{"id":1232,"date":"2009-03-30T14:16:16","date_gmt":"2009-03-30T21:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2009-03-30T17:40:53","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T00:40:53","slug":"the-fox-nation-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1232","title":{"rendered":"The Fox Nation Launches A Dud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This morning there was a disturbance in the Force. The Fox Nation debuted amidst fanfare and the gnashing of teeth at tea parties everywhere. However, reports of the Fox News secession movement appear to have been a little overblown (by me, mostly). The reality of the Fox Nation is significantly less substantial than previously predicted.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Pix\/Caps\/foxnation1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Fox Nation is apparently not an attempt to abandon the Union (although <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1229\" target=\"_blank\">my satirical representation<\/a> of it as such was actually taken seriously by some right-wing conspiracy theorists across the InterTubes). It is merely a low grade, right-wing, knockoff of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\" target=\"_blank\">Huffington Post<\/a>. The partisan character of its Fox News parentage, however, is plainly visible. The <em>&#8220;fair and balanced &#8220;<\/em> collection of articles featured at the top of its page (see picture above) present the President as <em>&#8220;scary&#8221;<\/em> and promote the rightist triumvirate of Limbaugh, O&#8217;Reilly, and Beck (oh my). Digging down further we find a plethora of partisanship in reporting:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chris Dodd&#8217;s cavalcade of scandal<\/li>\n<li>Lobbyist scandal to ensnare Murtha?<\/li>\n<li>Dick Morris: Obama soft on terror, hard on charities<\/li>\n<li>Daily Beast: Who did Pelosi&#8217;s face?<\/li>\n<li>Affirmative Action for Muslims in the White House?<\/li>\n<li>Stacked!! Obama fills town hall with supporters<\/li>\n<li>Hannity holding Tea Party on Tax Day<\/li>\n<li>WaPo interrogation story &#8216;rife with misinformation&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Video: Bill Maher smears US troops<\/li>\n<li>Limbaugh ratings skyrocket after Democrat attacks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course the headlines on Fox Nation must not be taken too seriously. For instance, the article about Obama stacking his town hall with supporters doesn&#8217;t actually produce any evidence of that being done. In fact, <a href=\"http:\/\/voices.washingtonpost.com\/44\/2009\/03\/27\/obama_town_hall_questioners_we.html\" target=\"_blank\">it reports<\/a> that invitations were sent to many groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. With regard to the Huffington Post, Fox Nation takes a swipe at them as well, with an article derogatorily titled, <em>&#8220;Huffington Post to rummage through your trash.&#8221;<\/em> The <a href=\"http:\/\/hosted.ap.org\/dynamic\/stories\/I\/INVESTIGATIVE_JOURNALISTS?SITE=AP&#038;SECTION=HOME&#038;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&#038;CTIME=2009-03-29-19-30-04\" target=\"_blank\">actual article<\/a> is about a new investigative journalism venture by HuffPo, not some dumpster diving sensationalism. We&#8217;ll leave that to Fox. Recall also that O&#8217;Reilly has <a href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/items\/200802280002\" target=\"_blank\">compared Arianna Huffington to Nazis<\/a>. I don&#8217;t expect it will be long before he and the rest of the Fox lineup will escalate their war against HuffPo as a competitor the way they have with NBC.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously the intent of Fox Nation is to inject a negative tone whether or not anyone ever clicks through to the articles. And it&#8217;s revealing to take a look at the heavily right-weighted array of news sources employed on Fox Nation &#8211; including four owned by Rupert Murdoch:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New York Post (Murdoch)<\/li>\n<li>Wall Street Journal (Murdoch)<\/li>\n<li>Fox Business Network (Murdoch)<\/li>\n<li>The Sun (Murdoch)<\/li>\n<li>Townhall.com<\/li>\n<li>Michele Malkin<\/li>\n<li>Andrew Breitbart<\/li>\n<li>Washington Times<\/li>\n<li>NewsBusters<\/li>\n<li>National Review<\/li>\n<li>Conservative Express<\/li>\n<li>NewsMax<\/li>\n<li>Matt Drudge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the end, the Fox Nation is nothing more than a dressed up version of the Fox Forums that already pollute the web. But that doesn&#8217;t mean it isn&#8217;t a potential threat to civil discourse and domestic tranquility. Fox Nation aggregates the Fox audience under a single banner that gives them an identity and a flag to fly. The comments section is as ideologically monochromatic as you would expect from the Fox stable of so-called <em>&#8220;news&#8221;<\/em> enterprises. It is also overtly hostile to anyone not sufficiently attuned to neo-Dark-Age conservatism. The community, hyped as <em>&#8220;a place to call home,&#8221;<\/em> is as rabidly anti-Obama as it is bewitched by Beck.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s still early, and perhaps this is just the first phase of the eventual division of America. It goes without saying that Fox has as its purpose to be divisive and that Fox Nation is in alignment with purpose. It just remains to be seen how far they will go. And for this reason it remains important to keep an eye on future developments.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2009\/03\/29\/AR2009032902102_pf.html\" target=\"_blank\">This just in<\/a>: Fox News Senior VP Bill Shine says of Fox Nation, <em>&#8220;We&#8217;re calling it a mix between the Huffington Post and Drudge.&#8221;<\/em> Hmmm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning there was a disturbance in the Force. The Fox Nation debuted amidst fanfare and the gnashing of teeth at tea parties everywhere. However, reports of the Fox News secession movement appear to have been a little overblown (by me, mostly). The reality of the Fox Nation is significantly less substantial than previously predicted. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,1,8],"tags":[528,26,527,33,44,498,30],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-media","category-general","category-propaganda","tag-arianna-huffington","tag-bill-oreilly","tag-fox-nation","tag-fox-news","tag-glenn-beck","tag-huffington-post","tag-rupert-murdoch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-jS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6094,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6094","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":0},"title":"Fox News: The Most Powerful Propagandist Since Goebbels","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/1\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Fox News waited until the last day of 2011 to publish the most absurdly hyperbolic piece of journalistic comedy\/trash of the year. And that's a high bar for Fox. Dan Gainor is a VP for the Media Research Center, an ultra-conservative operation that exists to bash Democrats and advance the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1383","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":1},"title":"Rupert Murdoch Says 9\/11 Is Bullshit And Should Be Forgotten","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/28\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The faux patriots at Fox Nation are making a habit of exploiting the image of 9\/11 and contriving false and negative associations with Democrats. Last week the Fox Nationalists published an article accusing President Obama of desecrating the memory of 9\/11 because he supported a National Day of Service to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1347,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1347","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":2},"title":"Fox Nation Touts Grand Theft As A Fun New Sport","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/31\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There is an item today on Rupert Murdoch's The Fox Nation that links to an article in Murdoch's English newspaper, The Sun. The Sun's report concerns Dutch victims of criminal vandals who are stealing and destroying automobiles. What sets this apart from conventional crimes is that the perpetrators have singled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1337,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1337","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":3},"title":"Walter Cronkite On Fox News: Beyond Conservative","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/18\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There are really very few times when the phrase \"the end of an era\" is actually true. But in the case of Walter Cronkite, it could not be more appropriate. He presided over so many of the most significant events of the latter half of the twentieth century that it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6260,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6260","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":4},"title":"Gabrielle Giffords To Resign From Congress: Fox Nation&#8217;s Nauseating Response","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/22\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A year ago this month, in a shopping mall in Tucson, Arizona, a shocking and tragic massacre occurred that took the lives of six people and wounded 13 others, including U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords was shot in the head and has been fighting courageously to restore her health. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6506,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6506","url_meta":{"origin":1232,"position":5},"title":"Fox Nation vs. Reality: Taking Candy From Children","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/28\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Fox Nation is reporting the results of a new study that reveals some of the character differentials between the rich and the poor. As reported in the Huffington Post: \"The report contradicts the notion that poor people are more likely to act unethically out of financial necessity. Instead, the researchers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}