Last week Bill O’Reilly left the comfort of his Manhattan studio to go on assignment. It was revealed this week that he had slipped surreptitiously into Afghanistan. As is his practice, his trip was not much more than a PR junket where he distributed Fox News swag and copies of his book, Culture Warrior. It is somewhat ironic that he would pawn that screed of an imaginary morality clash off on soldiers who are facing all too real dangers.
This time, though, O’Reilly wasn’t content with glorifying his own selflessness, he found it necessary to insult the sponsors of innumerable charities and entertainments – the USO. O’Reilly complained that they weren’t doing enough for the troops here:
“As far as I know, the only famous people in the past year were (country music singer) Toby Keith and me.”
When reached for a response, a USO spokesman corrected the record saying that they had hosted seven entertainment tours to Afghanistan this year. There were also 12 tours last year. Amongst the previous guests was the man that O’Reilly will only refer to as Stuart Smalley. Al Franken has, in fact, participated in six USO tours. And rather than going to promote a new book, he brought along country singers, TV stars, cheerleaders and put on a three hour show.
Someone should tell O’Reilly that Afghanistan is not just another stop on his book tour. And if he thinks the USO isn’t doing enough, maybe he should volunteer once in a while.
Posted by Mark NC on October 15, 2007 at 8:22 pm.
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Get out your handkerchiefs. Michelle Malkin and Bill O’Reilly are officially separated. Malkin has notified the Fester that she will no longer appear on his program because she believes that her honor was besmirched by Geraldo Rivera. Then, when Rivera starred in an obviously staged apologia on Bill-O’s program, Malkin declared that it wasn’t sufficiently sincere and busted out this email:
“I made the decision to quit appearing on the O’Reilly show in response to the poor handling of the Geraldo Rivera matter (the staged “apology” on The Factor was a complete farce). I won’t go into details, but please know that your support means a lot to me. You can catch me on other Fox News shows and read my daily blog posts and weekly columns at MichelleMalkin.com.”
Malkin’s position on immigration reads like the KKK’s position on integration, and she is also the author of a book that defends the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. So Rivera is justifiably upset by her overtly racist rantings. But Malkin has a point as well. Here’s what Rivera said about her to the Boston Globe:
“Michelle Malkin is the most vile, hateful commentator I’ve ever met in my life,” he says. “She actually believes that neighbors should start snitching out neighbors, and we should be deporting people.
“It’s good she’s in D.C. and I’m in New York,” Rivera sneers. “I’d spit on her if I saw her.”
In the televised apology, all Rivera apologized for was the threat to spit on her. He said nothing retracting the “most vile, hateful commentator” sweet talk. Still, it’s funny that Malkin finds this affront so intolerable that she would quit the show. There must be ten thousand good reasons to avoid O’Reilly’s Circus of Stupidity. But it took being insulted by Geraldo to push her over the edge. How sad.
Posted by Mark NC on October 11, 2007 at 2:48 pm.
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On last night’s edition of the O’Reilly Factor, Brian De Palma earned the title of “worst Hollywood person I have ever come across.” Not only that but he is also “vile” and “a true villain” and his new film “Redacted” could, “lead to the deaths of Americans.”
Redacted is an Iraq themed movie that tells a fictionalized version of a true story of American soldiers serving under difficult conditions, and explores how perceptions vary between an event’s participants, witnesses, and the media.
O’Reilly has been railing against this film, which he has not seen, for several weeks. He is enraged that there are scenes that depict American soldiers in a negative light. O’Reilly believes that showing Americans engaging in crimes will motivate our enemies to commit further acts of aggression against us. As if they needed any more motivation. In all likelihood, the opposite is true. Iraqis who see an American film that portrays Americans realistically, even the dark side, will appreciate our commitment to justice. They will be moved by the inherent expression of remorse and sympathy for their loss. It is far more incendiary when politicians and pundits hold pep rallies for troops who commit atrocities and glorify such behavior.
But that injection of reason doesn’t stop O’Reilly from bashing De Palma and Mark Cuban, the film’s producer. De Palma And Cuban have also been feuding over De Palma’s complaint that Cuban ordered modifications to the film. This infighting just gives O’Reilly tingles.
What was interesting about the segment was the guest O’Reilly invited to discuss the movie. Holly McClure was introduced as a film critic. I suppose she is, but the only places her columns appear are the Christian Broadcasting Network and a couple of other Christian networks and web sites. She is also the author of “Death by Entertainment: Exposing Hollywood’s Seductive Power over You and Your Family,” published by Lions Head Press. Lions Head appears to have a roster of three books. They are all Christian-themed and are mostly sold through Christian booksellers. They have no web site that I could find.
What we have here is another favorite strategy of O’Reilly – and Fox News. Locate unknown “experts” with little or no credentials, pluck them from obscurity, slap a mic on their lapel (and a flag pin while you’re at it) and let them nod vigorously in rapt agreement with everything you say. This is how they create a congregation of like-minded true believers who spread their gospel through the mediasphere.
Posted by Mark NC on October 5, 2007 at 2:17 pm.
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Bill O’Reilly has gone over the edge. He is literally descending into madness on our very own TV screens. Those of you who actually don’t slow down on the highway to see gruesome accidents may want to avert your eyes.
“I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist perversion and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”
While most of America, and the world, is focused on painfully real wars and their tragic consequences, Bill O’Reilly is engaging a different enemy, a far more dangerous enemy, in his mind, because it originates in his mind. When O’Reilly said on his radio show that he…
“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…“
…he was properly criticized by the public and pundits alike. But O’Reilly has never been known as someone who takes criticism well, and this affair is no exception. Ever since the story broke, he has been obsessively pounding on the media for accurately reporting his racist comments. For four straight days (so far) he has led off his program with this controversy. That’s four days of demonstrating that, so far as he is concerned, there is no story with a higher priority than Bill’s story and his bold defense of himself. That defense consists primarily of offense, and being offensive is an O’Reilly specialty. For reference, wade through this selection of sewage from the past few days: 9/25; 9/26; 9/27; 9/28.
When someone criticizes O’Reilly, they are not merely at odds with him, they have “gone over to the dark side,” and they are, “dishonest and dangerous.” The reasons for their criticisms are always suspect and usually have something to do with their own self interest. O’Reilly often cites his ratings as the reason he is attacked by jealous competitors. He believes that his numbers validate his views. But being #1 isn’t everything. Like the #1 restaurant in America, McDonald’s, it only means that he serves up the cheapest crap that is loaded with filler and seasoning designed to appeal to the largest number of consumers with the least sophisticated taste. Still, you have to wonder about his rabid intensity when he already claims that, “FOX News has literally destroyed CNN,” and that, “Both CNN and NBC will never recover from their shameful conduct.” Why is he fighting so fiercely against a vanquished foe?
It isn’t just a pack critics that are riling O’Reilly. It is the whole of the media. He is displaying the classic symptoms of a paranoid fanatic who is convinced that he is the target of a fearsome cabal that is “out to destroy” him. And he isn’t shy about using his bully pulpit to broadcast his dementia and attack his perceived enemies, whom he casts as villains that only he has the courage to face and fight. He is his own Superhero, as he told his audience last Friday, saying that “…there is no enterprise on earth that does more damage to the far left than The Factor”.
In the past four days (and counting), O’Reilly has demonstrated an all-consuming preoccupation with his own tribulations at the hands of fiends. He has accused a broad swath of the media of being dishonest, corrupt, and out to get him. Those explicitly called out include: the New York Daily News, the CBS Early Show, the Chicago Sun Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, ABCnews.com, the Louisville Journal, the Syracuse Post-Standard, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Houston Chronicle, the Calgary Herald, the Guardian of London, and, of course, NBC, MSNBC, Media Matters and MoveOn.org.
In a particularly bizarre episode, O’Reilly played an audio tape of a conversation with Paul Farhi of the Washington Post wherein Farhi says, “please don’t repeat this, because I’m supposed to be neutral…” This is an unsettling spectacle of a reporter confessing his bias to a loudmouthed, TV blathering head, and asking that his remarks be kept in confidence. Of course, O’Reilly then plays them on the air without notice or permission, revealing the unscrupulous idiocy of them both. This is typical behavior from the man who warns America to be skeptical of the media because, “No longer can it be trusted.” So long as he’s talking about himself, I can’t say that I disagree. But he’s talking about everyone except himself, despite his prominent place in the media he so ferociously castigates.
As demented and pathetic as O’Reilly’s cartoonish behavior has portrayed him to be, there are still lines that he had not crossed. Sure, he had invited Al Qaeda to bomb San Francisco; and yes, he sexually harassed an employee; and he dispatched a producer to trespass on a the property of a circuit court judge; and admitted that he doesn’t care about lethal bombings in Iraq; and he compared DailyKos to the KKK and nazis; and he accused Democrats of wanting to lose in Iraq; and he lied about receiving a Peabody Award; but there are still lines…..
Well maybe he has crossed all the lines. But now, in a frenzied tantrum that makes Hitler look like he was merely engaging in a bit of garden-variety hyperbole, O’Reilly aims to show that he means business:
“[T]here is a huge problem in this country and I’m going to attack that problem. I’m going to attack it. These people aren’t getting away with this. I’m going to go right where they live. Every corrupt media person in this country is on notice, right now. I’m coming after you…I’m going to hunt you down […] if I could strangle these people and not go to hell and get executed…I would.”
These are the rantings of a sociopath whose grasp of reality is paling precipitously. He mused in the September 25 broadcast that his persecutors would soon proclaim him to be “a member of the Manson family.” So as not to disappoint him, I’ll do so now. But I won’t settle for a lowly, suggestible family waif. The truth is that O’Reilly’s hostile ravings sound more like that of the messianic cult leader himself – who also thought the media was out to get him:
Manson: “The news media has already executed me and buried me.”
O’Reilly: “[T]hey are going to do anything and everything to destroy me, or try to. And it’s a war. It is a war.”
It is a little surprising that, in the aftermath of these threats, his targets haven’t bothered to stand up for themselves. Media organizations and individuals in broadcast, cable, and newspapers, are all being hammered by this seriously disturbed shill-miester and they don’t seem to have the slightest desire to defend their reputation or professional honor. How can they when they are so busy trying to emulate him. It’s almost as if they are watching themselves and want to protect their shell of denial. Maybe they are keeping a respectable distance because they don’t want contribute to the inevitable meltdown already in progress. Or maybe they just don’t want to get splattered with the blood of the bursting veins and arteries as his over-inflated head loses its structural integrity.
O’Reilly is advancing onto Armageddon and steeling for the battle with his secular-progressive foes. When the ultimate clash commences, he will view himself as a valiant Culture Warrior lashing out at the many-headed beast that imperils children and Christmas and virtue and the traditional values that are so fragile that they can be turned to dust by the wispy breath of Pagans.
But while he envisions himself wrestling with these demons, we will be gathered around his twitching form, fanning and curling on the pavement, wondering if somebody else has already called the paramedics. And all that will be left for us is to watch with a sickly curiosity because he is beyond us now. He has reached that destination about which he cautioned us a thousand times while pointing menacingly. He has finally and irreversibly entered a Zone that is thoroughly devoid of Spin – or, for that matter, reason or sanity. Who’s looking out for you now, Bill?
Posted by Mark NC on September 25, 2007 at 12:06 pm.
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On his radio show last week, Bill O’Reilly regaled his audience with a tale of adventure into the Heart of Darkness – Harlem. He was dining with Al Sharpton so O’Reilly thought he should take the Reverend to a place he might be comfortable. They went to Sylvia’s where O’Reilly chowed down on that “soul food.” On returning from the expedition, O’Reilly expressed his amazement that the Harlem natives were so similar to civilized folks:
“I 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.”
He couldn’t get over it. It’s almost like they’re human.
“There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’ “
Imagine that, they don’t all cuss when ordering refreshing beverages.
“…it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all.”
People were “sitting there” eating food with utensils. It must have been difficult for them to suppress their natural “craziness.”
When asked to respond by CNN’s Rick Sanchez, O’Reilly claimed it was all a “hatchet” job by Media Matters:
“[T]here was no racial intent in what I said. It was a benign program. We didn’t receive one single complaint on any of our radio stations,”
Well, of course – A benign program like that, with no racial intent is certainly not going to draw any complaints from his 99.9% white radio audience.
UPDATE: O’Reilly, defending himself from a report by CNN that interviewed patrons of Sylvia’s Restaurant:
“Now, the black Americans up there, they didn’t listen to The Radio Factor. They didn’t know this was coming from Media Matters. They didn’t know any anything — they don’t know what Media Matters is. They don’t know who Bill O’Reilly is, many of them.”
This contradicts his original statement upon visiting Sylvia’s when he said that, “They all watch The Factor.” But now that they are critical of him, they are just a bunch of stupid, uninformed yokels who don’t watch TV and can’t think for themselves.
Keith Olbermann’s Countdown has reached a milestone that many thought was out of reach. After getting a boost from an airing during the pre-season football broadcast on NBC a couple of weeks ago, Countdown has burst into a real competition with its nemesis, The O’Reilly Factor.
The highpoint of the week for Olbermann was Friday when he bested O’Reilly in the 25-54 demo by 39,000 viewers. But the trend has been heading this way for a while. On Thursday, O’Reilly took the hour, but Olbermann had won the first half (Countdown: 408K – Factor: 373K). An average of all airings for the shows for the week gave O’Reilly a lead of just 11.7K demo viewers. A year ago O’Reilly was clobbering Olbermann by 279K. Are the walls closing in around you Billy?
The first full week after Olbermann’s NBC appearance, Countdown spiked 17% over its 2nd quarter 2007 average. This week that bump is 37%, so there is no evidence that this train is losing speed. The Factor, on the other hand, is still under-performing its 2nd quarter average by 16%. O’Reilly is quickly becoming the Little Train That Couldn’t.
A key point in this victory is that, while last week’s success was achieved with O’Reilly on vacation, this week Bill was on duty and he still got his loofah handed to him. Also, for the record, Olbermann appeared during halftime on the Saints-Colts game Thursday which might have given him an extra push on Friday. And the week was shortened by the Labor Day holiday (Countdown did not air on Monday but O’Reilly did. The Factor pulled in just 329K which was its 2nd worst number for the week).
All of this leads me to quote from the insightful analysis of a truly visionary media scholar:
Hopefully NBC will recognize what’s happening here. And it isn’t just that Olbermann is a phenomenon who warrants additional network attention (although that’s true). It is also that there is a vastly underserved market for mainstream progressive news that is factual and compelling. That is a message that all of the media should heed and act on. It’s time to stop coddling losers like Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson. It’s time to stop pandering to rightist, corporate media. It’s time to start reshaping the media into something more diverse and representative of America.
On August 26, 2007, Keith Olbermann’s Countdown was broadcast on NBC. Despite a scattered schedule wherein the program was delayed or preempted in many markets, it performed respectably, delivering 4.1 million viewers. But what I was waiting for, was to see if there would be any afterglow that reflected on his MSNBC airing. There was:
For the week ending August 31, Countdown averaged 278,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demo. That’s a 17% increase over the program average for the 2nd quarter of 2007. It is fair to conclude that this spike was due almost entirely to the promotional value of the NBC broadcast. None of the other programs on MSNBC’s schedule enjoyed a comparable bounce. Olbermann’s numbers exceeded his 2nd quarter average (230K) as well as his prior week average (242K).
At the same time, The O’Reilly Factor suffered a rather severe slump. For the same week, it was off its 2nd quarter average by 51%. As result, Countdown came close to beating the Factor on Monday and Wednesday. But the piece de resistance came Thursday when Countdown actually fractured the Factor, topping it by a whopping 94,000 demo viewers. That’s not merely a win, it’s a rout.
It should be noted that Bill O’Reilly was on vacation last week and that explains at least part of the weakness in his ratings. But even comparing last week’s Countdown to the Factor’s 2nd quarter average shows that Olbermann cut a good 10% off of O’Reilly’s lead in just five days. O’Reilly has taken plenty of vacations that did not result in him losing to Countdown. That fact underscores the significance of last week’s performance of both shows.
Hopefully NBC will recognize what’s happening here. And it isn’t just that Olbermann is a phenomenon who warrants additional network attention (although that’s true). It is also that there is a vastly underserved market for mainstream progressive news that is factual and compelling. That is a message that all of the media should heed and act on. It’s time to stop coddling losers like Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson. It’s time to stop pandering to rightist, corporate media. It’s time to start reshaping the media into something more diverse and representative of America.
Last night’s broadcast of Countdown on the mothership, NBC, was a major coup for Keith Olbermann and his MSNBC program.
For all the clamoring for attention that goes on amongst the cable news kiddies, they are all fighting for slices of a relatively small pie. The ratings leader, Bill O’Reilly, averages about 2 million viewers a day. The lowest rated network news program (CBS) pulls in over 6 million. So graduating to the network opens millions of doors to a cablecaster.
Olbermann, not surprisingly, benefited from this. The early results show him with 4.1 million viewers. That only earned him a third place finish, behind “60 Minutes” and “America’s Funniest Videos,” but it was good enough to quadruple his average MSNBC audience. What’s more, (and this has to hurt) it is twice what Bill O’Reilly does on an average night. And this despite having been preempted in some fairly significant markets (i.e. Philadelphia, Baltimore) which could adversely impact Countdown’s numbers.
This is a significant performance, because success is not guaranteed just by changing your address. Last month, Glenn Beck moved up to CNN from Headline News and barely scraped up the viewers he routinely got at his less-watched network. And he underperformed Paula Zahn, for whom he was filling in, by a whopping 23%.
The content of the show was not, in my opinion, representative of Olbermann’s best work. It seemed to me that either he, or the network, was holding back a bit. There were also extended humor segments that weighted the episode a little more to silliness than usual. Nonetheless, it may turn out to be the wise approach if viewers are more comfortable getting their news with a spoonful of aspartame. Still, I hope that if he gets another at bat, the network lets Olbermann be Olbermann. The show is the fastest growing program on cable news for a reason.
The problem with Fox News is not that it’s a right-wing platform for war, intolerance, and greed; it isn’t that it’s spreading propaganda in support of an out-of-control White House that is hoarding unprecedented levels of power; it isn’t that they engage in relentless and unfounded attacks on Democrats, progressives, and the rest of the 72% of Americans that Fox portrays as unpatriotic because they disapprove of Mr. Bush and his war; it isn’t even that it sits at the center of a politically charged media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, a monopolistic ideologue with no allegiance to country or the common good.
Certainly any one of those things would reasonably explain a sharp increase in chronic anxiety, and the combination could set off an epidemic of cerebral aneurysms. But these are not the problems with Fox News.
The problem with Fox News is that people care about Fox News. What I hope to prove here is that it isn’t necessary or useful to do so. They are a constituency whose currency has been devalued by a deliberately constricted field of political viewpoints. In economic terms, the Fox dollar has crashed and it’s time to divest.
The partisan perspective at Fox is not so much a slant as it is a vertical incline. They themselves make little attempt to disclaim their bias. The network adopted its slogan, “Fair and Balanced,” not to signal a practice of evenly weighted reporting, but to indicate their intention to counter a news media that they believed was predominantly liberal. Fox News’ president and chief executive officer, Roger Ailes, even admitted that, “Anybody who says bias does not exist is either lying or stupid.” Not wishing to be cast as either, I’ll take Mr. Ailes at his word and concede that Fox News is biased.
Any evaluation of the social or political impact of that bias is, or course, dependent on the composition of the viewing audience. It would be safe to say that if Sean Hannity broadcast his program into a convention of the Feminist Union Members Against Global Warming, his words would have negligible influence. Obviously, that crowd would be less than receptive to Hannity’s factless fatuousnous. However, he would be equally as ineffectual before an audience of the Pro-life Caucus of the National Rifle Association. While he would be well received, it’s impossible to persuade people to adopt a point of view that they already hold. Consequently, his appearance would produce a net gain of nothing. And the same is true for any Democrat who hopes to profit from appearing on Fox News.
Let’s take a look at the make-up of Fox’s audience. One of the more foreboding characteristics of this group is that they appear to be more loyal to Fox than to Republicans or conservatism. This is a malady that I previously described in The Cult Of Foxonality. Here are three surveys that paint a consistent picture of Fox viewers as a devout congregation of true believers, incapable of critical thought.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press just completed a study that shows that Republicans are more likely to find fault with the media than non-Republicans. But Republicans for whom Fox is their primary source of news, the number is even higher.
World Public Opinion conducted a study in 2005 that proved that Fox viewers were significantly more likely to have misperceptions about the war in Iraq. And viewers who paid more attention were even more misinformed.
The Mellman Group’s research revealed that Fox viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88% to 7%. Only Republicans were more united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers.
What is there in that assembly that holds value for politicians or pundits of the progressive stripe, save for disdain and abuse? The potential for comrades or converts is so small as to be virtually nonexistent. It is long past time for Democrats to recognize this simple fact and resolve to stop allowing themselves to be used for target practice by disingenuous pseudo-journalists whose purpose is to defame and defeat them in politics and public opinion.
The Democrats that recently declined to participate in a Fox-sponsored primary debate proved that there are no discernible repercussions for exhibiting such moral fortitude.
The sole consequence of their defiance was that the agents of Fox set about to disparage them – again. But Fox would have gone on the attack even if they had agreed to participate. Observe the sample of fairness and balance in the video here, and ask yourself whether John Edwards would be justified in shunning Fox News.
So if going on Fox News can’t help Democrats, and staying off can’t hurt them, why is there still a debate about the future course of action? Here’s why…..
Fox News touts itself as the #1 cable news network. On the surface, that’s a plausibly accurate assertion that creates the illusion that an appearance on Fox is potentially advantageous. But, as shown above, it is not.
The other cable news networks, and even the broadcast and newspaper outfits, are intimidated by Fox’s perceived girth. Apparently this turns them into raging imbeciles who conclude that the way to compete with Fox is by emulating them. This behavior is emblematic of an industry that thrives on plagiarism whether it be inspired by a hit movie, a sitcom, or a pop tune. But you cannot beat Fox by copying it. Fans of Fox’s brand of sludge know good slime when they are wallowing in it and they will not settle for cheap imitations.
To make matters worse, competing networks have misunderstood the nature of Fox’s success and are, thus, copying the wrong components. It is not conservatism that draws viewers to Fox – It is conflict. Fox’s strategy was to dress up news as entertainment, employing a formula that includes drama, humor, sentimentality, suspense, sex, and visual and aural cacophony. All the elements of a good, escapist movie-of-the-week. And entertainment has always been a better ratings magnet than news. However…
The ratings story is a fraud. By accepting the premise of an all-powerful Fox Dynasty, everyone from their competitors to their critics to their guests, and even their hosts, are falling prey to a myth. While Fox is indeed the leader in average audience share, when measured by cumulative audience, CNN still beats Fox by delivering more unique viewers (see more here and here). Additionally, the relative performance of cable news is still far below that of its broadcast cousins. Even SpongeBob SquarePants has a bigger audience than Fox’s #1 show, the O’Reilly Factor.
So there goes the only remaining weapon in Fox’s arsenal. It should now be clear that Fox is neither a gateway to valuable audience exposure, nor a hospitable port for wayward Democrats. The way is now clear to steer wide of Fox News altogether. This new course can lead to a number of considerable benefits.
The O’Reilly Interview 101
Ask direct yes or no questions where one answer is clearly reprehensible and the other is totally meaningless, and bully your guest into responding.
“Do you want the U.S. to lose in Iraq? Well, do you?” Create an association with an unpopular (preferably mischaracterized) opinion with the broadest attribution possible.
“Do you agree with Harry Belafonte, and the rest of the liberal establishment, that Venezuela should take over America?” Never concede on substance, even if your arguments are demonstrably false.
“Saddam Hussein did too meet with Osama Bin Laden at Michael Moore’s compound in Libya – Twice.” Employ ad hominims liberally.
“Why should anyone listen to a radical, Kool-Aid drinking, far-left loon like you?” Shout louder than your guests and interrupt frequently, especially when they are making a good point. [Inspired by KimChi]
Stop the Masochism
First and foremost, it would put an end to the unnecessary submission to assaults from disreputable smearcasters with demonstrably hostile intentions. Bill O’Reilly is the premium model for such encounters. It is impossible to win a debate with him because he doesn’t care about winning. He is only concerned with generating the sort of heat that fuels his ego and his ratings. He only books three types of guests: Those who agree with him; those he can dominate; and those he can exploit. Don’t be one of them.
The Sinking of Fox
The loss of Democrats as foils would transform the character of Fox’s conflict-driven programming, resulting in less controversy and, hence, lower ratings. Viewers would quickly become bored with repeated appearances by Fred Barnes, Michelle Malkin, Dick Morris, and Geraldo Rivera. Minus the shoutfests, and the potential for on-air meltdowns, there is no reason to watch Fox. Neil Cavuto is already whining about his inability book A-list Democrats, and O’Reilly has made it a staple of his program to lambaste no-shows as cowards. That’s a desperation move on his part because he knows he can’t force guests into his inquisitor’s lair. When the entertainment value of Fox disappears, so will its audience, its ratings, and its cache in the media.
Deprive Fox of Bragging Rights
One of the most galling traits of Fox personalities is the way they use their ratings to validate their disinformation agenda. But even if the ratings story weren’t a myth as described above, they still have a flawed argument. McDonald’s is the #1 restaurant in America. I don’t think that anyone interprets that to mean that they have the best food. What they have is the cheapest crap that is loaded with filler and seasoning to appeal to the largest number of consumers with the least sophisticated taste (Hey, that’s a pretty good description of Fox News). Absent their ratings victories, however, they can’t even make this flawed argument.
Affirm Fox’s Lack of Credibility
The mere act of not showing up sends a message that Fox is not deserving or reputable. By sequestering Fox they will be left to themselves and their minions to dispense their McNews. It will make it that much more obvious to observe how they are attempting to denigrate their ideological opponents and to manipulate popular opinion.
Encourage More Responsible Journalism
By using discretion when formulating a media strategy, Democrats can strike a blow in favor of a more honest and independent press. It does not further the goals of ethical journalism to accommodate deceitful practitioners. Conversely, it does advance such goals to purposefully engage media who adhere to higher standards. What’s bad for Fox is good for journalism.
Rupert Murdoch and his rightist platform for propaganda must not be further appeased. All previous efforts to abate the influence of Fox News have failed because they generally reserved a place for Fox in the effort. This has to stop. It’s time to go cold turkey.
Starve The Beast
The solution is obvious. Democrats and progressives have got to swear off Fox News. They must decline all interviews. They must stay off of that tainted air. They must avoid the Stuttering Jesse’s (Watters, O’Reilly’s producer) that are resorting to ambush interviews. They must continue to refuse to participate in Foxic events like debates or forums. And if they find themselves trapped in an appearance from which they cannot escape, they must be certain to pepper their remarks with the truth about Fox. Let the audience know that this network is degrading public discourse and leading viewers astray. And don’t let the bullies steer the dialog.
Progressive politicians and pundits must be called upon to heed this advice. It is more than just a request. It is an obligation. Every time one of our representatives appears on Fox, they are setting back our agenda. They are not just wasting a little time trying to confront the enemy in its lair. They are literally causing harm to the efforts of the rest of us who are fervently struggling to repair and improve our country. Anyone in our political provinces who betrays our mission by succumbing to the Fox siren should be firmly scolded and educated as to the damage they are inflicting.
I propose that we have a routine response to the weak and the fraternizers. If you should spot one of them across enemy lines, send them a link to this article with this introduction:
Please stop hurting our cause by appearing on Fox News. Rupert Murdoch and his media megaphone is openly hostile to our agenda and our representatives. They will only use your appearance to distort your message and derail our mission. Studies have proven that their audience is unreceptive, and even antagonistic, to us. Your appearance will be rewarded more with ridicule than respect.
I therefore request that you refrain from such appearances in order that you not do further damage to the goals we share by helping to strengthen the foremost advocate of our defeat.
If we can build a united front against the lies and insults that are the daily repast on Fox, we can also start to reform the broader media landscape that is bewitched by Fox’s aura. And it is long past time that we break this sorcerer’s spell.
While most of America, and the world, is focused on painfully real wars and their tragic consequences, Bill O’Reilly is engaging a different enemy, a far more dangerous enemy, in his mind, because it originates in his mind. When O’Reilly said on his radio show that he…
On his radio show last week, Bill O’Reilly regaled his audience with a 
