What would life be like without FOX NEWS?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

With the crumbling of the Murdoch empire. News Corporation owns FOX Broadcasting and who knows the investigations could progress further and further into the American media. If FOX goes down what would life be like?

Do you think the other stations such as CNN take up more of the right wing rants or do you think that they will become more balanced? What affect might it have on 2012 elections?

[mucifer]

1. I'm guessing they are above the law. They probably have

all sorts of stuff on the dems they are using for blackmail. Just a theory.

[Lint Head]

2. I think news organizations need to get back to the unbiased reporting of NEWS.

People need to know the news. This is Constitutional. The purpose of freedom of the press is to keep the people informed so they can make good decisions related to there representative government. FOX has distorted this concept and endangered it's true existence.

[Doctor_J]

21. I think Nora Jones should have sex with me every night for a year

Mine will happen before yours does.

[CBGLuthier]

3. This is what came to my mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vJ5B_t3rDI

[peace13]

10. Pretty Good!

Thanks for that!

[spin]

15. Great video. (n/t)

[slackmaster]

4. Try changing the channel, or turning off your TV

You do have some control over this.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Fox has millions of viewers

(not me)

[slackmaster]

13. So, what is the reason for you to be concerned about what other people are watching?

I don't understand. You have a choice to keep Fox News out of your home and out of your life. What more are you asking for, and how can you justify it?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. you do understand

[Cali_Democrat]

20. I think the average age of Fox News viewers is 68

Not exactly a demographic that advertisers clamor over.

[crikkett]

8. Not really, because even though I haven't had Fox News on in years,

I hear all about it every day.

So to answer the OP: Life without Fox News would be nice and quiet, except for all the AM radio blather anyway, until the inevitable occurs and another media outlet takes its place.

[CrazyBob]

24. Wow

You don't see the influence of Fox "News" beyond that?

[slackmaster]

28. It doesn't influence me. It influences only people who choose to watch it.

Would you like to suggest a way that it could be eliminated (i.e. censored) without undermining freedom of thought of speech, which are the core values of our nation?

[CrazyBob]

29. I am not suggesting censorship

Just pointing out the huge reach that Fox has, beyond individual viewers.

Its a sounding board for GOP talking points. A right wing echo chamber.

Its a warehouse for right wing nonsense, and a megaphone for repubs who need PR.

Edit = spelling

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. Slackmaster you're not Rupert Murdoch are you?

only kidding

[CountSnail]

5. GBTV

They'll all just flock to Glenn Beck's upstart network, and it'll probably be worse than FOX News.

[abelenkpe]

7. H e a v e n !

Less ignorant untrue crap would be pumped into my gullible relatives minds

[flinging_poo]

9. a new channel...

...for dittoheads, all posture, all bloviating, 24/7 for your enjoyment! Reagan-worship on the radio was around before fixed news; will probably be around after.

[southernyankeebelle]

11. Fox has been losing watchers a long time now. I think we will see a

big shift in the way people listen to talk radio and maybe in TV news. I think things will shift back to being more equal for everyone. The country is getting sick and tired of this push and pull. I think even ratings in rightwing talk radio is falling. Just watch.

[canoeist52]

12. I could have reality-based conversations with my family again.

[ElboRuum]

14. FOX news isn't the crux of the problem...

It is by far and away the worst perpetrator and contributor to the problem. The problem is the 24-hour news cycle. So long as you have media dedicated to the "breaking news" mentality, you will always have the problem of news manufacturing. Real news just happens, and real newspeople report it after the fact. To fill a 24-hour news cycle (and therefore ratings and therefore advertising and therefore profit) you need filler. Enter the constant "analysis", enter the talking heads, enter the media as celebrity, and the headline crawls, all of which exists in very large proportion to the actual real news which gets overwhelmed in the noise of "shaping" the story.

When you have maybe an hour a day maximum to communicate everything of relevance happening in the global, national, and local scope you are by definition limited to facts. Consider the 6 o'clock news, where you may have a half-hour to get everything out. They do, but only the facts, and they STILL have time to throw in a puff piece, sorry, "human interest" story.

In a way, this self-limiting feature of news accessibility prior to cable news and internet access got us much more reliable and unbiased information. Ease of access to information has increased its quantity and, I believe, diluted its quality. No sense in blaming anything specific for this, it is a fact of our modern life and it isn't going away anytime soon.

The only thing FOX news disappearing would do is create a temporary vacuum in extreme right-wing propaganda from our cable dial. My guess is that this would probably be filled within a year by a clone, possibly even having a similar cast of characters. FOX has proven that there is an audience in this country for this kind of crap, and we can always guarantee that where there is money to be made, someone will endeavor to make it. I doubt that CNN or MSNBC look at FOX with avarice at their dwindling viewership. I don't think they'll be quick to rebrand or take in the wacko contingent. I believe they see the fallacy of FOX, that its catered audience demands ever farther right which limits their own ability to market their product to others outside this group, and that is a much larger demographic.

[Turbineguy]

16. Wingers would be walking around confused.

"Please! Somebody! Tell me what I am supposed to think!"

[Enthusiast]

17. CNN would only ramp up their right wing

rhetoric. Same with NPR. NPR is already decidedly right wing. Right wing looniness has a market.

[gkhouston]

27. It doesn't have a market; it has *underwriting*. And there are

few widely accessible alternatives.

[Inuca]

18. Better n/t

[Doctor_J]

19. Here's my Fox testimonial

when I was a kid a close family friend was a JFK Dem, LBJ Dem, RFK Dem, voted for HHH and GSM. His dad put food on the table with a union plumbing job. Whole family were libs. Fast forward 45 years. Now that former JFK dem's sole means of support are Medicare (he's used treatment that would cost more than a half million dollars out of pocket, and if he tried to get insurance with Ryan's $8K voucher, they would laugh out loud right in his face), SS, and a public school pension. That's it. without those he would have absolutely zero income. Yet there he sits, day after day, watching Fox News, complaining about socialism, over paid teachers and unions. It is, in a word, sickening. Fox is a cancer - a severe illness - in this country. the people who watch it are mentally ill. the country will not survive while the cancer is allowed to remain.

That said, it isn't going anywhere unless someone mcVeigh's it.

[otohara]

22. Nightmare Free America

a heavenly thought, I hope it happens

[Fire1]

25. We may soon find out!! n/t

[tallahasseedem]

26. Glorious!

:)

[Yavin4]

30. Fox News Is Not Going Any Where Nor Will It Change

Some other rich right wing asshat will buy it and keep it as is. Fox new is far too valuable to be allowed to go away.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. things happen

it could go down

[thelordofhell]

32. I'll have to find another way to tell if a doctor is an idiot

Since they won't be blaring fox on the T.V. in the waiting room

[Hutzpa]

34. ROSY

we can then begin to get real news again.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. Yep

hopefully?