Was I Wrong About FOX?

I have to admit, last week when Barack Obama went on Bill O'Reilly and his spokesperson Bill Burton said, "I think there are people who have yet to make up their mind who watch Fox..." I was skeptical. Especially given pollster Mark Mellman's finding that in 2004:

Fox News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88 percent to 7 percent. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers.

But today, I was reminded of how Fox's innovation in the marketplace may truly be bringing in all sorts of new viewers and open-minded swing voters. For instance, what other network offers viewers the chance to watch live shots of Barack Obama's speech and OJ Simpson's latest trial at the same time? Truly amazing:



If I was wrong to imply that Fox is a race-baiting, Republican mouthpiece whose viewers will predominantly never vote for Obama -- in true Democratic fashion, I apologize.

(Of course, if I wasn't wrong, you can always join MoveOn's ongoing campaign against Fox's smears here.)

Comments

[imfedup]

I watched about 5 minutes of it the other morning when they were crowing that Olbermann and Matthews had been "FIRED." They were absolutely outraged at how liberally biased MSNBC is! I felt like Alice in Wonderland, but without the fun drugs.

[Herrington]

Fox and the AM radio echo chamber exist because of a deliberate decision of the right to propagandize. Easy enough. But they are successful because of the constant need of their viewers for validation and reinforcement. Risky territory for critigism though. To some, Huffington might seem to serve the same purpose. But at the end of that argument, one is left with the argument that the right wing gets vastly more media market share, ergo is more needed by its viewers/listeners.

So as the right has always known, if your opinions are made up out thin air, the more repetition it takes to make them stick, just like rote learning. Well reasoned arguments drawn from solid assumptions need no such support. They are self reinforcing.

Fox is a powerful tool for the right. Nothing like it exists on the left because smart people need only hear a decent argument once. Repeating it is just annoying, unless you mix in humor like Olbermann and Stewart, oh, and now Maddow.

I fear that the only thing that is going to change our political landscape is more widespread poverty as people awaken to the uselessness of family values in getting or keeping a job.

[Chbronze]

Wow, I listen to NPR in the morning and afternoon, but I watch Fox news because I find it more entertaining. I didn't realize I was so stupid. I guess I'll go clean my gun and read the Bible.

[Herrington]

Glad I could help.

[uheardme]

This is McCain's bounce and he is solidifying the REPUBLICAN BASE. This was expected. Now, the ground game matters. If you are in a battleground state, find out the deadline for voter registration and walk your neighborhood. I suggest downloading a few of Obama's proposals from his website and handing them out. I'm doing this for three days a week until October 6, Michigan's voter registration deadline.

Oh, and give Barack $20.

[harriscrl3]

Hmm I hope you were being sarcastic.

Carol

[indiana46278]

Oh for heaven's sakes. Really? And I suppose it was doubly insulting to put him in a box next to a teaser for a hurricane story too? I'm as pro-Dem as the next HuffPo reader, but I think this is a little much and a little counterproductive and a little nuts.

If we're going to be post-racial, we can't object when Fox News covers two legitimate stories involving black men, one with a black guy we like and one with a black guy we don't. Those stories could have easily appeared together on CNN or the front page of the LA Times or Newsweek, and I'm guessing no one would have complained. So who's baiting who here?

Obama is right to go on Fox news. We can't complain that Palin won't talk to the media and then give Obama a pass on taking hostile questions from people we think are mean. It just doesn't work that way. Or, it shouldn't.

In the segment I saw on Friday, BillO was fair to Barack. Even stood up for him in the conversation after, saying "he's not a wimp." THAT is progress, and I'd rather watch that than Olbermann's no-one-here-but-us-liberals interview with Obama.

[roddenberry]

Murdoch sons Lachlan and James have more political and philosophical connexions with democrates or libertarians than republicans. That explains the evolution of Fox news

[Kerris]

Unfortunately, where I live in Europe, thanks to the nefarious reach of Rupert Murdoch, the only 24 hr American news this expat can access is Fox. I need to make sure I have taken my blood pressure meds and not eaten a heavy meal before I turn it on, for I am usually irritated and nauseus before the 10th sentence. But it is my only regular American news source.

What frightens me is... it's the same for the Europeans with whom I live. Not surprisingly, they don't think very highly of American intelligence. And they all wonder... except for that one black female correspondent, are all women in America blonde and forced to sit between two chattering men?

[mistlesuede]

You weren't wrong and I am disappointed that Senator Obama went on this tabloid network for Repugs. I would have been proud of him to just call them out as what they are and brush them off.

[USALover]

Totally agreed!

[cosmo86]

I am not watching fox channel anymore along with that I am not watching On the Record with Greta. Greta goes to Alaska to interview for Palins' character and by the way she only interviews her friends, and we learn what it is like to be a rough tough hockey Mom. I don't want to hear about her hockey Mom ways and I in no way see how her being a mother of five makes her qualified. Is this all something no other woman has done before? These channels are the ones that cry "Leave sexixm out of the race" yet these are the ones who's sole focus is the fact that Saras' a moose shooting, hockey mom, mother of five.I was on the fence after Hillary lost, but I know that I am going to Obamas side of the fence. FYI Mccain: I was not voting for Hillary because she was a woman.

[mamma4Obama]

the in-your-face of this would be wildly laughable - if it wasn't so sadly effective in forming the opinions of so much of the American public...

[GrainOSand]

FOX does not matter - they are a news organization with a bigot infestation.

OJ does not matter -- he is either a spoiled brat who got away with murder (in my view) and could not let well enough alone, or is a spoiled brat, falsely accused of murder, and acquitted, who could not let well enough alone.

However, there is the smell of a setup concerning his latest legal battle. The timing is very interesting. Ultimately, he bears responsibility.

Double homicides happen all over America and most get very little air time, why is the media shelf life of the Brown and Goldman homicide so long? This is a rhetorical question. In still hypocritical, nowhere near post-race America, the reasonable know why. All homicide is sad and terrible no matter who commits the crime. Leave it to America to make it a racial thing while ignoring the overwhelming data.

The truth about murderous intent is that it is not an ethnic thing but a matter of the heart (evil) and the mind (demented).

Anybody who wants to claim that brown people have a murderous tendency, I give you exhibit A, to counter that fallacy based upon mental corruption and lack of intelligence.

"Approximately 9/10 serial killers are white males between the ages of 20 and 35"
Chew on that FOX.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A4526129

[BarackDaVote]

Yea right.... FAUX NEWS is still the #1 gargabe network on tv.

[huffpomom]

I despise Fox. It makes my blood boil, but there's much worse that they say and imply than having OJ/Obama/Ike story boxes.

[DM]

Ignoring what Fox and O'Reilly did, do or stand for ... how could Obama go on there and say that "The surge has been successful beyond our wildest hopes" or something to that effect. So there you have it: Obama says that John McCain was right while almost everyone else was wrong.

But wait a minute ... didn't Bush and Petraus say that there were 18 measures of success for the surge? The extra troops were intended to give breathing space to the Iraqi government so they could achieve 18 specific things. I believe there was a poor "report card" after six months or so and then all of a sudden everyone says "The Surge worked" ... although I believe all 18 things are still unachieved. What has happened is that some combination of completed ethnic cleansing, more troops and the Sunnis electing to take American taxpayer bribes to stop fighting (while they wait to see what the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election will mean to them) has resulted in levels of violence lower than in 2006 or 2007 (but similar to 2005) ...

O'Reilly didn't make Obama say that ... and there is no way any genuine Fox viewer will ever vote for Obama (I watch Fox ... it's right there on my cable box next to the Comedy Channel but the laughs are all very black humour). So why bother?

[TheProverbialMan]

That "that surge was successful" line is taken way, way out of context. Obama stuck to the message...unforunately, they have a sound bite now.

[drgrph]

I believe I recall Obama conceding that 15 of the 18 benchmarks have been basically achieved. Frankly it was refreshing the he did admit that the surge has worked because, well, it has. Do you want another president who would deny the truth that is there in front of their eyes? I think not.

While I will not be voting for Obama, my level of respect for him certainly increased finally seeing him face questions that interest many of us Americans. Should he be elected I will definitely feel more comfortable with him and give him a grace period to further allay my fears.

Had the dreaded Faux News and the evil O'Reilly not have existed the above would never have occurred. I stopped watch mainstream news outlets (CBS, NBC, etc.) long ago and have added the biased networks (PBS, MSNBC, CNN) to the list. I am not suggesting that Fox or O'Reilly are the sole providers of truth...they are not. But I sure looked smart having predicted McCain's selection of Gov. Palin. Let me give a shout out to the individual that started me looking at her - CNN Headline News Glenn Beck and the telephone interview conducted shortly after Trig's birth.

p.s. DM - Please avoid the non-p.c. phrase of "black humour" when discussing Obama. Thanks!

[Skepticat]

Perhaps democrats in the spirit of fairness should suggest Fox run an interview of a white republican candidate split-screened against footage of a convicted white republican congressman.
Seems fair to me - and certainly more relevant.