Last night on Bill O’Reilly’s show, the Fester aired a segment on whether or not the media can be trusted. You have to wonder whether O’Reilly was looking in a mirror when he came up with this subject.
Shameless self-promotion…
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However, it wasn’t O’Reilly who went completely off the rails this time. His guest was Charles Krauthammer, widely considered to be the “brainy” Fox fact distorter. Krauthammer was brought in specifically to offer his expertise in media analysis culled from decades of observation and study. Even O’Reilly realized that in order to make informed judgments about something you need to be immersed in it and continually reinforcing your knowledge. It was in that vein that O’Reilly asked Krauthammer…
O’Reilly: You as a commentator…you have to watch the media reports come in. You have to be well informed. You have to be up to date, as do I. Is there anybody that you trust?
Kruathammer: Well, again, apart from Fox, no, of course not.
So the only media outlet that Krauthammer regards as trustworthy is Fox News. That’s a pretty limited range of media sources. Surely he must have reasons for why no other source has any credibility in his view. O’Reilly pressed him (softly) on this to ascertain what he finds lacking at other networks like, for instance, CNN. O’Reilly presumed that “You must watch it.” To which Krauthammer replied…
“I don’t watch it. The only place I watch it is when I’m waiting for an airplane in some lounge somewhere. […] I have not watched a network newscast on any of the three networks in 20 years.”
Well then. No wonder he is considered an expert in media. His opinion is informed by having never seen any of it since Clinton was in his first term in the White House. Krauthammer is the model of the Fox News pundit. He has absolutely no knowledge of, or expertise in, the subjects he is called upon to pontificate about. What’s more, he has no interest in becoming knowledgeable. That’s how we get people like Sean Hannity talking about military operations; or Neil Cavuto talking about climate change; or Steve Doocy talking about the economy; or Sarah Palin talking about anything. It is also how we get O’Reilly talking about race and poverty.
This does, however, explain why Fox News viewers are less informed than viewers of other media – or even people who watch no news media at all. It is a network devoted to mis/disinformation and ignorance. And to their credit, they are quite good at it.
I try to avoid Fox News except to find out what they’re saying so I know what misinformation is being issued by them. Their viewers however all seem to believe that Fox is the only unbiased(?), trustworthy and factual station in the stratosphere. Now I see that even their experts don’t listen to the competition, which explains quite a bit. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe Fox has subliminal messages hidden in their broadcasts to make people believe what they’re saying. I can’t come up with any other explanation for why their viewers believe them unconditionally.
There have to be hundreds of jokes in this exchange just begging to be set free! Krauthammer just leaves me speechless. I can’t believe he…no, never mind. I guess I can. But it’s so frustrating! Most of Fox’s mouth-breathing water-head viewers will hear this and cheer! Dullard. Ludite. Flat-earther. Knuckle-dragger. Troglodyte. Imbecile. FOOL. All of these apply and still fail! It’s like magic that these people have are still breathing!
He just handed the guy’s on Comedy Central enough material for a few weeks… LOL
GO GO John Stewart writing hand…
How appropriate. So, Shlox Snooze now has two commentators who admit they don’t read the media they are commenting on: Charles Krauthammer and The Stupid Palin(tm). Of course, in the case of the latter, she is incapable of reading them…
(Technically, of course, we have three, but Bozo O’Reilly didn’t actually say he did not read any other media, is that right?)