Fox News gets blown away

Fox's weak coverage of the tsunami in South Asia proves that when it comes to stories with global significance, the nasty, partisan network isn't ready for prime time.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
printe-mail

Jan. 7, 2005 | On the eve of the Alberto Gonzales confirmation hearings for attorney general, Fox's Bill O'Reilly was doing what he likes best Wednesday night, uncorking a verbal tirade against guests who believe -- unlike Gonzales -- that the U.S. should observe the guidelines of the Geneva Convention. Torture, Iraq and patriotism were all bound up in a typical us vs. them "debate." And the best part for Fox News? It had nothing to do with the tsunami that devastated South Asia. To date, the news outlet has covered the disaster haltingly, exposing itself once again as, first and foremost, the home of angry Republicans.

Whereas rival CNN has torn up its regular programming and dispatched an army of staffers to the ravaged region, Fox News appears to be going through the motions on the colossal story. Rather than breaking news, Fox feeds off partisan sparks. And it's hard to get angry about a natural disaster because empathy does not lend itself to outrage -- although that hasn't stopped the high-priced talking heads at Fox from trying to turn the tsunami into a contentious issue.

If the Republican National Committee doesn't have an angle on the story, then neither, apparently, does Fox News. And the last time we checked, there were no GOP talking points on natural disasters of biblical proportions. The best Fox News could do in terms of political spin was to bolster claims by the Department of Defense that the Bush administration was not slow to react to the crisis. Fox also routinely referred to the White House's "initial" aid package as being worth $35 million, not the more accurate and paltry sum of $15 million. At one point during the Dec. 31 telecast, a picture of George Bush appeared in the upper left-hand corner of the Fox News screen with the words "Stop the Bush Bashing," according to News Hounds, a Fox News watchdog site.

Two things have become obvious to news consumers in the aftermath of the tsunami. The first is that even when faced with covering a global humanitarian crisis, Fox News is incapable of turning off its robotic partisanship, not to mention its ever-present sense of victimization. Secondly, Fox News can barely call itself a serious news-gathering operation. Fox News is "not a news station," argues filmmaker Robert Greenwald, whose 2004 film "Outfoxed" was critical of Rupert Murdoch's news operation. "They put their money and resources into paying O'Reilly and Hannity millions and millions, not into having reporters and real journalists around the world."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/01/07/foxnews/index.html

If the Republican National Committee doesn't have an angle on the story, then neither, apparently, does Fox News.

Says it all ritght there!

as stated here:

...And it's hard to get angry about a natural disaster because empathy does not lend itself to outrage...

It seems that Fox is always angry about something, never just reporting something.

I occasionally check FoxNews to gain a little insight into the Bush-bot psyche.

And just like the author of the Salon piece, I noticed that in the days following Christmas, Fox didn't cover the tsunami as much as they "covered the ass" of the president. Scarborough brought on guests that I've never heard of, all of whom appeared to have rehearsed using the same script - "criticism of US relief efforts was all a liberal plot to attack the President" and so forth.

It was sooooo transparently partisan, and such a circle-jerk, it was actually laughable. FoxNews clearly isn't news. It's more like a gigantic pitcher of kool-aid that's always on the table, from which each and every "caterwauling Bush-bot" can take a sip each day.

Read some of the early threads here at DU.

I was disgusted to hear about the tsunami and the destruction from BBC News and have NOTHING about it on CNN and the others.

Interesting... Fox and its supporters claim that Fox isn't biased, rather, it serves a 'market' and is a business like any other, and not REALLY a propaganda arm for the right wing....

AND YET, I'm wondering what the ratings will be during this period?

Will the "Fair and Balanced" Fox's ratings be LOWER than CNN's?

If so, then maybe THE FACTS will show the editorial board they have really ISN'T interested in RATINGS as much as PROPAGANDA...

The only way Faux increased ratings was when Murdoch bought new markets. Donahue, Spin Room , Crossfire - were moneymakers - but cancelled. Ny Post - subsidized - 20 mil a year. Moonie Times - in the hole 100 mill a year. Free market is for birds.

Our side is still fighting people…Commentary like this needs to be hammered home. This is the type of thing that keeps the fires in me burning. Until King George actually does repeal the 1st amendment, we can still fight the MF.

Their audience doesn't care about world events, so why should they? If it doesn't affect them, it's not relevant.

Their target audience seems to be the same people who watch pro wrestling.

give a dam about anybody except themselves.

OR the dreaded Democrats OR liberals. No way at all. This was an act of God. Well - hmm - maybe if you look at it THAT way, they shoulda been all over it like a cheap suit.

But when Doctor Vivisection, bill frist, went over to the afflicted area, let's all remember one of his most significant comments. While waxing near-poetic about the devastation, he was struck that "there's no one to blame." Blame. Gotta push BLAME on everything. Everything's got to be BLAMED on something. Not like it could be accepted, dealt with, or responsibility could be taken for it when the circumstances demand it. You gotta BLAME somebody. Implying, of course, that you yourself are blameless and, as this commentary observes - the victim ("...not to mention its ever-present sense of victimization"). And Clinton's evil deeds were NOWHERE to found in this. They couldn't even find him lying about it. So they were sunk. That's their template. Everything is "hate Democrats" - or "dems" as they're referred to, on-air, "bash liberals," "blame Clinton." And NONE of that fit, here. NONE. So they were lost.

THIS was actual news. NEWS. HUGE, unavoidable, bigger-than-all-get-out events that showed us human's who's really boss. REAL news people go cover it. It's easy when all you have to do is show up at the photo-op or the scheduled news conference and plug your mikes into the mult box that's already neatly set up, and find (or reserve) your best camera position. Easy. This, on the other hand, was - dare I say it - actual Hard Work. I'm surprised they aren't whimpering about it, 24/7 the way their messiah, georgie, does all the time. Just more evidence that Pox can't really be considered a legitimate news operation. And Good God, NO MONICA! What EVER shall we do?!?!?!??!?

If Junior fails to out-donate the "Euro-weenies", Hannity will claim it's because he put Clinton in charge of the fundraising. :eyes:

I kept wondering why they didn't seem to have any reporters over there except for a blond they sent to a resort.

Faux News.

I was talking about the tsunami and how some places were pre-warned, but decided against warning the citizens because it might "hurt tourism," and how others weren't warned because they weren't in their offices. He didn't know this, of course. I told him he should be watching Keith Olbermann at 8 p.m. instead of Bill O'Reilly. LOL!

while i always knew they were right wing i would at least just check them out at times. but i don't even do that anymore. it is pretty disgusting.

i tuned in to see how they were doing the Tsunami coverage and they weren't. it was some stupid scott peterson type shit.

tune in every couple weeks for a few minutes,
just to see who their current advertisers are.
That's what will end up hurting them in the
long run...let their sponsors know you will be
doing business somewhere else.

After all, everyone knows it's the Democrats that
have all the money to spend.

to see what they are up to. but mostly i'm just leaving it up to others to do and report back.

i might try again later, but it's just impossible for now.

...and not to report on the news.

People want to hear about the tsunami, but Fox wants to tell people how to think about Iraq and about Republicans and about terror.

With other stations reporting on the tsunami -- giving people want the people want rather than what Fox wants them to know -- then people turn the chail.

Fox has seemed extremely ruderless the last couple days.

for their use of the phrase "Fair and balanced", when their so-called "news" is very clearly neither fair nor balanced.