More of The Big Lie...and Lack of Journalistic Standards in the USA

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:04 am

Check [url="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-10-2009/sean-hannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footage"]here[/url] for an amusing look at the Big Lie in action. Behold a time-honored American political tradition in action. Bald-faced lies accompanied by retractions such [url="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hannity-crowd13-2009nov13,0,157713.story"]as this one here[/url], uttered by Sean Hannity himself, proves that a lack of journalistic ethics and standards is the rule of the day here in the US.

I think John Stewart sums up my own opinion and disgust regarding this pretty well.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:26 am

I agree, Chanak. News media now regularly make news by the context they create, and disclaim doing so continuously. Will Bunch on Philly.com did a nice job of putting the mainstream media issue in context. Nor is this only a US problem. Washington Monthly snarked at the BBC's seemingly unending ability to get US politics wrong recently, when it quoted the Beeb's news headline about a crushing defeat handed to Obama in the 2009 elections--this despite the fact that repeated polls showed Obama wasn't an election factor, while the Dems won the only two federal seats (both in the House) up this year. One of which was last held by a Democrat back in the 1870s.

Amazing.

jklinders · Post by **jklinders** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:29 pm

I was engaged in a lengthy web based argument with a retard that actually had the temerity to consider Fox real news. i had mentioned that Fox was becoming the story by their sponsorship of the protests and biased reporting. He was still insistent that the only unbiased news was from Fox. fair play I guess. I did tell him that he seemed to enjoy gonzo journalism and that Hunter S Thompson would have been proud of him.

Sadly that barb just sailed right over his head.

ashtaroth · Post by **ashtaroth** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:18 pm

jklinders wrote:I was engaged in a lengthy web based argument with a retard that actually had the temerity to consider Fox real news. i had mentioned that Fox was becoming the story by their sponsorship of the protests and biased reporting. He was still insistent that the only unbiased news was from Fox. fair play I guess. I did tell him that he seemed to enjoy gonzo journalism and that Hunter S Thompson would have been proud of him.

Sadly that barb just sailed right over his head.

And you are sure he wasn't a troll? I find it hard to believe that people who trust Fox's capabilities as purveyors of truth are capable of operating a keyboard, much less a browser.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:27 pm

ashtaroth wrote:And you are sure he wasn't a troll? I find it hard to believe that people who trust Fox's capabilities as purveyors of truth are capable of operating a keyboard, much less a browser.

Self-referential systems are very hard to defeat, as Levi-Strauss once noted. Fox News regularly lards its "news" with statements of "authorities noted," when the authorities in question are their own hired opinion-makers during the non-news portion of their network. So everything reinforces a single point of view--Rupert Murdoch's--and if you watch the station believing it to represent reality, you soon come to notice that no other station shows as much of that. You come to the conclusion that the others are afraid of news, when in fact Fox News is just regurgitating lies.

All of this could have been prevented if Obama had pushed his FCC to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, but there was too much shouting of Kumbaya and too much quivering from the Don Knotts of his party that didn't want to invoke the wrath of the Congressional minority. Which, of course, didn't matter at all.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:19 am

I saw John Stewarts pieces on this - and I must admit that I was rather amused. Not so much about the act it self, but more how a company like Fox News can continue with their "newstaiment" approach and still being the top viewed "news" source.

I try to watch Stewart as much as I can, because I love his style - and of course he's very biased himself, but he's not a newssource. But the hypocrisy he can show from something like Fox (and occasionally others as well as he goes for them) just plainly is mindbogglingly.

While we do have our biased news sources in Denmark as well - the main TV stations are public service when it comes to news and aren't allowed to present things so biased. Not that it could hurt me, but the lesser minds seems to fall for it to great effect.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Sat Nov 14, 2009 3:36 am

That was great.

ashtaroth · Post by **ashtaroth** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:50 am

Xandax wrote:I saw John Stewarts pieces on this - and I must admit that I was rather amused. Not so much about the act it self, but more how a company like Fox News can continue with their "newstaiment" approach and still being the top viewed "news" source.

I try to watch Stewart as much as I can, because I love his style - and of course he's very biased himself, but he's not a newssource. But the hypocrisy he can show from something like Fox (and occasionally others as well as he goes for them) just plainly is mindbogglingly.

While we do have our biased news sources in Denmark as well - the main TV stations are public service when it comes to news and aren't allowed to present things so biased. Not that it could hurt me, but the lesser minds seems to fall for it to great effect.

Personally, watching some of the clips from fox news i have found a new appreciation for Scandinavian news. Then again, fox puts the Chinese propaganda-machine to shame so it's hardly a fair match.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:01 am

ashtaroth wrote:Personally, watching some of the clips from fox news i have found a new appreciation for Scandinavian news. Then again, fox puts the Chinese propaganda-machine to shame so it's hardly a fair match.

Indeed - I feel the same. I wasn't terrible content with the news coverage, but seeing Stewart pulling out those examples I've seen .... I'm more happy about paying for public service

jklinders · Post by **jklinders** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:30 am

ashtaroth wrote:And you are sure he wasn't a troll? I find it hard to believe that people who trust Fox's capabilities as purveyors of truth are capable of operating a keyboard, much less a browser.

He was fully serious, when i realized he was a full out right wing ideologue I gave up told he was free to have the last word. He gave a foaming at the mouth right wing rant that either would have made Ayne Rand proud or vomit depending on how you interpret her work. It was a newspaper website, it is entirely possible he was a member of the canadian conservative party just mouthing off talking points. But I am pretty certain he believed the tripe he was spouting.

endboss · Post by **endboss** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:47 pm

Stewart had a great piece on either last week or the week before, where he showed how a comment by one of the Fox "non-news" folks ends up running the full Fox circuit to be reported on by the "news" folks, and then eventually to be commented on by the "non-news" folks as being news. It was very surreal. His pieces on the obliviousness of CNN are equally hilarious.

And, unfortunately, that's the only real way I've found to watch American news. From Fox, to MSNBC, to CNN, it's all a joke. Stewart and Colbert report on it the only way that one reasonably could - as a joke. The title of this thread almost seems like an oxymoron.

Personally I just read the New York Times online for my news. I try and steer clear of the political reports though. I get all my politics from Stewart and Colbert. The American political system is corrupt, insane, and incredibly dense. You either laugh at it, be brainwashed by it, or kill yourself.

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 3:53 pm

endboss wrote:...And, unfortunately, that's the only real way I've found to watch American news. From Fox, to MSNBC, to CNN, it's all a joke. Stewart and Colbert report on it the only way that one reasonably could - as a joke. The title of this thread almost seems like an oxymoron.

Precisely. Entertainers like Stewart and Colbert strike a chord because they lampoon the ridiculous and make a living delivering laughs from the absurdity of it all. I find Colbert's caricature of an opinionated, clueless right-wing nutjob particularly amusing.

The press in my country isn't free. It serves corporate interests.

endboss · Post by **endboss** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:31 pm

Chanak wrote:Precisely. Entertainers like Stewart and Colbert strike a chord because they lampoon the ridiculous and make a living delivering laughs from the absurdity of it all. I find Colbert's caricature of an opinionated, clueless right-wing nutjob particularly amusing.

What's really hilarious is that not all conservatives are aware that Colbert is a satirist. What's even more hilarious is that not all liberals realize that he actually makes fun of them too.

The press in my country isn't free. It serves corporate interests.

So it has a purpose? That must be nice... *dreams*