April 01, 2005
'A Megaphone For Fraud'
At this point, only a highly sought after Fox News Channel viewer would not have noticed the ‘tabloidization’ of CNN and MSNBC, as they lurch from the 24/7 coverage of only one sensational story to the next. And, no doubt, those same Fox viewers would be oblivious to the fact that this is all being done for their benefit, as well.
As I've previously mentioned on my blog in February, CNN lost 21% percent of its viewership compared to the previous year, while MSNBC lost 18% percent of its viewer base. In stark contrast, Fox picked up 15% percent in the same period. I proudly attributed these results as the frustration of the Kerry Minority voters abandoning the complicit cable news networks for more substantive pastures - the Internet. And, I soon found confirmation of my theory.
Every Monday, the New York Times' Business Section publishes a Media & Advertising roundup of the previous week's charts, such as the Billboard music charts, Nielsen cable programming ratings, movie box office receipts, etc. This past week, the chart tracking visitor hits to the websites of the cable news networks told a very different, off-air story. CNN.com placed first, with 17 million hits for the week, and MSNBC.com placed second, with 15 million hits.
Fox News.com was not even in the Top 5.
During the recent coverage of the Atlanta Courthouse murders on CNN, I was angered by the constant placement of the menacing mug shot of the Black male suspect, on the lower left-hand part of the screen. On the other hand, during the Schiavo cable news coverage, the unsettling images of her current condition soon gave way to more empathetic photos taken before she was stricken.
Such imagery works very well with the one-sided coverage of this travesty, currently being driven and exploited by the 24-hour cable news networks. However, I find no need to chronicle the complicity of the MSM (Murdoch Seduced Media), when you can find it in detail at Media Matter.org, or laugh at its hypocrisy and absurdity with The Daily Show.
But, I want you to remember the words of the constantly disheveled curmudgeon/scribe Christopher Hitchens, who verbally bitch-slapped MSNBC's Scarborough Country's blatantly, biased coverage, for being a 'megaphone for fraud'.
Though, my main point here is two fold. Such slanted coverage that I just described, is aimed directly at one single group of viewers - a group that makes up all that is left of the total, potential cable audience, for Fox, CNN and MSNBC to do battle over.
This is an audience that demands the news coverage they watch be driven by the emotionality of the story, the facts be damned. The adversaries need to be drawn in simple, partisan terms, their motivation and justifications framed as starkly as 'savior' vs. 'murderer'.
Yet, as the Schiavo tragedy may have illuminated, there may be a difference between what they will 'watch', and what they will 'believe'. I find it hard to accept as true that with the distortions of the Republicans, the pro-Life Conservatives and their media co-conspirators, an overwhelming majority of Americans stood fast to their opposition to such intrusions into personal, private matters.
It's almost enough to restore one's faith in the American people.
(Bert: all of your “crooksandliars” links are dead…)
But your article is Dead On. :)
Thanks for the heads up Betty, the C&L links have been fixed!
Posted by: Bert M. Caradine at April 1, 2005 03:17 AMExcellent article, Bert. Thanks for the Daily Show clip. BTW, how did American Pundit do in the NYT’s blog roundup? :)
You guys should watch CNN International. It is the only real News Organization left. FYI, the Producers for CNN USA and CNN International are different.
The rest of what you say is true.
Posted by: Aldous at April 1, 2005 05:25 AMAh, yes. Where to get information as opposed to info-tainment, (the opiate of the asses). News is just and only one thing. Information. I require no judgement call on the part of the organ that delivers this information to me, I’ll draw my own conclusions based on the facts, thank you very much. And therein lies the rub. How does an American get information instead of tainted, corporate info-tainment? I refuse to watch Fox, (any more), because it seems to me to be so very un-American to consume or even coutnenance state-sponsored propaganda. (Hear that? That distant sound that for all the world resembles the sound of a cow pissing on a flat rock? That’s Herr Goëbbels watching Fox News in the afterlife. He’s drooling *that* uncontrollably profuse with envy at the scope and magnitude of Herr Murdock’s accomplishment!) MS/NBC & CNN are just slightly different covers of the same inane, boring, bubble gum, pop song.
Anyway, Here’s one man’s formula for getting information, and you are invited to try it out, just for fun. First equation: American News = Oxymoron. If you want to put a big, juicy slab of meat on yer plate, first you gotta wash the dog vomit off’n it. If you want very information driven of American news and indeed, world news, then I suggest your first stop be the biggest jewel in the British crown, the BBC. Next, for a little taste of what’s really happening in the Arab world, (and I beg to point out that with each passing day what happens there will become more and more relevant), I use the following equation: Al Jazeera + The Forward = Fair and Balanced. First of all, Al Jazeera is not the rabid bunch of animals that the American press would have you think. As for the hostage footage and the bin laden tapes, yes these things are indeed ghastly, but ask yourself (seriously and honestly) whether Faux, (er Fox), news or MS/NBC or CNN would pass up access to a video of say, a Rodney King-esque beating that ended with the esubjects death, or perhaps secret white house footage of Billy’s dalliance with monica’s mouth. The reason for the condemnation of Al Jazeera is twofold, first it is truly ghastly that a news organ would actually air the violent tapes, but that fact is mitigated by the corresponding fact that the Denouncers are just a tad P.O.’d that no sane Arab, or insane Arab for that matter, would ever drop a scoop like that in THEIR laps. And likewise, The Forward, the Jewish newspaper, is not at all what you might imagine, either. I read ‘em both, compare ‘em, and thus armed with a dose of reality, I can honestly and accuratley refute all the giddy jingoism and neo-fascist boilerplate regarding the middle east that is vomited forth with such frequency that one almost comes to believe the Neo-Con axiom, “If one repeats a lie long enough, it becomes truth.” If that’s still not enough news for you, I challenge each and every reader, to go to Free Speech TV and watch Tariq Ali’s speech on American Empire in the middle east. Whether or not you may agree with him, you need to hear it. Then, if you’re really feeling frisky, give “When they came for Ward Churchill” a listen. Whether or not he is “right” (subjective journalism) he was never offered a chance to present his side (objective journalism) of what the brouhaha was all about.
Is my formula a bit complicated. Not really. Not if you don’t mind doing your own thinking. Remember, pundits need not always agree with your views, nor should they. News, real news, is there to make you think about issues by providing the necessary information, not make you feel good about your personal flavor of politics. Challenge yourselves.
Hahahahaha! Jeff, you know that maybe 1% of the population (less?) has the time to do that right? That’s why Faux News is picking up so many followers. Simple, in-your-face, to the point, you-don’t-need-to-think “facts” (they report, we decide, right?). Most of Faux’s viewers probably don’t even know when horse sh*t is looking ‘em right in the face. Rupert Murdoch must be laughing his ass off.
Still, it’s nice to know that there are other people out there that DO make an effort to discover the truth.
Posted by: Zeek at April 1, 2005 01:35 PMHowdy Zeek. Sad but only partially true. It’s disturbing to think that 99% of Americans abdicate personal responsibility for making informed decisions that affect not only their lives, but the lives of many millions the world over. I don’t pretend to sit and spend hours trolling these news sources with an insatiable intellectual hunger for truth. I scan. Scan and compare. I can get a dose of news that is both comprehensive and diverse in scope in less than an hour. What is needed is for folks to re-prioritize just a little. Spend the half hour+ you’d normally spend watching Faux news and clicking your tongue listening to “Da Beeb” (BBC). Just pick “Latest World News Bulletin,” or “Americas” and boom. Five to eight minutes you’ve got the straight poop. (Instead of the bull poop). My point is that we DO have time. Just re-align your schedule to reflect your need for un-sullied information. 45 minutes a day. If you watch American Idol, Survivor, Fear Factor, or any of a plethora of other pointless, time-wasting televised flummery-cum-brain novocaine, but you “don’t have time” to get real news, you’ve missed several golden opportunities to rectify that sad inequity! My second point: one can always find a reason not to do something important, the question is, why? To sum it all up more succinctly, (using one of my beloved equations):
become informed - Who’s got the time? = They win.
My challenge to watch Tariq Ali’s speech still stands. I’m curious. Please email me privately with what you thought of it, if you can. At least the 1% of you who have the time! :-)
Posted by: Jeff Hatmaker at April 2, 2005 09:45 AMOops! I almost forgot… here’s another LINK to Tariq Ali’s Keynote address at Harvard: EMPIRE & RESISTANCE it is only 60 minutes, so kiss Extreme Makeover, Home Edition goodbye and feed the need.
Posted by: Jeff Hatmaker at April 2, 2005 09:53 AMI’m doin’ the legwork for you! For a better understanding of the complex dynamics of the Israeli Palestinian question, (far better than what Bush has), stories from Al Jazeera, The Forward & Washington Monthly. Here’s the links.
The Forward: Hard-liners “Takin’ it to the streets”
Washington Monthly: Chechnya or Palestine?
Jeff, how is what I said only partially true? :(
Posted by: Zeek at April 2, 2005 11:33 PMSorry! Didn’t mean to hurt you Zeek, I meant simply this: Two small changes must be made, in my utterly worthless opinion, for this statement to enjoy total veracity:
“…maybe 1% of the population (less?) has the time to do that right?”
Humor through exaggeration, I hope! First I think the math might be just a touch conservative :-) The notion that a mere 3,500,000 Americans have the time seems to me to be a bit low. Here’s why, (another of my beloved equations)
3,500,000 - X = Y
X being the number from that group that actually bothers, (just because you’ve got the time, doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ve got the inclination!)
Y being an even smaller fragment of the original number.
Second, change the word “time” to “inclination” and we are in total harmonious accord. Now if you were maintaining that the majority of the populace is too lazy, (still gotta split the bean on that math, though), you’ve got me dead to rights. The rest of your observatins seemed to me to be spot on! I hope that this humble (insufferably verbose?) explanation turns that frown upside down!
Posted by: Jeff Hatmaker at April 3, 2005 10:17 AMI just wanted to state that FOX is the last channel that I would watch. I have to agree, the others have tunnel vision and tend to sensationalize stories but, It’s better than listening to FOX.
Fox and the folks who watch it are like the Limbaugh, bunch! If you don’t agree with them, they think you are ignorant. I’m tired of the conservative arrogance that permeates FOX and it is creeping into the other channels with the likes of Scarborough.
The FOX watchers don’t believe in big government until they want to legislate their beliefs. Can’t have it both ways. While the regular guy is out making a hard living and watching CEO’s cut their pay and benefits, the elephants are parked in front of FOX or listening to Limbaugh and getting their brains washed.
The conservative “Foxes” like Limbaugh, Scarborough, Hannity, O’Reilly, and preachers like Falwell are doing your thinking for you!
If thinking for myself is “liberal” thinking, then I wear the title, proudly!
Bill E.
Florida
Jeff, you put too much thought into what should have been a simple statement :)
Posted by: Zeek at April 4, 2005 12:01 AM
