My Name Is Bill Swadley, And I Work For Fox

"I'm at Fox now." That's what I used to tell people when I first started working for my current employer, after a strategic move from the world of the small independent studio to mega-corporate entertainment where I now spend my 9-5's. A colleague of mine, when I told him of the general consternation and dirty looks I was getting as a result of that statement, set me straight. "I tell people I work for 20th Century Fox. It's much less inflammatory."

He was right. Oddly enough, most people don't make the connection between 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment (the company I work for) and Fox News, home of the likes of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, neo-con true believers who use their positions at the cable-news outlet to further the cause of the far-right wing. (When I'm speaking to young people, I usually leave out the F-word altogether, and just say I work for the company that does the X-Men movies and The Simpsons.)

But now, after watching the vice-presidential debate and becoming even more terrified at the thought that this half-wit from Alaska could actually ascend to the presidency one day, I must come out of the closet. Everyone knows that Fox News is, to put it mildly, slanted right. Their producers and on-air personalities are culpable in their fiery promotion of the Bush agenda for the past eight years no matter how flawed. Since the current election cycle began they've been "spinning" what the McCain/Palin ticket really stands for (i.e. more of the same), often to the point of absurdity. (If you haven't noticed the contrast of the anchors' sunny demeanor when they mention the names of McCain or Palin versus the dark seriousness with which they utter the surname "Obama," you aren't paying attention.)

A while back you may recall that Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot" in one of her speeches during the primaries. The negative reaction against this Medusa was (finally and about time) swift and condemning from just about every corner of the political and cultural landscape. Except for Fox News, that is, which as most know was one of Coulter's primary delivery outlets for her hatred and bigotry at the time. Rather than condemning her use of the derogatory term, censuring her, and banning her from the channel, the producers at Fox News had Coulter on the air the next morning. No, not to apologize, but to defend herself!

I was so distraught that my company would actually give this harpy more air time after such bad behavior that I wrote a letter to one of the very high-up executives of the organization expressing my outrage. I received no response, but at least I felt that I had made my voice heard.

But now internal action just doesn't seem enough. This Fox employee can hold his silence no longer. Call it a self-serving cleansing if you will, but I must speak. (The following are the views solely of my independent writer persona. I've composed this on my own time, and the following content in no way represents the views of my employer or anyone other than myself.)

Hear me now! Many employees, and we number in the thousands, who work for the entertainment arm of News Corporation, the parent company of pretty much all entertainment entities with "Fox" in its moniker, often feel embarrassed, ashamed, and angry at the blatant, one-sided, dis-informational tactics of the producers, staff, and on-air "talent" at Fox News. In their efforts to swing this election in favor of McCain, their usual crimes of unfair and unbalanced journalism have become startlingly egregious.

Fox News put together a "focus group" during the Biden/Palin debate. This obviously hand-picked group of "common voters," touted to be 50-50 for the two tickets, was obviously screened, staged, coached, and almost entirely one-sided (the Palin side). I was not only outraged at yet another example of Fox News manipulating the perception of its viewers for the political benefit of the GOP, but that we, 20th Century Fox, home of American Idol & Fox Reality Channel, would be associated with such a lame-ass attempt at fake reality television. To top it all off, the focus group was sponsored by Budweiser! (In case you didn't know, Cindy McCain's day job is Chairwoman of an Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Arizona.) How can Fox News present such fabricated crap with a straight face? I honestly don't know, and I don't even know whom to ask.

Trust me in this, except for the above-mentioned Fox News staffers, most of us in the other subsidiaries of the company have no idea who these people are, where they work, how they get their marching orders, or how they sleep at night. I can only tell you that the Fox I work for is a fantastic company. We are treated with respect and generosity. We are afforded opportunities to expand our careers and promote social concerns. We are diverse and inclusive. We tolerate and are tolerated in all shapes, colors, religions, and sexual orientation. Our individual politics span the range of ultra-liberal, to hard-line conservative, and everything in-between. And we, all of News Corp, its subsidiaries, and employees are very very green.

On that last point, in the approximate six years total that I have been with this company, the only pressure outside of our job descriptions News Corp. has ever passed down to us is a demand that we participate as fully as possible in the fight against global warming. In the last two plus years, News Corp. has stood as a penultimate example of the difference businesses large and small can make by becoming more aware of, and responsible for, its carbon footprint. This alone is enough to make me proud to say that I am an employee of News Corp. and 20th Century Fox.

So it's no wonder that many of us Murdoch's minions watch with dismay and confusion the daily neo-conservative drumbeat emanating from the Fox News Channel. They don't represent all of us. We've never gotten a memo telling us to be sure to vote Republican. We don't get e-mails from Sean Hannity bragging about the latest Democrat he reduced to tears on his show. Bill O'Reilly doesn't invite us to his book signings. We are completely out of the loop.

So the next time someone tells you, "I work for Fox," cut them some slack. Fox News is an enigma even to us. We don't get it any more than you do. It's like that uncle in jail who nobody knows what he did to get there and is never spoken of even inside the family. We just pretend he's out of town, and hope he doesn't come to visit if he ever gets paroled.

Comments

[DanteLabon]

Yeah, you are not alone. I work at a Fox affiliate in VA., and it is a great place to work. No right-wing slant at all, if anything it's the other way around. Granted, I still have to run that repug wet dr#@m "24" again in January...but hopefully it won't bother me as much this time. Go Obama!

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

Once again, thanks to everyone who posted comments to my first HuffPo opinion piece. I truly appreciate all of them and wish I could respond to everyone.

I do want to say again that my job isn't on the line because of this post. My colleagues here at 20th Century Fox have congratulated and thanked me for being willing to say what a great many of us feel and all had the same take on the possibility of retribution. "Not gonna' happen.)

It would be kind of like Fox canceling The Simpsons or Family Guy because they made a satirical joke about the company (which they both do often, both covertly and in plain sight). For example, in one episode of The Simpsons, Bart, in describing a dream he had, says, "And then I dreamed that my whole family was just cartoon characters and that our success had led to some crazy propaganda network called "Fox News."

That's the company I work for, but I do wonder if I worked for the Fox News Channel, how long I'd have stayed on board after my piece posted..

Bill

[R.W. Sanders - Huffpost Blogger]

Bill, none of us can be responsible for what our employers say or do. You have your niche of responsibility that only goes so far. Newscorp is a huge company and employs many good hearted folks that have their own distinct political philosophies. Try not to carry a chip on your shoulder.

Your post shows your courage and honesty. I find it very admirable and welcome you to our community of bloggers. It's those of you that understand the difference in loyalty to one's company and loyalty to one's self that give me hope.

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for the welcome, R.W. Chips seem to fall away as one is heard and the response I've gotten has been far more than I hoped for.

[lovable]

i wonder if you go on tv and say this will you lose your job at fox entertainment? the public needs to know about this.

[austinavery]

Your wing of the business sounds like a really good place to work. Reminds me of the top-notch reporters from the Wall Street Journal who wonder what the heck the guys on the editorial page are talking about. Thanks for shaking up my previously one-dimentional understanding of the organization.

[WalkingOnEggshells]

Well Bill you certainly win the Grande Cojones award for putting your job on the line like you have, I wish we had more heroes like you in real life. Your article was a very interesting read and it's good to know that not every single Fox employee eats aborted fetuses for lunch, maybe that treat is reserved to satisfy the massive hypocrisy of Hannity and O'Reilly?

Suggestion: purchase a little digital voice recorder good for at least ten hours of recording time on rechargeable batteries and have it on your person and turned on from now on whenever you're at work, because you are very likely to be called onto the carpet about this article and possibly hounded thereafter (if you're not fired) and you'll need to prove that the liars said what they will deny saying.

Please keep us updated as to the flak you receive and some of us (me for sure) will come to your defense as needed. I am subscribing to email alerts for all your future posts.

[MissStorm]

Yesterday you censored my post...do you have the courage to let me have free speech today?

So..Mr. Swadley...

Do you still stand by your OBVIOUSLY biased remarks concerning the focus group on FOX?

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

I didn't censor anything and wouldn't know how to if I wanted to (I'm new here). Someone does review the posts before they're posted, but it's not me. Free speak away.

[RobinSeattle]

Hey, Tom Brokaw is fine with Fox News (apparently anyway; he never criticizes it, saving his barbs for his own network instead) so you should be, too. After all, if news colossus Brokaw sees them as being on the up and up then they must be, right?

I call Rupert Murdoch's outfit News Corpse for what it has done to electronic journalism.

[typingisnotactivism]

Ha! Good call - here in Oz, their print division is News Limited.

Most. Accurate. Description. Ever.

[TeriLyn]

I always think I'm watching Fox News when the Lou Dobbs show is on CNN. He calls himself an Independent, but he's no more an Independent than Sean Hannity.

[EllaMcC]

First of all -- Thank you for speaking out! I really hope you used a pseudonym! Please let us know what happens with you and work!

To TeriLyn -- Agreed on Lou. Tonight, as Lou focused on "new information" and "important questions" about Obama-Ayres, I harped at the TV, "Why don't you just go work for Fox?" (There was no new information, no real questions -- just the same tired nonsense we've seen for over a year now.)

When he smacked down Mitt Romney, I felt a little better, but not a whole lot. I guess he has to do that to pretend to be "fair and balanced" just like when Crazy O'Reilly gently smacks some Republican for some very mild transgression, then puts a fatwa on a Democrat. In fact, I have recently taken to calling CNN, "Fox's more sly sister."

[seenitall]

good luck in your job search...

[shelsay]

Thank you, I believe you. I worked at CBS Network (central division in Chicago) in 2000 and until the day after the 2000 election, everyone's voting preference was a secret...that is until it all hit the fan and the election essentially dragged on to the supreme court stage. Slowly people's Presidency preferences started to reveal themselves. Thank you for standing up and potentially putting your job at risk to inform the lay people. It's hard to believe you won't suffer any repercussions from speaking out about this. But please keep us abreast of any further information, that is if the fox stain takes it's wrath out on you for "telling it like it is" about the nightly cable news arm, by releasing you to another company where you can "spread you wings". Again, thanks for sticking your neck out.

[bibb]

Bill, Hope that you don't lose your job. Freedom of speech is great, but I haven't seen Fox respect that.

[typingisnotactivism]

nice bit of insight and can completely understand why the writer needs to get this out there. However, here in Australia, News Corp. owns the national newspaper and a string of capital city broadsheets which, even today, regularly question the wisdom of acting to mitigate global warming. They scream of the threat to the national economy, and even now will occasionally try to deny the science, as well as global warming itself.
Deep Green Fox? I don't think so. 20th Century Fox? For sure....maybe even 19th,

[JazzyJim]

Doocey must, "a word with three letters meaning cease being"... _ _ _. lol

[LibKim]

Don't worry... Doocey is a dunce. He will bring himself down.

[JazzyJim]

Thanks for the post. I live in New York and work a few blocks from the US version of Pravda/Fox which has more "police" protecting it's windows than "fans". The enigma is that they broadcast that cr*p from this city that it's hatred is usually directed towards - the educated American. The Science, the Arts, the Humanities - As I pass by the building, I feel sick - and wonder how anyone could work for them - but money is money. God knows O'Reilly, Hannity Coultre and FN&F (that horrible morning show - a little like Romper Room for NeoCons) make plenty of $$ off of the RNC and NeoCons whom helm it. O'Really isn't really dumb (nor I suspect is Hannity, although he looks certain to cry when he has to debate truth). Amazing they easily fleece THEIR viewers. I'm sure as an educated, Liberal (meaning open minded and capable of seeing possibilities) we've looked down on our Nascar brethern, "Joe six-pack" - and sure it's snobbish, but not hateful. What Fox does to its viewers is criminal rape. They lie with a smile and smile with a lie and those who live in fear of truth are quick to hide behind them. These are our fellow Americans - as unable to rationalize truth as they are - they are part of us - and to fix the mess of the last 8 NeoCon years - we're going to need them. God help us if McBush takes/steals office. Boycott