrated his skill as an effective manager in a creative business. He was also at the opposite end of the political spectrum of his boss. Chernin gave generously to Democratic candidates and causes. And he would have to be the person who gets credit for the humor directed at the right on programs like The Simpsons. Of course, he would also have to take the blame for reactionary programs like 24.

According to reports, Murdoch does not intend to replace Chernin, and will assume much of those responsibilities himself. I would expect that to be a temporary situation. One of the probable reasons for Chernin’s departure is that there is no upward mobility for him at News Corp. Murdoch will be grooming family members for expanded rolls in the future. He needs a successor and he isn’t going outside of his family to find one. So goodbye Chernin.

This is bad news for News Corp on many levels. Losing an experienced, respected, and connected Hollywood veteran is certain to be troublesome. But even worse is the prospect of Murdoch taking the reins himself. Chernin has had near autonomy running the entertainment group. It is not an area in which Murdoch has much experience or affinity. His focus has always been on his newspapers. And if we were to judge him on the performance of that sector, his future is bleak indeed. The New York Post has lost tens of millions of dollars annually for every year he has owned it. The percentage of the newspaper segment of News Corp is now 19%, the largest piece of the company. And the company is careening toward collapse, having lost about 70% of its market cap in the last year. That is significantly worse than competitors like Time Warner and Disney. Financial analysts are getting nervous about News Corp and Murdoch, and their ability to weather these storms.

The timing of this could not be worse for Murdoch. As the company is trying to stay afloat in one of the worst economic downturns in decades, and while still trying to integrate Dow Jones and the sickly Wall Street Journal into the company, Murdoch now has to divide his attention between his failing publishing interests, his falling stock valuation, and now the helm of the movie and television concerns that Chernin had managed so well. Why should any investor have confidence that Murdoch will succeed at Chernin’s job when he has failed so badly in the newspaper realm he loves so much and has been engaged in for over 50 years? More likely, he will do to the entertainment group what he did to the rest of the company.

Now if only Roger Ailes would leave Fox News and let Murdoch destroy that too.


Rachel Marsden’s Guide To Being An Idiot

Posted by on February 20, 2009 at 11:30 am. 2 Comments :

Rachel MarsdenFormer Fox News personality and serial stalker, Rachel Marsden, has penned a column that purports to be a survival guide in these tough economic times. She condenses her advice into a 7-point program, some of which makes a little sense. She perked my interest early with her first suggestion: “Turn off the TV news.” But it just went downhill from there.

There is much to criticize in TV news. It can be shallow, artificially dramatic, and biased toward the views of the giant corporations that own them and support them through advertising. But Marsden’s call to avoid TV news is really an attempt to insure that people cultivate ignorance. She isn’t really interested in tuning out the static and disinformation of news manglers like Fox News, she just thinks that staying current on political affairs is a waste of time:

“I think everyone has a general idea of the idiocy in which Obama and the Democrats are engaged. You know why cable networks keep showing us this financial disaster porn? Because you keep watching! You don’t need to rivet yourself to a blow-by-blow of the implosion. The Obama administration is going to be like any other soap opera – you can tune out and come back in three years without having missed anything.”

Marsden’s true intent begins to unravel with her second point: “Listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio, every day.” Clearly she is plotting to keep you ill-informed by avoiding responsible news sources, and then indoctrinating you to the dis-information of Limbaugh:

“Rush won’t tell you how great you are as a result of your mere existence, but he’ll tell you what you need to do to achieve greatness…”

Really? So a thrice-divorced, drug-addled, gasbag, whose motivational counsel consists of cultish calls to become an unquestioning dittohead, should serve as an example of personal responsibility and achievement? A racist provocateur who incites riots is Marsden’s idea of a role model?

Marsden’s whole scheme comes crashing down when you jump to point number five: “If you’re in university, now is a good time to seriously rethink what the heck you’re doing with your life.” Accepting for the moment that self-reflection is always a good thing, what Marsden appears to be recommending is that you drop out of school, seek vocational training, and keep your mind safe from the nasty liberal world of academia:

“Universities and colleges are businesses. Businesses run almost exclusively by liberals. That should tell you everything you need to know about what kind of return you can expect on your investment. They take your money, it disappears into the black hole of academia, and you get spit back out with your pockets emptied and your brain thoroughly washed.”

It’s interesting to hear a conservative disparage the sanctity of business. If Marsden is so repulsed by the thought of academic institutions operating in a free market, perhaps she would prefer that public education be extended to include college. I would join her in pursuit of that, but somehow I doubt that that is where she’s going.

I should be careful about agreeing to join Marsden in anything. Her history of criminal harassment is the stuff of legends. She was even thrown off the set of Fox News for “bizarre and erratic behavior,” as reported by Murdoch’s own New York Post. Somehow, though, she keeps managing to find work. This article on surviving was published by Human Events, whose bar for coherent discourse is set lower than the Mariana Trench.

When looked at as a whole, Marsden’s survival guide is nothing but the glorification of ignorance. She advocates shutting yourself off from information, immersing yourself in lies, and avoiding the destructive consequences of learning. That’s a good recipe for becoming a docile subject of the sort of brain-dead totalitarianism propagated by the Republican Party and Fox News. But it’s a terrible guide for survival in these, or any other, times.


Michael Steele’s All New Republican Partay

Posted by on February 19, 2009 at 5:47 pm. 1 Comments :

Republican PartayMichael Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, was interviewed by the Washington Times and is apparently challenging Jon Stewart for the title of funniest satirist.

“Steele plans an ‘off the hook’ public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party’s principles to ‘urban-suburban hip-hop settings.’

Repizzles in hizzle, my bruthas. Or should I say, my president? (see video below).

The first problem he’s going to encounter is locating any “principles” in the Republican Party. Then he’s going to have to deal with the fact that what passes for principles are overtly hostile to the young and minority voters he wants to target. Then he’s going to discover that the problems his Party have been experiencing are not the result of bad PR in the first place. Their problems stem from bad ideas, disastrous policies, and embarrassing candidates. Undaunted, Steele is charging forward with his plan to revitalize the GOP. He intends to craft messages that will appeal to a broad cross-section of voters – from soccer moms to hockey moms. Seriously, that’s what he said. Steele rejects suggestions that his new campaign will be merely “cutting edge”:

“I don’t do ‘cutting-edge.’ That’s what Democrats are doing. We’re going beyond cutting-edge.”

Sure…you wouldn’t want to emulate the Democrats who have enjoyed massive electoral victories, taking control of both houses of Congress and the White House over the past couple of years. Steele is going beyond cutting-edge, by which he means attacking other Republicans. In the interview he takes the time to note a rift between himself and Karl Rove, who never sent him a card congratulating him on winning the RNC post. (Is this a budding turf war ala Tupac and Biggie?) And when colleagues expressed concern that he might need some help with organizational and fund raising activities he told them to “Stuff it!” Then he proceeded to slam their previous efforts saying…

“Where we have fallen down in delivering a message is in having something to say […] We missed the mark in the past, which is why we are in the crapper now.”

I’d have to agree with him there. Not having something to say can impair one’s ability to deliver a message. But pretending your down with the homies in the hood isn’t going to help him put more Repubs in Da House – or Da Senate either. All I can say is that, with a teaser like this, I can’t wait to see what Steele produces. Although a commenter on the Washington Times web site had an interesting take:

Big Time Patriot: Hey, the GOP already IS hip-hop, more specifically, the GOP are Gangsta Rappers…

They hate judges, don’t think laws apply to them, like to take drugs (Yeah thats YOU, Rush) and disrespect women. All they need are some nice Rim’s and they are all the way there.

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Obama Must Reject Bush’s Imperial Bequest

Posted by on February 19, 2009 at 2:08 pm. 3 Comments :

The legacy of George W. Bush lives on in the form of executive powers that he invented in order to pursue his extra-Constitutional agenda. The risk of setting his megalomania into precedent was amongst the best reasons to prosecute and/or impeach him and his accomplices.

In Washington, it has been long understood that no one willingly cedes power. Now President Barack Obama finds himself in command of the regime that was built by Bush, replete with Imperial perks that defy Constitutional law. Obama must now reject them.

Bruce Fein, a conservative lawyer and author who courageously joined those calling for Bush’s impeachment, has written an outstanding article that enumerates the danger of doing nothing about Bush’s excesses. On matters from state secrets to extraordinary rendition to torture, Fein calls for a return to the rule of law, and he cautions that Democrats must not be so enamored of their shiny new president that they permit him to get away with retaining the tyrannical powers established by Bush.

Since most of the violations of the Bush administration were executed from the Oval Office, it is up to Obama to set the ship of state aright. And it is up to the people to make sure that he does so.


Rush Limbaugh’s Ego Is Fatter Than He Is

Posted by on February 19, 2009 at 12:22 am. 5 Comments :

President Barack Obama reiterated today that he is does not support the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. He said so previously, during the campaign, and has been consistent in this regard. That hasn’t stopped the hysterical ranting of rightist fear mongers who seek to use the issue to stir panic amongst the peasants, and to shake them down for contributions.

There are even reports of clandestine meetings between mysterious plotters in Congress and the FCC. The purpose of these cabals is to impose the evil specter of fairness on America. Never mind that the alleged FCC and congressional participants flatly denied that any such meetings took place – and, of course, that the President wouldn’t sanction it anyway.

It is, however, no longer sufficient for one to unequivocally state opposition to the Doctrine. The anti-Fairness fanatics now insist that such proclamations are simply not to be believed. The plotters are purposefully prevaricating to permit them to proceed with their plot. What’s more, they contend, without any evidence, that the threat now extends to cable TV and the Internet, mediums for which the Doctrine never applied. None of these accusations are supported by facts – or reality – they are just regurgitated repeatedly by right-wing conspiracy theorists.

At the top of that heap is Rush Limbaugh. On his radio program today, he rambled through all of the usual delusional blather about the Fairness Doctrine, but strayed into territory even further from sanity. He now says that ACORN is “gearing up to enforce the same type of restrictions on broadcasting that the Fairness Doctrine would require.” He doesn’t bother to explain when ACORN got into the media business. I guess they are just a proxy for anything these braying asses feel like wailing on. After falsely accusing ACORN of voter fraud, and blaming them for the mortgage meltdown, and asserting that they are behind the return of the Fairness Doctrine, I expect the next startling revelation will be their membership in Al Qaeda (A-Qaorn?).

But Limbaugh is not off the crazy train yet. In a grand feat of self-obsessed paranoia, Limbaugh imagines that his thoughts on the Fairness Doctrine are being stolen:

“The Wall Street Journal, two days ago, asked me for an op-ed on this. I submitted the op-ed this morning. It is an open letter to President Obama asking for clarity and definitive answer on — on censorship of the media. Now, I’m wondering. I am just wondering if somebody along the line did not leak my op-ed and the White House heard of it coming and they want to preempt its publication.”

That’s the Wall Street Journal – Rupert Murdoch’s propaganda rag – that Limbaugh is accusing of sabotaging his op-ed.

“And outta nowhere, out of nowhere, on Fox, some spokesman says Obama’s not even considering it? Why now? I mean that didn’t come up at the housing meeting today. It didn’t come up in Denver yesterday. It hasn’t come up on Air Force One. Where did it come up from? I didn’t tell anyone. I mean, I told, you know, a couple friends that I was going to write this thing. It’s fascinating stuff going on there. The intrigue, ladies and gentlemen.”

That’s Fox News – Rupert Murdoch’s propaganda cable net – that Limbaugh is accusing of invading his mind.

The only problem with this exhibition of ego gone wild is that the issue of the Fairness Doctrine has been coming up for weeks. It has been written about in numerous conservative publications and web sites (see Human Events and World Net Daily). Robert Gibbs, the President’s Press Secretary, has taken questions about it in White House briefings – TWICE. It seems to be the most talked about issue in the media other than the Stimulus Bill. Just ask Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and even Rush Limbaugh. Yet Limbaugh says that it hasn’t come up, and some unseen enemy with access to his dementia is leaking his brain droppings to Fox News and the White House. The dark forces are descending upon him even as he laments that he must refrain from speaking it aloud:

“I’m reluctant to talk about this, because I don’t want to sound like a victim. I don’t want to sound like, ‘They’re coming after me! They’re coming after me! (crying).’ But they’re going after any area there is dissent.”

For a guy who doesn’t want to sound like a victim, he sure seems to be focusing a lot on how the world is conspiring against him.


Racist New York Post Continues A Murdoch Theme

Posted by on February 18, 2009 at 12:30 pm. 3 Comments :

In today’s New York Post, and on their website, is a cartoon that shows two cops shooting an ape and saying “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” I’m not going to help the Post out by linking to it. You can find it on your own if you’re interested. But here’s my response:

New York Post Parody

I suppose there will be apologists for the Post who will deny the obvious racist intent, but it’s hard to find another interpretation when the Stimulus Bill is so closely associated with President Obama and the cartoon depicts the author as a dead ape. In the best light, it is still an overtly hostile response to the serious issues facing our nation.

It is not however the first time a Rupert Murdoch property “joked” about assassinating Obama. Last year Fox News contributor Liz Trotta said:

“…and now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama …uh… Obama … well, both if we could.”

Very funny, huh? And then there was the time Bill O’Reilly declared that he didn’t want to “lynch” Michelle Obama. That was considerate of him.

Bill O'Reilly's Lynching Party

This recurring theme of racism and violence directed at the President and his family is just more proof that News Corp is not a legitimate news enterprise and should not be taken seriously or supported by consumers.


Bill O’Reilly Can’t Get No Respect

Posted by on February 17, 2009 at 12:43 pm. 2 Comments :

In a segment preposterously misnamed “Reality Check,” Bill O’Reilly has once again tread on territory that only highlights his hypocrisy and dishonesty.

For months O’Reilly has berated General Electric and its CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, for the poor performance of the stock. O’Reilly, with an undisguised disgust, asserts that Immelt is a “despicable human being” who should not be running any business due to his incompetence. But O’Reilly conveniently neglects to mention that News Corp, the parent of his employer, Fox News, has performed even worse in the stock market, presumably placing Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes lower on the scale of competence than Immelt. We already know they are more despicable.

Yesterday, O’Reilly attacked GE and Immelt again, citing a Barron’s article with the results of their survey of the 100 Most Respected Companies in the World. The article noted that GE had slipped from its top 10 position in each of the last four years (#1 in 2005), to #43 this year. O’Reilly summarizes saying…

“In short, Barron’s is saying Immelt is a disaster. But the fact that man has remained in his position for eight years says our financial system is rigged and Americans should be very wary about buying stocks in this environment.”

Actually, Barron’s isn’t saying anything. It is a survey of the opinions of money managers, most of whom have been severely burned by the recent market collapse. Even so, if Immelt is a disaster for placing his company at #43 out of 100 companies worldwide (not bad, really), what does that make Murdoch and Ailes for not making the list at all? It certainly makes O’Reilly a propagator of misinformation for failing to tell the whole story.

Perhaps worse than O’Reilly’s faulty reporting is his admonition that Americans “be very wary about buying stocks.” Not that that isn’t always safe advice, but O’Reilly is associating it with what he calls a “rigged” system. He is using fear to dissuade the folks from investing in an already troubled market. The problem here is not whether his financial analysis is sound, it is his hypocrisy. He often assails others for bad-mouthing America, which he asserts will do harm to the nation. But he doesn’t have any problem with his own rhetorical assault, which if heeded, could worsen or prolong our current economic crisis.

Why does Bill O’Reilly hate America? Maybe because most of the country has no respect for him whatsoever.

Update: Immelt has declined to take bonuses for 2008 due to the performance of the company. I wonder if Murdoch or Ailes will do the same.