Fox News intimidation of the media: Outrageous NY Times article for Monday. You have to see this.

[Faygo Kid]

Keep this one kicked. And I never ask that. Every paragraph a jaw dropper.

July 7, 2008
The Media Equation
When Fox News Is the Story
By DAVID CARR

Like most working journalists, whenever I type seven letters — Fox News — a series of alarms begins to whoop in my head: Danger. Warning. Much mayhem ahead.

Once the public relations apparatus at Fox News is engaged, there will be the calls to my editors, keening (and sometimes threatening) e-mail messages, and my requests for interviews will quickly turn into depositions about my intent or who else I am talking to.

And if all that stuff doesn’t slow me down and I actually end up writing something, there might be a large hangover: Phone calls full of rebuke for a dependent clause in the third to the last paragraph, a ritual spanking in the blogs with anonymous quotes that sound very familiar, and — if I really hit the jackpot — the specter of my ungainly headshot appearing on one of Fox News’s shows along with some stern copy about what an idiot I am. . .

. . . A little more than a week ago, Jacques Steinberg, a reporter at The New York Times who covers television, wrote a straight-up-the-middle ratings story about cable news. His article acknowledged that while CNN was using a dynamic election to push Fox News from behind, Fox was still No. 1. Despite repeated calls, the public relations people at Fox News did not return his requests for comment. (In a neat trick, while they were ignoring his calls, they e-mailed his boss asking why they had not heard from him.)

After the article ran, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy of “Fox and Friends,” the reliable water carriers on the morning show on the cable network, did a segment suggesting that Mr. Steinberg’s editor was a disgruntled former employee — Steven V. Reddicliffe once edited TV Guide, which, like Fox News, is owned by the News Corporation — and that Mr. Steinberg was his trained attack dog. (The audience was undoubtedly wondering what the heck they were talking about.) . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07carr.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Sorry, mods, for one paragraph too many. I couldn't figure out how to even begin to excerpt this one.

[lonestarnot]

1. Fox is no longer number one, if indeed they ever were. That is a lie isn't it?

[Faygo Kid]

2. I'm not sure. But kudos to the NY Times for fighting back.

I criticized them when they indicated that they weren't going to comment about the awful doctoring of their reporters' pictures, one of which accentuated Jewish stereotypes. I found that cowardice. Apparently, others there, too, figured out that the Times isn't exactly voiceless here, and I commend them for fighting back.

They know what's coming. But Fox's intimidation has to be confronted by decent people everywhere.

[Dover]

4. Yes, of course it's a lie. But people often believe the print over their own common sense

even with all the evidence of an msm propagandist bent.

You can't even read a movie review in a newspaper without wondering if the newspaper is
owned by a media conglomerate who also owns the movie studio. Same with music reviews.
They have the credibility of used car salesmen.

[lonestarnot]

6. Sadly, if they said a nuke went off in NY City or LA, I wouldn't believe a word of it.

[Dover]

7. Well, the good news is that for many the distrust generated by all the lies

forces them back on themselves to develop a keener eye/ear/nose for their own truth, or they learn to tune out the noise entirely and turn attention to real life and more constructive places to apply themselves.

Others are like lemmings.......or are they? (Even the story of lemming behavior is a fabrication created for our imaginations by..guess who? Would nature be so stupid?). http://www.wildlifenews.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlife_news.view_article&issue_id=6&articles_id=56

So perhaps it's more accurate to say that some are like Disney lemmings, caught up in someone else's fabricated reality, and behaving against their true nature.

[lonestarnot]

16. Wow even I fell for the lemming story! Thanks for the truth in their defense!

I hated Disney CEO before reading it. Now! :grr: I hope he is eaten by voles.

[jmondine]

20. Hey now, that's insulting

...to used car salesmen. :)

[stillcool]

3. why do these reporters need..

to contact Fox so often?

[Kickin_Donkey]

13. Because when you do a news story on someone ...

you have to give them a chance to comment.

Thus, when Steinberg did a story on the ratings, with Fox as one of the principals, journalistic principles required that Faux be allowed to give their side of the story (in this case regarding CNN's gains against Faux).

Journalism 101.

[Elidor]

5. "They behave less like a competitive news outlet"

"And more like a political campaign when it comes to managing coverage.”

It's Ratfucker Channel. I'm surprised they haven't given Donald Segretti a job.

[Skittles]

8. Fox News = American Pravda

they're a joke and they know it

[Canuckistanian]

9. K&R it is, then!

Like we didn't know that Fox News targets and bullies their critics.

I'm glad to see that the NYT is documenting this.

[Quantess]

11. I had no idea they were that bad....

Great article!

[FredStembottom]

10. Wow. That story was self-referential on multiple levels.

I didn't even begin to comprehend the main point through all the inside-inside-baseball aspects of it.
If someone would care to explain to me just who is accusing who of what here..... I,d be grateful.

[DCKit]

12. Faux Newz shouts down critics.

The issue doesn't matter, they've just got to be perceived as "fair and balanced" and correct 400% of the time, regardless of how outrageous their stories.

My local (DC) Fox station is shallow, but not dispensing teh Kool-Aid. However, every AV system I set up from now on will not have access to FNC and I would suggest that those of you who work in the industry do the same for all your customers. The electronically illiterate don't deserve to be exposed to Faux.

[pacalo]

21. The author's main point is that Faux News retaliates against journalists & media

who dare to mention Faux News within unfavorable articles or news pieces. The "slight" could be as innocent (although factual) as a journalist mentioning how well CNN's ratings are as compared to Faux News. How does Faux News retaliate against the messenger? If a journalist writes an article that would mention "Fox News", he would be required by his editor to contact Faux News to verify the facts; if Faux News doesn't cooperate, the story cannot be published. If the story isn't published, the journalist could be seen as ineffectual in his duties. Their tactics are the same as BushCo's.

What can be done about Faux News, is the question. Why won't (or can't) the FCC do something about their underhanded tactics; more importantly, why won't the FCC do something about the lies & distortions within their "news reporting"? Why won't the bonafide journalists & television media join together to "blacklist" Faux News in order to undermine their existence, making their dirty work inconsequential?

[FredStembottom]

27. Thanks, 8year...!

I could only get vague notions of what your summary spells out. I appreciate the help.:patriot:

[Senator]

14. K&R&Impeach Or Lose To McCain

[and-justice-for-all]

15. Faux Noise, what a fuckin' joke. nt

[Supersedeas]

17. only they stopped being funny long ago -- it is time for the gloves to come off!!

[and-justice-for-all]

25. Indeed. nt

[Richard Steele]

18. K&R

[Jade Fox]

19. It's truly shocking what FOX gets away with......

but the rest of the press lets it happen, in part because of FOX's "success", as one guy says toward the end of the article.

Not to be too heavy handed, but Hitler was a "success" too! Why don't other media people stand up to FOX?

[Jakes Progress]

22. What do you do with people

like my uncle? For years, he said that if he didn't hear it on Fox news, he refused to believe it. I have racked my brain to try to figure out why this bogus news organization can lay claim to that kind of loyalty. They are so bad, that anyone should be able to tell what liars they are just by watching them. But they continue to have people watch them.

I used to try to argue with my uncle about politics, but just gave up. There is nothing we can do to get these people. Has anyone ever met a Fox junkie who had voted Democratic?

[Faygo Kid]

23. He was like many - only interested in an echo chamber, not news. That's right-wing radio, too.

They simply want to hear that their prejudices are confirmed. That's the whole secret of Limbaugh and the rest - if anyone disagrees with your view, they are stupid or evil or both. But they are never presenting a thoughtful if different point of view.

Fox took Limbaugh's formula and applied it to TV. Bingo. It worked.

[Jakes Progress]

24. You're right. He was not only

a Rush fan, but in the old days when All In the Family was on, he thought Archie was the only sane person on the show. He really thought the show was a celebration of the bigotry he espoused.

These are not people we can change, and people whose favor we certainly shouldn't try to court.

[dgauss]

26. A word that stuck out for me is "feral"

in the phrase "a public relations machine that will go feral if it doesn’t get what it wants."

I sometimes wonder how the people at Fox News do it. They're fighting a dirty fight and they know it yet somehow they feel justified. Feral animals will fight anyway they can to win. They don't feel shame or remorse - they're feral animals.

I don't hate feral animals. I think they qualities that would be admired in a different context, but I don't want them in my house.

Fox News is a feral media corporation. I don't hate them, I just don't want them in the government.