{"id":8297,"date":"2012-10-25T11:19:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T18:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8297"},"modified":"2012-10-25T11:36:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T18:36:43","slug":"the-gops-faith-based-obsession-with-fox-news-and-other-lightweight-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8297","title":{"rendered":"The GOP’s Faith-Based Obsession With Fox News And Other Lightweight Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report by YouGov’s BrandIndex<\/a> reveals something of the character of Republicans and their focus as consumers. The study ranks the favorite brands of Americans and segments them by political party.<\/p>\n\n\n
The top ten brands for Democrats are familiar consumer names with little affiliation to politics:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Google<\/li>\n
  2. Amazon.com<\/li>\n
  3. Cheerios<\/li>\n
  4. Clorox<\/li>\n
  5. Craftsman<\/li>\n
  6. Dawn<\/li>\n
  7. M&Ms<\/li>\n
  8. Levis<\/li>\n
  9. PBS<\/li>\n
  10. Sony<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n
Republicans, on the other hand, lead off their list with the most partisan brand name imaginable:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Fox News<\/li>\n
  2. History Channel<\/li>\n
  3. Craftsman<\/li>\n
  4. Chick-Fil-A<\/li>\n
  5. Johnson & Johnson<\/li>\n
  6. Lowe’s<\/li>\n
  7. Cheerios<\/li>\n
  8. Clorox<\/li>\n
  9. FOX<\/li>\n
  10. Discovery Channel<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

    \"PrayThe lists illustrate the core differences between how Democrats and Republicans face the society they live in. It is a testament to what is important to each of them. And clearly Republicans place a great deal of emphasis on the network that keeps them supplied with right-wing talking points and propaganda. (And it’s no coincidence that Chick-Fil-A popped up for the first time). It’s a major victory for the marketing gurus at Fox to have their network place first in such a survey, and it says a lot about the measure of devotion that Fox’s disciples have for a media ministry that is literally faith-based (as opposed to facts).<\/p>\n

    While the only media entity that appears on the Democrat’s list is PBS, the Republicans have a total of four, including the Fox Broadcast network and cable’s Discovery and History channels. Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that right-wingers are drawn to educational programming, it should be noted that the Discovery and History channels have not exactly lived up to their founding principles in the early days of cable when they were promoted as alternatives to PBS. Typical fare on these networks is “reality”<\/em> hogwash like Pawn Stars, UFO Files, and American Pickers (on History), and American Chopper, Auction Kings, and Moonshiners (on Discovery).<\/p>\n

    The heavy weighting of media by Republicans is evidence of their reliance on a paternalistic press to shape their thinking and comfort them when breaking news doesn’t go their way. Fox News is a warming hearth that always gives them a pro-GOP spin to ease their electoral anxiety. It is a 24 hour intravenous shot of conservatism. Stephen Colbert, once again, demonstrated this in a brilliant segment last night that mocked Fox-style “journalism.”<\/em><\/p>\n