Prince Phillip, may he rest in peace, had it right when he had this exchange with a London Times reporter:
“ ‘Peter Brookes, sir, the Times,’ at which point Phil the Greek exploded … ‘The Times? Bloody Murdoch rag! Wouldn’t have it in the house! Dreadful self-righteous rubbish!’ “
A commenter said recently about why corporations are making such a big stink about restricting voting rights that corporations don’t want to appeal to an audience whose average age in 57. So why does a supposedly brilliant businessman keep doing that? His audience is aging and is dying off even more quickly due to Rupert’s propaganda machine convincing them COVID is a hoax. Ditto for Republicans. Both are targeting an ever-shrinking constituency which is a losing strategy in any book. Neither Rupert or Republicans have a clue about how healthy businesses operate.
They fired all serious news staff after calling Nevada, and elevated their propaganda team. It's true that Biden will have a hard time justifying their dismissal, but at this point there's nothing to lose. Fox refused to treat Obama as a president for racist reasons. Now they refuse to acknowledge anyone but Trump holds power.
This is the hill they are willing to die on. Let's write executive orders and pass laws that destroy the ability of these false information networks to survive. Start with the money.
The useless White House Correspondence Association in general, and Jake Tapper in specific, threw a hissy fit in 2009 when the Obama Adm. moved Fox News out of the front row in the press room. The so called "liberal media" simply could not tolerate such an insult to their colleagues. But the same crew stood silently while Trump berated them and Spicer/Sanders/McEnany made press briefings a sick joke. I predict that if the Biden Adm rightly yanked Fox News' ticket the WHCA would take a moment away from planning its annual prom to loudly complain.
I had a physics professor once who insisted we find a hypothetical average by totaling all the numbers, throwing out the highest and the lowest, and then divide the new total by the resulting number of entries. The idea was to unweight the extremes. The obvious parallel in current affairs would accomplish the same, both in the media and the congress. But many Americans' reliance on tv soundbites, headlines, celebrity and shiny objects coupled with an apparent lack of interest in reading much past the lede (or the eight-second clip) thrives in this environment. So the Carlsons and the Hannities and the rest of the Foxies won't step aside from their profit center by choice because the extremes are where the money is. These extremist are complicit in the destruction of civil discourse. There has to be a way to break this chain.
The most damning quote from Tucker Carlson’s Sturm und Drang is:
“It’s a voting-rights question. In a democracy, one person equals one vote. If you change the population, you dilute the political power of the people who live there. So every time they import a new voter, I become disenfranchised as a current voter.”
Carlson is not talking about illegal immigration, he’s talking about ALL immigration. Simply breath-taking.
From Dave Weigel on Twitter: "A fascinating political data point I never hear anybody discuss: Biden's approval among Democrats in Gallup's polling has been, so far, as high or higher as GOP support for Trump ever was." Gee, I wonder why WH Press Corps???
I agree completely that Fox isn't legitimate. But I can't help but disagree that it is up to the White House to determine who in the press is or isn't legitimate or "deserves" credentials. I'd prefer if the administration let them keep their press passes as long as the WHCA wants, but also became far more direct at denouncing them and other sources of misinformation and disinformation.
I agree that the White House should ban Fox News from press briefings. Are they afraid that Fox's backlash will be too harsh? I don't get it. No matter what Biden does, Fox is going to bash him for it anyway. I think the WH is afraid they won't be perceived as fair and balanced if they throw Fox News out. Just do it already. Let the Republicans go on Hannity and Carlson to cry foul to a shrinking audience. Who cares?
Fox is a shameless, dangerous and morally bankrupt operation that incessantly lies and disrespects its audience while befouling our democratic values. How do the pundits go home with clear consciences? Power? Greed? I’m amazed by the damage Fox does and continues to get away with. I’m with Eric, take away Fox’s WH press passes as Fox is in the propaganda business.
The problem with the headline is that Fux Noise NEVER should have had White House press credentials. But this actually goes to the bigger problem.
Consider John Roberts--not the subtle racist at the center of the Supreme Court, but the subtle racist "covering" the White House for Fux Noise. Unlike Peter Douchey, he actually has been a reporter in his life. And he could have stayed at CBS News, not in the anchor position he thought he was getting, but in a fine job, and been with a moderately reputable organization, notwithstanding some of its employees who would make Murrow spin in the sod if he hadn't been cremated. Others who cover the White House treat Roberts like a reporter. He's not. He's a paid propagandist. So is Chris Wallace, even when he shows signs of remembering that he used to be a journalist. And I say that because you cannot be a journalist and be at Fux Noise.
BUT the hundredth-of-a-cent streetwalkers who comprise 99.44% of the beltway political media and their satellites around the country are too busy being incestuous to do their jobs and cover actual news. So they treat these people like reporters instead of the professional lepers they are. And my apologies to lepers for that comparison.
The only consolation in a damned if you do damned if you don't predicament is getting to choose the one which fits your values. Perhaps the wise choice here is to stand for journalism and let the chips fall where they may. Quite the dilemma you've focused on here.
The GOP and Fox are stuck in a positive feedback loop. Republicans sought to create their own media channels to support conservative interpretation of the news and their messaging. The tail now wags the dog.
The meme is that reality has a liberal bias - so their response was to eliminate that ‘bias’ from their news, and call the rest of the media biased for attempting to accord with reality.
A certain amount of media both-siderism and false equivalence is an attempt to accommodate the irreconcilable. It’s also from the belief that it’s not the media’s proper role to tell people what to believe, but just lay out differing views and let people decide on their own.
Tom Tomorrow does an excellent job depicting the resulting absurdities with his “Action McNews” and “Life in the Stupidverse” themes. (See this week’s cartoon for an example.)
Press Run and This Modern World should work on some cross promotion.
Is it even possible to take away Fox’s White House press credentials outright? I’m old enough to remember when WHCA threw a hissy fit when the Obama team simply moved Fox from the front row and called them out on their bullshit. Taking away their credentials would surely elicit an even bigger “outrage” response.
So maybe the answer is to enlist the WHCA as an ally to police their own by establishing basic journalistic standards that, if ignored, will result in real world penalties of escalating degrees:
1) Private warning
2) Public reprimand
3) Suspension
4) Revocation of credentials.
Those standards would be for them to just do the job with integrity, i.e. no lying, no propaganda, no disinformation, no coordinated messaging with opposition political parties/politicians/organizations, etc...
Basically, the same exact way the ABA oversees and disciplines lawyers. Just because it’s a constitutional right doesn’t mean the free press should be an absolute free-for-all that endangers the public and erodes American democracy.
Prince Phillip, may he rest in peace, had it right when he had this exchange with a London Times reporter:
“ ‘Peter Brookes, sir, the Times,’ at which point Phil the Greek exploded … ‘The Times? Bloody Murdoch rag! Wouldn’t have it in the house! Dreadful self-righteous rubbish!’ “
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/10/murdoch-rag-martin-rowson-recalls-prince-philips-verdict-on-the-times
A commenter said recently about why corporations are making such a big stink about restricting voting rights that corporations don’t want to appeal to an audience whose average age in 57. So why does a supposedly brilliant businessman keep doing that? His audience is aging and is dying off even more quickly due to Rupert’s propaganda machine convincing them COVID is a hoax. Ditto for Republicans. Both are targeting an ever-shrinking constituency which is a losing strategy in any book. Neither Rupert or Republicans have a clue about how healthy businesses operate.
They fired all serious news staff after calling Nevada, and elevated their propaganda team. It's true that Biden will have a hard time justifying their dismissal, but at this point there's nothing to lose. Fox refused to treat Obama as a president for racist reasons. Now they refuse to acknowledge anyone but Trump holds power.
This is the hill they are willing to die on. Let's write executive orders and pass laws that destroy the ability of these false information networks to survive. Start with the money.
The useless White House Correspondence Association in general, and Jake Tapper in specific, threw a hissy fit in 2009 when the Obama Adm. moved Fox News out of the front row in the press room. The so called "liberal media" simply could not tolerate such an insult to their colleagues. But the same crew stood silently while Trump berated them and Spicer/Sanders/McEnany made press briefings a sick joke. I predict that if the Biden Adm rightly yanked Fox News' ticket the WHCA would take a moment away from planning its annual prom to loudly complain.
I had a physics professor once who insisted we find a hypothetical average by totaling all the numbers, throwing out the highest and the lowest, and then divide the new total by the resulting number of entries. The idea was to unweight the extremes. The obvious parallel in current affairs would accomplish the same, both in the media and the congress. But many Americans' reliance on tv soundbites, headlines, celebrity and shiny objects coupled with an apparent lack of interest in reading much past the lede (or the eight-second clip) thrives in this environment. So the Carlsons and the Hannities and the rest of the Foxies won't step aside from their profit center by choice because the extremes are where the money is. These extremist are complicit in the destruction of civil discourse. There has to be a way to break this chain.
The most damning quote from Tucker Carlson’s Sturm und Drang is:
“It’s a voting-rights question. In a democracy, one person equals one vote. If you change the population, you dilute the political power of the people who live there. So every time they import a new voter, I become disenfranchised as a current voter.”
Carlson is not talking about illegal immigration, he’s talking about ALL immigration. Simply breath-taking.
From Dave Weigel on Twitter: "A fascinating political data point I never hear anybody discuss: Biden's approval among Democrats in Gallup's polling has been, so far, as high or higher as GOP support for Trump ever was." Gee, I wonder why WH Press Corps???
as Sam Youngman said on Twitter: "The US set another record for vaccinations this weekend and Republicans want to know why Biden isn’t tweeting more."
This morning while the country is reeling from another police shooting of an unarmed black man, Fox is talking about the Masters Golf Tournament.
I think it would be a PR gift to Fox News if the WH pulled their credentials. Better to ridicule them and point out their lies at the press briefings.
I agree completely that Fox isn't legitimate. But I can't help but disagree that it is up to the White House to determine who in the press is or isn't legitimate or "deserves" credentials. I'd prefer if the administration let them keep their press passes as long as the WHCA wants, but also became far more direct at denouncing them and other sources of misinformation and disinformation.
I agree that the White House should ban Fox News from press briefings. Are they afraid that Fox's backlash will be too harsh? I don't get it. No matter what Biden does, Fox is going to bash him for it anyway. I think the WH is afraid they won't be perceived as fair and balanced if they throw Fox News out. Just do it already. Let the Republicans go on Hannity and Carlson to cry foul to a shrinking audience. Who cares?
Fox is a shameless, dangerous and morally bankrupt operation that incessantly lies and disrespects its audience while befouling our democratic values. How do the pundits go home with clear consciences? Power? Greed? I’m amazed by the damage Fox does and continues to get away with. I’m with Eric, take away Fox’s WH press passes as Fox is in the propaganda business.
The problem with the headline is that Fux Noise NEVER should have had White House press credentials. But this actually goes to the bigger problem.
Consider John Roberts--not the subtle racist at the center of the Supreme Court, but the subtle racist "covering" the White House for Fux Noise. Unlike Peter Douchey, he actually has been a reporter in his life. And he could have stayed at CBS News, not in the anchor position he thought he was getting, but in a fine job, and been with a moderately reputable organization, notwithstanding some of its employees who would make Murrow spin in the sod if he hadn't been cremated. Others who cover the White House treat Roberts like a reporter. He's not. He's a paid propagandist. So is Chris Wallace, even when he shows signs of remembering that he used to be a journalist. And I say that because you cannot be a journalist and be at Fux Noise.
BUT the hundredth-of-a-cent streetwalkers who comprise 99.44% of the beltway political media and their satellites around the country are too busy being incestuous to do their jobs and cover actual news. So they treat these people like reporters instead of the professional lepers they are. And my apologies to lepers for that comparison.
The only consolation in a damned if you do damned if you don't predicament is getting to choose the one which fits your values. Perhaps the wise choice here is to stand for journalism and let the chips fall where they may. Quite the dilemma you've focused on here.
The GOP and Fox are stuck in a positive feedback loop. Republicans sought to create their own media channels to support conservative interpretation of the news and their messaging. The tail now wags the dog.
The meme is that reality has a liberal bias - so their response was to eliminate that ‘bias’ from their news, and call the rest of the media biased for attempting to accord with reality.
A certain amount of media both-siderism and false equivalence is an attempt to accommodate the irreconcilable. It’s also from the belief that it’s not the media’s proper role to tell people what to believe, but just lay out differing views and let people decide on their own.
Tom Tomorrow does an excellent job depicting the resulting absurdities with his “Action McNews” and “Life in the Stupidverse” themes. (See this week’s cartoon for an example.)
Press Run and This Modern World should work on some cross promotion.
Is it even possible to take away Fox’s White House press credentials outright? I’m old enough to remember when WHCA threw a hissy fit when the Obama team simply moved Fox from the front row and called them out on their bullshit. Taking away their credentials would surely elicit an even bigger “outrage” response.
So maybe the answer is to enlist the WHCA as an ally to police their own by establishing basic journalistic standards that, if ignored, will result in real world penalties of escalating degrees:
1) Private warning
2) Public reprimand
3) Suspension
4) Revocation of credentials.
Those standards would be for them to just do the job with integrity, i.e. no lying, no propaganda, no disinformation, no coordinated messaging with opposition political parties/politicians/organizations, etc...
Basically, the same exact way the ABA oversees and disciplines lawyers. Just because it’s a constitutional right doesn’t mean the free press should be an absolute free-for-all that endangers the public and erodes American democracy.