Plus Jay Wallace. Pirro and Bartiromo (she’s looking pretty haggard) as well one of the 3 of Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson maybe two. Good news is they won’t really have any place to go. Newsmax and OANN are de-platformed. They’ll end up doing sad pathetic podcasts like Meghan Kelly. Great to be a DemonCRAT.
You’re right about that, for the most part. I’m curious though: what do you consider non-mainstream news? I’m rambling, but what’s a “fact”? Some are obvious - folks on January 6 went into the Capitol, but for what purpose is contested. We say Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia sees it differently. One can go on about one’s facts being another’s wrongheadedness. So, where lies the “truth”….. at least one we can rely upon?
To begin with, eliminate "facts" that are based on willful lies and deceit. Look at the source. That will remove a lot of "facts".
You are correct, I wasn't very specific. I was referring to the big-money news corporations as "mainstream." Fox, CNN, etc. Hard to know the truth, unless you were actually there.
Did you see the basketball thread about the fan who got ejected for holding on to a player who, running for a loose ball, fell into the stands? One person said the ejected fan held the player by the throat as he was trying to get back on the court, another said he didn't. Even eyewitness testimony is unreliable. Still, that's how we Homo sapiens gather information from the world around us. In addition to miscellaneous other articles friends send me or I see on the Internet, I read the NYT and Post daily. Their editorial stances and most columns may be left leaning (but hardly radical), but I completely trust their reporting. They are absolutely crucial to our democracy. One of the first thing tyrants do is take over the press and turn it into a propaganda outlet. One need to only look at Russia to see the consequences of that. It flabbergasts me that some Americans in positions of power and influence seem to admire Putin.
A lot of what we call facts are interpretations of events. Take January 6, for example. We all saw what happened that day. Most of us call what we witnessed an insurrection designed to prevent the counting of electoral votes and peaceful transfer of power. A minority (thankfully), including some members of Congress and others in positions of influence, dispute that. This same minority believe the election was fraudulent despite the complete absence of facts supporting that belief.
I agree a free press is crucial to our way of governance. I don't believe we have a free press. I believe we have a press beholden - not to government - but to their corporate sponsors and the Nielson Ratings.
As seen in recent revelations , that is definitely the case with Fox, but I don’t think it’s nearly to the same extent with the NYT and WAPO, whose shareholders almost by definition expect an honest and balanced presentation of the news.
Murdoch's depositions show it to be what everyone always thought it was: GOP Pravda. Coordinating messaging with McConnell, McCarthy, Trump, et al. Biden's White House should cancel all their press passes and no Democrat should ever appear on the channel.
It was a devastating trial for Fox except that everyone already knew what they were and their followers don’t care. What it really affects is that if you ever want to be treated as a journalist a stop at Fox is a career killer.
Those texts/emails were outrageous. That one from Tucker saying if they don't fire the few people telling the truth, their viewers will flock to News Max, and it will be devastating for the share price ... But I think City is right, Fox viewers now know they are being lied to, but don't care.
Let's not all forget that there's another lawsuit coming too Fox News must face Smartmatic's lawsuit over election-rigging claims NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A New York state appeals court rejected Fox News' bid to dismiss a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit accusing the network of falsely accusing an electronic voting systems company of helping rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election to favor Joe Biden over Donald Trump. In a 5-0 decision, the Appellate Division in Manhattan said Smartmatic USA alleged in "detailed fashion" how Fox News and some anchors and guests "effectively endorsed and participated in (defamation) with reckless disregard for, or serious doubts about" whether the company engaged in election fraud. Smartmatic had sought $2.7 billion in damages, saying Fox News knowingly lied about its technology and how it was used in order to boost ratings, and keep Trump supporters from defecting to the right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News. Fox News must face Smartmatic's lawsuit over election-rigging claims
This aspect of chasing ratings is not new. Even local news always promotes some juicy story… then… “tune in at 6 to hear the details”. Even the most respectable journalism needs an audience. Fox seems pretty unique to the extent they pretty much just started making shit up and turning things over to the opinion hosts. What was the point they crossed that line? Was there a specific point? I do remember being shocked at them airing that series of videos about “Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist” and the Birtherism stuff. That just struck me as desperate, almost comical, propaganda that nobody could possibly take seriously. Yet… they do. 15+ years later and the only thing shocking is the extent of their depravity. At least that was lies just about 1 presidential candidate. Seems now, not unlike infowars, they don’t care if average people are harassed or hurt due to their nonsense.
I don’t disagree about Fox making shit up. I disagree about the others not. I mean CNN said that Joe Rogan was taking a horse dewormer when he was prescribed Ivermectin by a doctor.
Ivermectin is for treating parasites in both humans and animals. Worm infestations are one of the parasitic infections the drug attacks. While Rogan was smart enough to at least seek out the human version and (presumably) proper human dosing from a physician, it isn’t entirely inaccurate to call it a “horse dewormer”. My dogs (like most dogs) also get it monthly to prevent heartworm. It’s fair to say it would be more ideal for journalists to be more “matter of fact” rather than engage in popular trolling type behavior, and “horse paste” was sort of the popular insult towards those irrationally seeking out this drug. But ivermectin was continually discredited as a covid treatment, so it’s not like the mocking of its usage was off base. There also were shortages created for people who legit needed the drug for parasites, and people actually were resorting to using the animal versions. Real issues. Not much of a retort vs the complete bull dung Fox was peddling.
“We are still getting bombarded,” Mr. Baier said. “It became really hurtful.” He said projections were not enough to call a state when it would be so sensitive. “I know the statistics and the numbers, but there has to be, like, this other layer” so they could “think beyond, about the implications.” What a bunch of snowflakes. Brett Baire has come out of this looking like a giant sycophant.
