The string of confessions coming out of Fox News is shaping into a pattern of greed and deceit that ought to attract some attention from their viewers. You know, the people who regard Fox as a beacon of truth in a mediasphere contaminated by alleged liberal propaganda. What should those people think if Fox admits that they have been playing them for chumps and are only interested in squeezing them for advertising dollars?<\/p>\n
That is precisely what Fox has admitted on several recent occasions. Here are some of the more egregious examples:<\/p>\n
\n\n Roger Ailes<\/a>: I’m not in politics, I’m in ratings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\n Rupert Murdoch<\/a>: I’m not averse to high ratings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\n Glenn Beck<\/a>: I could give a flying crap about the political process. […] We’re an entertainment company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n On the surface, it appears that these are stipulations that the ideological prejudice of Fox News is a calculated ploy to garner the sort of devoted viewers that translate into higher ratings. If that’s true, then Fox’s viewers ought to feel manipulated and insulted by this blatant exploitation, not to mention the offense at having been deliberately misinformed.<\/p>\n
However, there may be an entirely different reason for these recent assertions. Fox has been taking a considerable amount of heat lately for their glaringly unbalanced and unprofessional coverage of the news. They are losing advertisers on some of their top programs. There are thoughtful conservatives expressing their distaste for the hysterical extremism the network has come to represent. And they are becoming the laughing stock of broadcast journalism.<\/p>\n
Consequently, it may be the intention of the Fox hierarchy to separate themselves from their disreputable and embarrassing departure from ethical journalism. And by asserting that their mission the whole time was to provide entertainment and increase ratings, they think they can shield themselves from the charges of shoddy and biased reporting. They are saying, in effect, that they have not been taking sides politically, they have merely been staging a performance aimed at an audience hungry for theater. <\/p>\n
That’s a lose\/lose argument. In effect they are conceding that they produce shoddy journalism, but they’re only doing it to lure gullible viewers. So this argument shows neither an appreciation for ethical reporting, nor respect for their audience. And the sad thing is that their audience will never accept or understand this, even if they were to hear about it. Which is unlikely if they stay tuned to Fox News.<\/p>\n
Personally, I don’t buy this argument. While it is obvious that Fox plays to the gut for entertainment value, the political bias runs so deep that it could not possibly be incidental. So in the end, Fox is guilty of both exploitation and partisanship. It’s the worst of both worlds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The string of confessions coming out of Fox News is shaping into a pattern of greed and deceit that ought to attract some attention from their viewers. You know, the people who regard Fox as a beacon of truth in a mediasphere contaminated by alleged liberal propaganda. What should those people think if Fox admits […]<\/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":[1,684],"tags":[747,33,44,143,30],"class_list":["post-1615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-media-bias","tag-forbes","tag-fox-news","tag-glenn-beck","tag-roger-ailes","tag-rupert-murdoch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-q3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1516","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":0},"title":"Ashamed And Sickened By Roger Ailes","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/10\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has become a bit of a crimp in the Murdoch family's harmony. The New York Times is reporting that Matthew Freud, the husband of Rupert Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, is not particularly fond of his in-laws. Freud: I am by no means alone within the family\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":938,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=938","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":1},"title":"Rupert Murdoch To Fire Roger Ailes?","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/6\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If Gawker is to believed, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, and his longtime Fox News chief Roger Ailes, have had a falling out that may cost Ailes his job. The alleged spat arose from the controversial near publication of O.J. Simpson's confessional book, \"If I Did It.\" The backlash from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4068,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4068","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":2},"title":"Why Does Fox News Keep Glenn Beck Around?","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/16\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a discussion on the fairness and balance of Fox News, the network's CEO Roger Ailes famously told Barbara Walters that, \"I'm not in politics. I'm in ratings. We're winning.\" If we are to take Ailes at his word, then we have to wonder why he keeps Glenn Beck on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4501,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4501","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":3},"title":"Understatement Of The Year: Sarah Palin Is An Idiot","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/23\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In an article published in New York Magazine, Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News is reported to have told colleagues that he thinks Sarah Palin is an idiot and unhelpful to the conservative movement. Really? Gosh, we never knew. But to be fair, there was a lot more of interest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8674,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8674","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":4},"title":"Has Roger Ailes Seized Fox News From A Senile, Incompetent Rupert Murdoch?","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/16\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing that has been well established through decades of media domination by Rupert Murdoch is that his will was supreme in the organizations he ran. He made virtually every decision of significance with regard to management, economics, and personnel. And he was never shy about imposing his worldview to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1039,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1039","url_meta":{"origin":1615,"position":5},"title":"Obama “Lit Into” Ailes At Secret Meeting With Murdoch","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/2\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Wolff, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, is preparing to release an authorized biography of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch. 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