Rupert Murdoch put his son in charge of Fox. It was a dangerous mistake. - Chicago Tribune


https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-lachlan-murdoch-falls-short-during-coronavirus-20200323-p7vyp4ve4fhqlgmjso2hvhxmqy-story.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-lachlan-murdoch-falls-short-during-coronavirus-20200323-p7vyp4ve4fhqlgmjso2hvhxmqy-story.html%3foutputType=amp

" There, for two crucial weeks in late February and early March, powerful Fox hosts talked about the "real" story of the coronavirus: It was a Democratic- and media-led plot against President Donald J. Trump. Hosts and guests, speaking to Fox's predominantly elderly audience, repeatedly played down the threat of what would soon become a deadly pandemic."

"Critics sometimes compare Fox, in its loyalty to Trump, to "state TV," but that description is off. State TV implies command and control. The most-watched news channel in America has become, since the fall of its powerful founder, Roger Ailes, much more like the Trump White House: a family business where it's not entirely clear who is in charge."

" Fox failed its viewers and the broader public in ways both revealing and potentially lethal. In particular, Lachlan Murdoch failed to pry its most important voices away from their embrace of the president's early line: that the virus was not a big threat in the United States."

"People act like Fox is a virus beyond our control," said Bill Kristol, who worked for the Murdochs for 15 years and appeared on Fox until 2012. "There are people who run it, who have responsibility for it, and they could be held accountable."

" The damage Fox did appears likely to extend beyond the typical media hits and misses. I asked Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Public Health Institute, who appeared on Fox News recently, whether he believes people will die because of Fox's coverage.
"Yes," he said. "Some commentators in the right-wing media spread a very specific type of misinformation that I think has been very harmful."

Both sons are less conservative than Rupert, especially James.

All the Murdoch's love the $. They're craven opportunists. That's what makes them even more despicable and contemptible.

Anarchistbear said:

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It's a propaganda arm of a political party same as MSNBC. It's not "left" or "right." Nobody I would regard as "left" believes anything on MSNBC

Both are trivial- full of partisan talking heads. Their impact on the political process is solely as bogeymen for the opposition. Facebook is a much more powerful and insidious platform providing "news" to millions more who don't even realize they are victims of ads not news.

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Nailed it.

bearlyamazing said:

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It's pretty humorous here to see the perception of Fox News as everything that's bad in the world, like they're foaming at the mouth with liberal conspiracy theories.

I don't watch Fox News. My wife and I are on the opposite end of the political spectrum so even if I wanted to watch it, I wouldn't out of respect for her.

What I see of Fox is in occasional video clips from stories I read and visits to see my parents, where it's on 24/7, which is annoying, especially because the volume's usually too loud and they refuse to pause and fast forward through the inane commercials.

Fox News is not the Fox News of Roger Ailes. It's far different these days. The opinion people like Hannity are unabashedly conservative but the rest of the shows, particularly the news, play it pretty straight.

The latest to be fired was Trish Regan, who got too political for management's taste.

Here's a story link from a conservative aggregator. Take a look at the comments and see how many conservatives view Fox News. I rarely read the comments on their stories because there are far too many morons posting things like, "String him up!" But it is insightful to see for people who think Fox News is the big, bad boogeyman and spouts marching orders for the right.

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/breaking-trish-regan-fired-by-fox-business/

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Fox News is the same as it has always been, a vehicle for advancing Rupert Murdoch's right-wing agenda, just the same as all of the rest of Murdoch's Anglosphere media properties.

Love the typical it is because I say it is statements by people who don't know. You actually have to watch it to know. And so many conservatives wouldn't hate Fox News if was still like it used to be.

Anarchistbear said:

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It's a propaganda arm of a political party same as MSNBC. It's not "left" or "right." Nobody I would regard as "left" believes anything on MSNBC

Both are trivial- full of partisan talking heads. Their impact on the political process is solely as bogeymen for the opposition. Facebook is a much more powerful and insidious platform providing "news" to millions more who don't even realize they are victims of ads not news.

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I so endorse this statement!

At our gym in those light hearted pre-COVID days, they had CNN, MSNBC and Fox News next to each other and it was like watching 3 different universes, that repeated with a continuous cycle of talking heads, relating the same talking points, soooooo many time over, all in the space of 90 minutes. So I got me a great set of Bosch headphones and turned the music high (in a nod to Bearister) and started watching all the Cal alums on the golf channel. Life got good (in a nod to Joe Walsh). And don't get me going on Facebook. Just stopped using it.

I realize Trump is politically preaching to the choir in a lot of what he says, but the "we have to go to work and are talking about dates" is crazy. I realize the sentiment is important and true -- it's obviously vital to have the economy up and running again -- but we are in no position to know where we stand at this point. We are weeks and weeks away from talking about dates.

Anarchistbear said:

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It's a propaganda arm of a political party same as MSNBC. It's not "left" or "right." Nobody I would regard as "left" believes anything on MSNBC

Both are trivial- full of partisan talking heads. Their impact on the political process is solely as bogeymen for the opposition. Facebook is a much more powerful and insidious platform providing "news" to millions more who don't even realize they are victims of ads not news.

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Facebook is a news aggregator. I don't use Facebook but I imagine much of it is produced by MSM sources?

I watch both Fox and MSNBC. Yes, they represent polarized opposites politically, but I challenge anyone to come up with the worst lies each network has propagated and compare the two. I'll wait....

Generally, FOX actively misleads and misdirects. Left wing media lies via omitting facts and stories, and via framing. Overly simplistic, I know. FOX is more brash than the left wing so I'd characterize their lies as more egregious, and more obvious. They both have an agenda, but as Jon Stewart noted, FOX is more "activist" in how they go about their business.

You have the left and right wanting to hear what they want in primetime on MSNBC and FOX. Who in the world is watching Cuomo?

NYCGOBEARS said:

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I watch both Fox and MSNBC. Yes, they represent polarized opposites politically, but I challenge anyone to come up with the worst lies each network has propagated and compare the two. I'll wait....

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I think the point for some of us is we stopped watching, because as Anti said, they are mouth pieces for two political parties, not news.

Anarchistbear said:

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Yes but the feed and ads- often indistinguishable from the news- are tailored to your political predilections. Trump's victory in 2016 was in no small part due to superior use of facebook. You want an ad for soccer moms in Michigan; gay libertarians in Pennsylvania; male beer drinkers in Wisconsin.? Facebook will provide the demographic- they will also replicate and target it wherever you want.

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That's modern advertising.

The Russian Trolls were sewing discord on various platforms including Facebook.

GBear4Life said:

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Generally, FOX actively misleads and misdirects. Left wing media lies via omitting facts and stories, and via framing. Overly simplistic, I know. FOX is more brash than the left wing so I'd characterize their lies as more egregious, and more obvious. They both have an agenda, but as Jon Stewart noted, FOX is more "activist" in how they go about their business.

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May be the "stopped clock" principle in action here, but I actually agree with GBear on this. MSNBC has a slant. Fox News will lie to you.

sycasey said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Generally, FOX actively misleads and misdirects. Left wing media lies via omitting facts and stories, and via framing. Overly simplistic, I know. FOX is more brash than the left wing so I'd characterize their lies as more egregious, and more obvious. They both have an agenda, but as Jon Stewart noted, FOX is more "activist" in how they go about their business.

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May be the "stopped clock" principle in action here, but I actually agree with GBear on this. MSNBC has a slant. Fox News will lie to you.

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Yeah it's kind of like there's a dude who will be coy and omit the context and facts that he doesn't want you to know. Then there's a dude that will flat out lie to your face.

Now, FOX does this during their primetime hours, which is largely the same format as talk radio, and so they do it in a way where they can just be like "it's Hannity. He's conservative!" FOX is certainly a different channel at lunch time (generally speaking).

I think FOX gets it right sometimes, but that's not as a result of trying to get it right, the news story and the facts simply aligned with their agenda.

sycasey said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Generally, FOX actively misleads and misdirects. Left wing media lies via omitting facts and stories, and via framing. Overly simplistic, I know. FOX is more brash than the left wing so I'd characterize their lies as more egregious, and more obvious. They both have an agenda, but as Jon Stewart noted, FOX is more "activist" in how they go about their business.

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May be the "stopped clock" principle in action here, but I actually agree with GBear on this. MSNBC has a slant. Fox News will lie to you.

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Whoa... see, we can find common ground at times. That was an accurate description.

sycasey said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Generally, FOX actively misleads and misdirects. Left wing media lies via omitting facts and stories, and via framing. Overly simplistic, I know. FOX is more brash than the left wing so I'd characterize their lies as more egregious, and more obvious. They both have an agenda, but as Jon Stewart noted, FOX is more "activist" in how they go about their business.

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May be the "stopped clock" principle in action here, but I actually agree with GBear on this. MSNBC has a slant. Fox News will lie to you.

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Oh, MSNBC lies plenty too. Just do it a bit more cleverly than Fox does because their audience is more gullible.

....and in news from another tRump state:

...which gives rise to the question: Do some Americans deserve to die?

Pastor Robert Jeffress: Left Wing Using Coronavirus to Push Abortion


https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/28/pastor-robert-jeffress-left-wing-using-coronavirus-separate-trump-evangelical-base-push-abortion/

Professor Henry Higgins said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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Yes but the feed and ads- often indistinguishable from the news- are tailored to your political predilections. Trump's victory in 2016 was in no small part due to superior use of facebook. You want an ad for soccer moms in Michigan; gay libertarians in Pennsylvania; male beer drinkers in Wisconsin.? Facebook will provide the demographic- they will also replicate and target it wherever you want.

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That's modern advertising.

The Russian Trolls were sewing discord on various platforms including Facebook.

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******* you're an ignorant moron

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Just watched American Dharma. You, Professor, are thr godamn ignorant moron.

kelly09 said:

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Professor Henry Higgins said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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Yes but the feed and ads- often indistinguishable from the news- are tailored to your political predilections. Trump's victory in 2016 was in no small part due to superior use of facebook. You want an ad for soccer moms in Michigan; gay libertarians in Pennsylvania; male beer drinkers in Wisconsin.? Facebook will provide the demographic- they will also replicate and target it wherever you want.

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That's modern advertising.

The Russian Trolls were sewing discord on various platforms including Facebook.

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******* you're an ignorant moron

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Just watched American Dharma. You, Professor, are thr godamn ignorant moron.

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What did you think of American Dharma.

Professor Henry Higgins said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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Yes but the feed and ads- often indistinguishable from the news- are tailored to your political predilections. Trump's victory in 2016 was in no small part due to superior use of facebook. You want an ad for soccer moms in Michigan; gay libertarians in Pennsylvania; male beer drinkers in Wisconsin.? Facebook will provide the demographic- they will also replicate and target it wherever you want.

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That's modern advertising.

The Russian Trolls were sewing discord on various platforms including Facebook.

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******* you're an ignorant moron

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BearForce2 said:

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Arrogant Democrats take no responsibility in helping to elect Trump, the rest of the country hated their condescending attitudes, but of course, their talking point has always been the influence of the Russians. Somehow they're influencing us to eat their Blini and Solyanaka through Facebook ads.

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Are you saying that Trump's election over Clinton was a good thing or a bad thing?