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February 10, 2008
Guest Blogger Michael Weiskopf Also Responds
Fox News has served as the Pravda of the Republican machine, and Rove's new gig is little more than an example of the media equivalent of the Military Industrial Complex, (Stephanopoulos is a Democratic example).
It is fair to argue that none of the major media outlets are offering substantive news on a regular basis, particularly through their cable networks. They offer political opinions as the main course, with some hard facts as the seasoning and celebrity gossip as dessert. There are occasions where investigative reporting occurs, but it has become the rare exception, and, in most cases, hard news that has an impact on our lives has a shelf life of a few days and then vaporizes, as events about missing persons and murders go on like serial dramas. It is fair to argue that in this environment Watergate would have been a three-day story.
Let's remember that this is ultimately about commercial interest and ratings, especially at News Corp., which reflects the Murdoch philosophy of commercial Darwinism, and in this respect Fox News resembles the WWF where wrestlers change their persona from villain to good guy and then back in an effort to keep fans in the seats. O'Reilly and the rest of the bunch would likely become strident left wingers or be replaced if it meant one more rating point with corresponding increases in advertising revenue, but keep in mind that corporate advertisers for the most part are more comfortable with right wing rhetoric, so don't hold your breath for O'Reilly to be bounced.
This type of flip-flopping doesn't seem to be the case with the management of the other news outlets, not necessarily because their management has a greater morality, but because they are not as determined as Murdoch and Ailes. PBS, Lehrer, Moyers, and Amy Goodman do not cover celebrity gossip; they drill down into stories and offer serious and thoughtful coverage of issues and deal with meaningful discourse. This type of discourse seems to me to be the definition of news and the responsible outlets are the ones marginalized by Fox News's rush to the commercial gutter.
Posted by Charles Warner at February 10, 2008 04:03 PM
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