Have you ever looked up at the television at a local business -- your gym, an auto shop, a bar or restaurant -- only to find Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly shouting down at you? Often without thinking about it, many businesses and other public establishments are providing a vehicle for Fox News' attempts to divide America. Now you can do something about it.
Today, ColorOfChange.org is launching Turn Off Fox -- a massive campaign to get Fox News turned off in stores, restaurants, and other public places.
There are several ways you can get involved:
Please check out TurnOffFox.org, join us, and get involved!
Get your free Turn Off Fox sticker
When you join the campaign, you'll also have the opportunity to get a free Turn Off Fox bumper sticker -- and even the shipping is free! You can get 5 stickers for a donation of $3, 20 stickers for $10, or 50 stickers for $20. Getting stickers (and sharing them with your friends) isn't just about making a personal statement of your values. It helps to build awareness of our brand and our message, and makes it easier to educate folks about why Fox News is unparalleled in its propagation of division and bigotry.
Here's a summary of why we are asking businesses and other public establishments to refuse to play Fox News Channel:
Some of the network's most divisive rhetoric is spouted when the topic of race. In July 2009, Fox host Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" who has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" -- a statement with which Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch has since said he agrees. Frequent Fox guest Jesse Lee Peterson has said that most black people lack moral character, and cited "what they did to the dome" after Hurricane Katrina as evidence. Recently, Fox News contributor John Stossel called for the repeal of a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prevents business owners from discriminating based on race. And Fox News hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity were the first to air maliciously edited video of Shirley Sherrod's speech to the Georgia NAACP -- video that cost Sherrod her job with the USDA. The recent episode involving Sherrod has helped confirm what we have long known -- that Fox is a propaganda machine with no regard for the truth.
Glenn Beck calling President Obama a "racist" was the most blatant example of Fox News leading the effort paint the President as someone who harbors and acts upon deeply held prejudice against white people. But the network consistently tries to create the impression that black political and civic leaders want to "get even" with whites by taking their wealth and giving it to blacks.
We've seen the hateful atmosphere that has arisen at Tea Parties because of this false narrative. As the House of Representatives deliberated over health care legislation this past spring, some Tea Party members gathered outside the Capitol shouted "Ni**er!" at black congressmen. One of the protesters spat on Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, while another called openly gay Representative Barney Frank a "faggot" as the laughing crowd imitated his lisp. The Tea Party has been uncritically promoted and embraced by Fox News since its inception.
Last year, abortion doctor George Tiller was gunned down in his church after being demonized for years by Fox's Bill O'Reilly as "Tiller the Baby Killer." O'Reilly had compared Tiller to the Nazis and to Al-Qaeda. He said that Tiller had "blood on his hands" and that he wouldn't want to be Tiller "if there is a Judgement Day."
In another example, a man armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers on an Oakland freeway in July of this year. After he was apprehended, police determined the shooter was on his way to the American Civil Liberties Union and Tides Foundation offices in San Francisco to kill people. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the shooter's mother said that her son watched a lot of television news and was angry at left-wing politicians and organizations. While many Americans are aware of the ACLU's work, the Tides Foundation is a little-known non-profit organization that most people had never heard of -- until Fox's Glenn Beck started demonizing and spreading false information about the organization. Since Beck's show premiered in January of 2009, he has pushed conspiracy theories involving Tides on nearly 30 episodes. During the same time period, Tides was never mentioned on other cable or network news channels, according to a report by the watchdog group Media Matters.
Fox News insists that they're a legitimate news network. They engage in divisive rhetoric, race-baiting and attempts at character assassinations, but they do it all under the guise of reporting the news. Often the mainstream media eventually takes the bait and runs with Fox News' distortions and smear campaigns. When businesses and public places play Fox News, they become a conduit for its stream of misinformation, and it contributes to the misconception that the network is a credible source for news and information.
This campaign is about organizing people to use their feet and their dollars to encourage establishments not to spread Fox 's poison in their communities.
To learn more, and to join the campaign, please visit our website at TurnOffFox.org.
Are you for real? No, just cream with that medium coffee, thanks.
Please! You are the channel I see in airports, in airport bars, in oil change waiting rooms, etc.
You ARE "The Mainstream" therefore, by definition!
Ironically, at the jury duty, we all had to stand and recite a swearing in statement. On the Fox channel that day, in front of us, was AG Gonzales was giving testimony to Congress over torture.
He gave the testimony WITHOUT being sworn in, as was fashionable during Bush.
If I had known that at jury duty, I would not have stood and been sworn in. I would have sat there with my arms folded, and if they had a problem with that, I'd tell them to shove it, since Gonzales didn't swear-in, on the TV news they're force feeding us, and he's the AG, then neither am I!
I think you're confusing "Mr Rucker and the others from CoC" with Fox.
Republicans refuse to believe what they see. Blind faith can lead to blind ignorance. Fox counts on it. It's like trying to talk a klansman out of his ingrown, home schooled ignorance - you can't do it; you have to hope their children haven't been indotrinated and see the error of their ways and that through education and evolution they'll evolve - Fox is 'breading' a dumber citizen - substituting religious dogma for education. Kool-aide drinkers, comet catchers, Jim Jones and David Koresh now have a political party - the Republicans.
Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.
The data on contributions by broadcast network employees was compiled by CRP at the request of The Examiner and included all 2008 contributions by individuals who identified their employer as one of the three networks or subsidiaries. The data does not include contributions by employees of the three networks who did not identify their employer.
The CRP is the organization behind OpenSecrets.org, the web site that for more than a decade has put campaign finance data within reach of anybody with an Internet connection.
Republicans refuse to believe what they see. Blind faith can lead to blind ignorance. Fox counts on it. It's like trying to talk a klansman out of his ingrown, home schooled ignorance - you can't do it; you have to hope their children haven't been indotrinated and see the error of their ways and that through education and evolution they'll evolve - Fox is 'breading' a dumber citizen - substituting religious dogma for education. Kool-aide drinkers, comet catchers, Jim Jones and David Koresh now have a political party - the Republicans.
"...the societal purpose of the media is ‘to inculcate and
defend the economic, social, and political agenda of privileged groups that
dominate the domestic society and the state’."
Herman and Chomsky