Fox News Reportedly Used Fake Commenter Accounts To Rebut Critical Blog Posts

[kpete]

Fox News Reportedly Used Fake Commenter Accounts To Rebut Critical Blog Posts
New Book Details An Extensive Campaign By The Networks' PR Staffers
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cVROTFWpL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

NPR media reporter David Folkenflik writes in his forthcoming book Murdoch's World http://www.amazon.com/Murdochs-World-Last-Media-Empires/dp/161039089X that Fox News' public relations staffers used an elaborate series of dummy accounts to fill the comments sections of critical blog posts with pro-Fox arguments.

In a chapter focusing on how Fox utilized its notoriously ruthless public relations department http://jimromenesko.com/2012/01/19/dealing-with-the-fox-news-pr-machine/ in the mid-to-late 00's, Folkenflik reports that Fox's PR staffers would "post pro-Fox rants" in the comments sections of "negative and even neutral" blog posts written about the network. According to Folkenflik, the staffers used various tactics to cover their tracks, including setting up wireless broadband connections that "could not be traced back" to the network.

A former staffer told Folkenflik that they had personally used "one hundred" fake accounts to plant Fox-friendly commentary:

On the blogs, the fight was particularly fierce. Fox PR staffers were expected to counter not just negative and even neutral blog postings but the anti-Fox comments beneath them. One former staffer recalled using twenty different aliases to post pro-Fox rants. Another had one hundred. Several employees had to acquire a cell phone thumb drive to provide a wireless broadband connection that could not be traced back to a Fox News or News Corp account. Another used an AOL dial-up connection, even in the age of widespread broadband access, on the rationale it would be harder to pinpoint its origins. Old laptops were distributed for these cyber operations. Even blogs with minor followings were reviewed to ensure no claim went unchecked. (Murdoch's World, pg. 67)

In the book's endnotes, Folkenflik explains that "four former Fox News employees told me of these practices." It's unclear whether these tactics are ongoing.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/20/fox-news-reportedly-used-fake-commenter-account/196509

[Raine1967]

1. I have little doubt that this is still happening.

Thanks for this information. Trolls abound everywhere.

[grahamhgreen]

2. Could never happen here, lol

[TwilightGardener]

3. I really do believe that a big chunk of news website comments are paid/fake commenters.

Same shit, over and over again, on CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, etc. Sometimes they don't even bother to change their names between websites.

[DURHAM D]

4. Could someone PM me the list of Fox Workers on DU?

[intaglio]

5. Well colour me blue and call me Mr Wuffles

I am not exactly surprised.

There has long been a suspicion that certain unpopular industries do the same and may pay people to comment at places like HuffPo and on popular message boards.

[Berlum]

6. What a crock of Republicon shit Fox "news" is. It's freaking unAmerican to lie all the time

and, frankly, lying all the time smacks of dark-ass SATANIC (R) influences, as RepubliBaggers would say if they weren't blinded by their own fear and hate.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Duh.

I think that anyone who spends any time on the internet is aware that the comments posted are often generated by people who are being paid to post. You can usually tell which ones they are, since they have the same talking points over and over again and often are not on-topic. I am not surprised that Fox is doing this, and I have no doubt that "patriot" organizations and the party leadership do this as well.

But I am glad to see confirmation of what we all have known.

[BluegrassStateBlues]

8. Pretty much what I assume any time I encounter a contrary person online. nt