{"id":1634,"date":"2010-05-03T12:26:03","date_gmt":"2010-05-03T19:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2010-06-01T01:52:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-01T08:52:55","slug":"phil-griffin-of-msnbc-%e2%99%a5s-roger-ailes-of-fox-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1634","title":{"rendered":"Phil Griffin Of MSNBC ♥’s Roger Ailes Of Fox News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RogerPhil Griffin, president of MSNBC, was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune<\/a> and provided an outstanding example of the sort of clueless, illogical, journalistic myopia that is rotting away the American press. When asked about his rival Roger Ailes at Fox News, he gave an almost fawning response that makes one wonder if they are really rivals at all.<\/p>\n

“He’s changed media. Everybody does news differently because Roger’s changed the world. Roger early on figured it out and was brilliant.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed. Roger Ailes changed media – for the worse! His “brilliant”<\/em> idea was to transform the news into a rancorous, talk-radio style, shoutfest that manufactured conflict and spun every story as far to the right as their ideological wheel could turn. The inspiration behind Fox’s brand loyalty is talk-radio, soap operas, and tabloid news vendors like the National Enquirer, a pseudo-news enterprise that is deliberately dishonest, but enjoys the rabid devotion of an undiscerning audience that is drawn to gossip, drama, and salaciousness. Fox is an entertainment company, not a news provider, as they have said themselves:<\/p>\n

Roger Ailes<\/a>: I’m not in politics, I’m in ratings<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rupert Murdoch<\/a>: I’m not averse to high ratings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Glenn Beck<\/a>: I could give a flying crap about the political process. […] We’re an entertainment company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Griffin really believes that his mission is to emulate Fox from the opposite end of the political spectrum, he will only succeed in further debasing the media. In addition, he will miss the opportunity to effectively compete in the cable news marketplace. He needs to realize that, not being a news network, Fox is no more his competition than is Nickelodeon (which I’ve said before is a better source than Fox for news and plays to a smarter audience).<\/p>\n

Griffin is not the only news professional to misread the market. Almost every executive and analyst has concluded that Fox’s ratings dominance is a function of ideology. But that is a shallow analysis that fails to address the real problem. People need to stop thinking of Fox as a network of conservatives that you counter with a network of liberals. The reality is that Fox is a network of liars that you counter with a network of truth tellers.<\/p>\n

This approach doesn’t imply partisanship to anything other than facts. It also does not swear a blind allegiance to the thoroughly misconstrued concept of balance. A responsible journalist is under no obligation to balance a set of facts with a litany of lies just so that some other perspective is represented. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean you need to resign yourself to a bland presentation of the events of the day. Important things are going on. No one can dismiss the inherent drama that is played out in the public debates over health care or immigration or Wall Street corruption. It doesn’t need to be contrived. It just needs to be told compellingly and honestly. I am convinced that there are more people in the TV audience who want useful, factual information, than there are people who want sobbing rodeo clowns drawing their divinely inspired delusions on blackboards.<\/p>\n

If Griffin were to apply basic fundamentals of entertainment to a more journalistically ethical approach he could attract a much larger and more loyal audience. He needs to give news consumers a little more credit for being discriminating, skeptical, curious, and capable of understanding the issues that bear directly on their lives. The last thing we need is more of the cheapening of journalism that Ailes has proffered. And we certainly should not be honoring him for the damage he has already done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune and provided an outstanding example of the sort of clueless, illogical, journalistic myopia that is rotting away the American press. When asked about his rival Roger Ailes at Fox News, he gave an almost fawning response that makes one wonder if they are really […]<\/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":[1,16],"tags":[33,22,21,143],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-wankery","tag-fox-news","tag-msnbc","tag-phil-griffin","tag-roger-ailes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-qm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3141,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3141","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":0},"title":"Phil Griffin: MSNBC’s Embeded Fox News Groupie","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/5\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was reminded of an article I wrote last May by a Twitterer who apparently knows my work better than I do. Below are a few choice excerpts that paint a clearer picture of the man that just put Keith Olbermann on suspension. Phil Griffin Of MSNBC \u2665\u2019s Roger Ailes\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":27363,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=27363","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":1},"title":"Fox News CEO Admits That The Network Is Not In The News Business","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/9\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Objective viewers have long ago concluded that Fox News is not, and never has been, a legitimate news network. They began as a project by right-wing propagandist Rupert Murdoch and Republican media strategist Roger Ailes to spread disinformation and promote GOP politicians. And for the past 17 years they have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"TV Guide Fox News","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tv-guise-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tv-guise-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tv-guise-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34700,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=34700","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":2},"title":"Disgraced, Lying, Sexual Predator (and Former Fox News CEO) Roger Ailes is Dead at 77","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/18\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The conservative media world is mourning the death of its patron saint, Roger Ailes. The founder and former CEO of Fox News passed away on Thursday just as his latest project, the Donald Trump presidency, was entering intensive care. Ailes will surely be remembered for having built a television network\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roger Ailes Outnumberd","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/ailes-outnumbered.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/ailes-outnumbered.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/ailes-outnumbered.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/ailes-outnumbered.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6872,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6872","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":3},"title":"Roger Ailes Talks To Students About News Nazis And The Infallibility Of Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/13\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The first bit of advice that Fox News CEO Roger Ailes had for journalism students at the University of North Carolina was \"Change your major.\" It isn't difficult to surmise why Ailes would counsel students planning careers in the press to stop studying journalism. The last thing that Ailes wants\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":939,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=939","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":4},"title":"Tax Cheats: Bill O’Reilly And Roger Ailes","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/6\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The anti-Keith Olbermann blog OlbermannWatch has been pounding the pavement with a bogus story of tax evasion on the part of MSNBC's star host. Now the Associated Press has picked up the item citing OW as its source. The network responded to the allegation prior to the AP's report: \"MSNBC\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":3956,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3956","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":5},"title":"Broadcast Media Ignores Major Fox News Scandal","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/28\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What does it take to get the attention of the media when a corrosive scandal erupts that they don't seem to want to cover? This past week a prominent and powerful public figure was implicated in a searing and salacious controversy. It involves sex, felonious criminal conduct, corporate intrigue, political\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","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=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1687,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/1687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}