For the past few weeks Fox News has been ratcheting up the racial content of their tabloid fare. Megyn Kelly’s obsession with a trumped up story about the New Black Panther Party and their dozen or so members is a perfect example of the race-baiting that Fox passes off as journalism. They follow that up with the promotion of an Andrew Breitbart video that was blatantly edited to tar USDA employee Shirley Sherrod as a racist even though the opposite was evident when the video was viewed in its entirety.
But these recent events are not aberrations. They are representative of an agenda that cannot be anything but deliberate. Recall Fox’s use of offensive rhetoric with reference to President Obama and his family like “terrorist fist jab” and “Obama’s baby mama.” Then there was the time that Bill O’Reilly tried to explain his reluctance to be critical of the First Lady by saying that he didn’t “want to go on a lynching party.” Or the time he attempted to praise patrons of Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem by noting that they didn’t shout for their “mother-fucking iced teas.” And who could forget Glenn Beck calling Obama a racist with a deep-seated hatred for white people? Beck is escalating his racial insensitivity by holding his self-glorifying rally in DC on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech next month.
Some people might wonder why Fox News would risk alienating a potentially significant portion of their audience. Well, we have the answer now. According to Brian Stelter of the New York Times, the African-American segment of viewers of Fox News in primetime this season is only 1.38%. That compares to 19.3% for MSNBC, and 20.7% for CNN, numbers that are much closer to the 14% of African-Americans in the population at large. These numbers also suggest that the black audience that might have been watching Fox have split evenly between MSNBC and CNN causing those networks to be over-weighted by about 6% each.
It is apparent that Fox News has little to lose by offending a segment of the television universe that doesn’t watch their programs anyway. Combine that with Fox’s political incentive to suppress Democratic votes and the strategy of inflaming racial animus doesn’t seem so bad in their warped perspective.
At the very least this explains why Fox persists in airing obviously offensive stories and why they think they can get away with it without adverse consequences. They have nothing to lose in financial terms, and much to gain by pandering to a prejudice demographic. It may be reprehensible to decent folks, but to Fox it’s just good business, and more importantly, good politics.
The southern strategy still going strong. In one era, they couldn’t own enough Africans. And when Lincoln set them free, the only priority is that they be “kept down”. The regular on air bunch should just go ahead and convince these peckerwoods that they won the Civil War. (insert rebel yell here)
Not sure how anyone is being “kept down” – as far as I can see there is still enough freedom available to be great if you choose to be. Not sure for how much longer that will be true with our current president and his socialist leanings.
idiot.
Now before any of you tee off on Rupert being Australian, get stuffed. Rupert renounced his Aussieship when he became an American citizen. Scary isn’t it, cause he was fine when he left here:) At least he can only buy the Presidency, not actually be President.
As for Fox and racism, well, yes. Sorry, surprised outrage is a tad passe when it comes to Fox. You need to hit them where it hurts most. Use the tools they do. Start some nasty rumour about share price or such,then later on, deny it and attack all those who followed your lead. I think Fox calls it the “Sherrod” technique
Fox News is not racist. Left-wingers spew lies and hypocrisy.
Thanks for that substantive insight.
By the way, Fox News was the only cable news network that didn’t air Obama’s speech to the National Urban League this morning. Why should they bother? Their 1.38% of black viewers probably won’t miss it.
Does it really matter? Is there a requirement that it be carried – or maybe Fox wanted to make sure their ratings were good. Sounds like sound business decision making, not feel good nonsense. Why be like everyone else – they probably made out quite well, which is the point of business. Were there any insights we could have learned from this speech? Please enlighten us – you are soo much smarter than the general population.
The moon is made of cheese. When dogs fart, thunderstorms erupt on the planet Jupiter.
Haha this story is a joke written by hypocrates. If Fox News is so racist, then why did we (the Republicans) just elected a new Cuban Senator in Florida, Marco Rubio, on election day, as well as have Michael Steele as the head of the Republican National Committee?