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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFox News White House (Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?)
by Jane Mayer
In January, during the longest government shutdown in Americas history, President Donald Trump rode in a motorcade through Hidalgo County, Texas, eventually stopping on a grassy bluff overlooking the Rio Grande. The White House wanted to dramatize what Trump was portraying as a national emergency: the need to build a wall along the Mexican border. The presence of armored vehicles, bales of confiscated marijuana, and federal agents in flak jackets underscored the message.
But the photo op dramatized something else about the Administration. After members of the press pool got out of vans and headed over to where the President was about to speak, they noticed that Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, was already on location. Unlike them, he hadnt been confined by the Secret Service, and was mingling with Administration officials, at one point hugging Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security. The pool report noted that Hannity was seen huddling with the White House communications director, Bill Shine. After the photo op, Hannity had an exclusive on-air interview with Trump. Politico later reported that it was Hannitys seventh interview with the President, and Foxs forty-second. Since then, Trump has given Fox two more. He has granted only ten to the three other main television networks combined, and none to CNN, which he denounces as fake news.
Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Foxs chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasnt existed before in the United States. Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginias Miller Center and the author of Messengers of the Right, a history of the conservative medias impact on American politics, says of Fox, Its the closest weve come to having state TV.
Hemmer argues that Foxwhich, as the most watched cable news network, generates about $2.7 billion a year for its parent company, 21st Century Foxacts as a force multiplier for Trump, solidifying his hold over the Republican Party and intensifying his support. Fox is not just taking the temperature of the baseits raising the temperature, she says. Its a radicalization model. For both Trump and Fox, fear is a business strategyit keeps people watching. As the President has been beset by scandals, congressional hearings, and even talk of impeachment, Fox has been both his shield and his sword. The White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the others lead. All day long, Trump retweets claims made on the network; his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has largely stopped holding press conferences, but she has made some thirty appearances on such shows as Fox & Friends and Hannity. Trump, Hemmer says, has almost become a programmer.
But the photo op dramatized something else about the Administration. After members of the press pool got out of vans and headed over to where the President was about to speak, they noticed that Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, was already on location. Unlike them, he hadnt been confined by the Secret Service, and was mingling with Administration officials, at one point hugging Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security. The pool report noted that Hannity was seen huddling with the White House communications director, Bill Shine. After the photo op, Hannity had an exclusive on-air interview with Trump. Politico later reported that it was Hannitys seventh interview with the President, and Foxs forty-second. Since then, Trump has given Fox two more. He has granted only ten to the three other main television networks combined, and none to CNN, which he denounces as fake news.
Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Foxs chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasnt existed before in the United States. Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginias Miller Center and the author of Messengers of the Right, a history of the conservative medias impact on American politics, says of Fox, Its the closest weve come to having state TV.
Hemmer argues that Foxwhich, as the most watched cable news network, generates about $2.7 billion a year for its parent company, 21st Century Foxacts as a force multiplier for Trump, solidifying his hold over the Republican Party and intensifying his support. Fox is not just taking the temperature of the baseits raising the temperature, she says. Its a radicalization model. For both Trump and Fox, fear is a business strategyit keeps people watching. As the President has been beset by scandals, congressional hearings, and even talk of impeachment, Fox has been both his shield and his sword. The White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the others lead. All day long, Trump retweets claims made on the network; his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has largely stopped holding press conferences, but she has made some thirty appearances on such shows as Fox & Friends and Hannity. Trump, Hemmer says, has almost become a programmer.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house
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Fox News White House (Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?) (Original Post)
spanone
Mar 2019
OP
Janer Mayer sounds like a idiot. Fox News? Yes it's propaganda. It has always been propaganda
rockfordfile
Mar 2019
#3
maxsolomon
(33,232 posts)1. It was always Propaganda, Jane Mayer
is the direct coordination even new?
onecaliberal
(32,775 posts)2. Has been since day 1.
rockfordfile
(8,695 posts)3. Janer Mayer sounds like a idiot. Fox News? Yes it's propaganda. It has always been propaganda
moondust
(19,956 posts)4. I vote "always has been."
I canceled a cable TV service in 1999. The rep on the phone asked me what I thought of Fox News. "It's a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party" were my exact words.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,239 posts)5. need lots of investigators
It has been a propaganda network since the time of Rotten Ronnie, at least.
Still, there should be lots of investigators and investigations to see how many bodies are buried at Fox. Scandals would be nice, but uncovering criminal activity would be wonderful.