After Election Losses, Media Agree That Fox News Has Damaged The GOP
The end of the 2012 election has raised questions about media's impact on results. As candidates and their campaigns celebrate wins or mourn defeats, observers in the media argue that Fox News' political activism has damaged the Republican Party in light of its losses.
Over the past four years, Fox News employees have aggressively campaigned for Republican candidates. A Media Matters report found that leading up to the 2012 presidential election, over 32 Fox hosts and contributors campaigned for GOP candidates in more than 300 instances, nationally and in more than 40 states. Among them was Fox contributor Karl Rove, whose American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS promised to spend $300 million on ads for conservative candidates.
The same report revealed that five Fox figures advised Mitt Romney's campaign, and nine -- including John Bolton and Mike Huckabee -- "played key roles" at Romney events.
During the 2010 election cycle, more than 30 Fox hosts and contributors endorsed, fundraised, or campaigned for Republican candidates. According to a Media Matters report, those candidates often highlighted the support they had received from Fox.
Romney, the largest beneficiary of Fox News campaigning, was often advised by Fox's on-air personalities about what he should do. For instance, Bill O'Reilly said that Romney should "keep pounding" the message that Obama "doesn't like this capitalistic system." Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson said that Romney could create a "pretty compelling campaign ad" by juxtaposing Obama saying he had three years to fix the economy with him saying he needs another four years.
Fox also aggressively counseled elected Republicans not to cooperate with Democrats. Sean Hannity, for example, told Congressman Paul Ryan in April 2011 not to vote to raise the debt ceiling, and the co-hosts of Fox & Friends urged House Republicans to repeal light bulb efficiency standards.
In light of the Republican Party's 2012 election losses, many in the media have argued that this political activism by Fox has hurt rather than helped the GOP.
The American Prospect's Paul Waldman wrote that Fox and other conservative media are effective at "whipping up stories out of nothing and forcing the mainstream media to pay attention, capable of keeping their troops in line and bucking up their morale, capable of quickly disseminating messages far and wide, creating new stars and enforcing discipline." But, he added, the success of this misinformation resulted in the "single most damaging moment for Mitt Romney in this election, the 47 percent tape." Waldman further wrote that Fox and other conservative media may be "the right's Achilles' Heel."
Salon's Alex Pareene suggested that Fox "knows it's constantly lying to its audience" and that it discovered "constant lying isn't [a] consistently effective electoral strategy." Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic likewise argued that misinformation from Fox and conservative media cost Romney the election and wrote that "right-leaning outlets like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's show are far more intellectually closed than CNN or public radio. If you're a rank-and-file conservative, you're probably ready to acknowledge that ideologically friendly media didn't accurately inform you about Election 2012."
And The Telegraph's Dan Hodes, in a column headlined "Fox News is killing the Republican party," even posited that "Fox News, widely perceived to be one of the Republican party's greatest assets, has actually become a liability to it":
[W]atching Rove vainly raging against the dying of the light cemented for me a view that's been forming throughout this campaign. Fox News, widely perceived to be one of the Republican party's greatest assets, has actually become a liability to it.
To describe Fox as a polarising broadcaster would be to give understatement a manly bear-hug. For Democrats and the liberal Left it is effectively an extension of the GOP press office, prosecuting a vicious and biased campaign against their candidates and values. For Republicans and the Right it provides a vital balance against the liberal prejudices of the Main Stream Media. But whatever the perceptions, Fox -- to my mind -- proved to be an albatross around the neck of Mitt Romney throughout this campaign.
The end of the 2012 election has raised questions about media's impact on results. As candidates and their campaigns celebrate wins or mourn defeats, observers in the media argue that Fox News' political activism has damaged the Republican Party in light of its losses.
Over the past four years, Fox News employees have aggressively campaigned for Republican candidates. A Media Matters report found that leading up to the 2012 presidential election, over 32 Fox hosts and contributors campaigned for GOP candidates in more than 300 instances, nationally and in more than 40 states. Among them was Fox contributor Karl Rove, whose American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS promised to spend $300 million on ads for conservative candidates.
The same report revealed that five Fox figures advised Mitt Romney's campaign, and nine -- including John Bolton and Mike Huckabee -- "played key roles" at Romney events.
During the 2010 election cycle, more than 30 Fox hosts and contributors endorsed, fundraised, or campaigned for Republican candidates. According to a Media Matters report, those candidates often highlighted the support they had received from Fox.
Romney, the largest beneficiary of Fox News campaigning, was often advised by Fox's on-air personalities about what he should do. For instance, Bill O'Reilly said that Romney should "keep pounding" the message that Obama "doesn't like this capitalistic system." Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson said that Romney could create a "pretty compelling campaign ad" by juxtaposing Obama saying he had three years to fix the economy with him saying he needs another four years.
Fox also aggressively counseled elected Republicans not to cooperate with Democrats. Sean Hannity, for example, told Congressman Paul Ryan in April 2011 not to vote to raise the debt ceiling, and the co-hosts of Fox & Friends urged House Republicans to repeal light bulb efficiency standards.
In light of the Republican Party's 2012 election losses, many in the media have argued that this political activism by Fox has hurt rather than helped the GOP.
The American Prospect's Paul Waldman wrote that Fox and other conservative media are effective at "whipping up stories out of nothing and forcing the mainstream media to pay attention, capable of keeping their troops in line and bucking up their morale, capable of quickly disseminating messages far and wide, creating new stars and enforcing discipline." But, he added, the success of this misinformation resulted in the "single most damaging moment for Mitt Romney in this election, the 47 percent tape." Waldman further wrote that Fox and other conservative media may be "the right's Achilles' Heel."
Salon's Alex Pareene suggested that Fox "knows it's constantly lying to its audience" and that it discovered "constant lying isn't [a] consistently effective electoral strategy." Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic likewise argued that misinformation from Fox and conservative media cost Romney the election and wrote that "right-leaning outlets like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's show are far more intellectually closed than CNN or public radio. If you're a rank-and-file conservative, you're probably ready to acknowledge that ideologically friendly media didn't accurately inform you about Election 2012."
And The Telegraph's Dan Hodes, in a column headlined "Fox News is killing the Republican party," even posited that "Fox News, widely perceived to be one of the Republican party's greatest assets, has actually become a liability to it":
[W]atching Rove vainly raging against the dying of the light cemented for me a view that's been forming throughout this campaign. Fox News, widely perceived to be one of the Republican party's greatest assets, has actually become a liability to it.
To describe Fox as a polarising broadcaster would be to give understatement a manly bear-hug. For Democrats and the liberal Left it is effectively an extension of the GOP press office, prosecuting a vicious and biased campaign against their candidates and values. For Republicans and the Right it provides a vital balance against the liberal prejudices of the Main Stream Media. But whatever the perceptions, Fox -- to my mind -- proved to be an albatross around the neck of Mitt Romney throughout this campaign.
I'd rather be stuck in a room with my eyes stuck open watching a Kardashian marathon.
For starters, as much as I hate FauxNews, they aren't even the problem. They cater to a market of rightwing nutjobs who refuse to get their news anywhere else and revel in the sort of conservative circle jerk that they get from FoxNews and Rush Limbaugh and people like that. As long as there's a market, they'll continue to exist.
Then again, if that causes the GOP to edge closer to the cliff of irrelevence, BROADCAST ON!
eta: then again, FoxNews and their rabid watchbase is something of a chicken and egg problem. sigh.
Edited at 2012-11-12 12:40 am (UTC)
The problem with Fox is not that they're a propaganda channel; MSNBC has a very heavy lean to the left. The problem with Fox is that they refuse to acknowledge their bias, and they lack the journalistic integrity to be a source of good information despite having an obvious ideological spin.
The reason it grinds my gears when people refer to MSNBC as the "Fox of the Left" is because unlike Fox erroneouslv billing itself as "fair and balanced", MSNBC makes absolutely no pretenses that they have a left-wing slant ("lean forward"). They admit it openly and honestly. And when MSNBC does end up reporting a piece of misinformation, they make retractions on-air as soon as they have the corrected version and apologize for getting it wrong.
When Fox reports misinformation, they do one of three things:
1) "correct" the report with even more misinformation
2) report the correct information and pretend the inaccurate report never happened
3) ignore the correct information and keep repeating the same lies
TL;DR At least MSNBC has the guts to admit they're biased and make mistakes.
Edited at 2012-11-12 12:48 am (UTC)
And if she's got a right-wing guest on her show? She never shouts them down or talks over them, she is always respectful. Though she won't let them lie.
I just find it amusing that any given episode of Ancient Aliens is more rooted in factual basis than anything said on Fox News. At least when the folks on H2 start extrapolating preposterous theories, they’re doing so from facts and evidence that actually exist. Fox simply makes up the evidence as needed.
How much more obvious to they have to be?
But every time, I see her react to Fox the same way she reacts to the sermons she hears every Sunday, which is where I draw my conclusions from. "Leave your brain at the door and just trust God" is so ingrained in Catholic dogma that she cannot form an opinion of her own without someone she agrees with holding her hand.
And she is exactly the kind of audience Fox preys on. Angry, easily swayed, reactionary, emotional, and scared of becoming irrelevant.
She also hates when I psychoanalyze this shit, because the truth is like a branding iron on very raw nerves to people like her.Edited at 2012-11-12 03:47 am (UTC)
My father out-of-law fits that bill perfectly (and the Catholic bit, as well). He's angry because he's always been the Powerful Bread Winning Patriarch, and as he ages he's not even THAT anymore.
You had me all excited to read about that- turns out it's not true... I'm disappointed, I had the popcorn in the microwave: http://www.snopes.com/politics/busi
But yeah, if they would just come out and admit that they are a conservative news source instead of hiding behind this guise of being "fair and balanced", that would definitely be a start.
I get my actual news from sources like Reuters' and Associated Press' websites as well as my local news sites. If I have to get it from TV, I prefer C-SPAN (where you can watch the actual government proceedings in real-time without any commentary, period).
And then I saw: "CHUCK NORRIS FACTS. ARE THEY TRUE?"
DYING.
Thank you for this. :-D
One of the GOP's biggest problems is that it's gone on such an eat-their-own crusade for the last few decades that all the moderates have crossed over to either Independent or even Democrat. I don't want to be one of those people who gets chased out, because that won't ground the party back into reality.
Anytime a fact is checked off it seems that its a conspiracy of the liberals to deny God's True Meaning where I live.
So I say let em sink... Have a great trip! :)
Even if Romney won, I think Fox would pick out a brand new boogeyman. Because what they're doing is $$$$.
ARE YOU SERIOUS
The American Prospect's Paul Waldman wrote that Fox and other conservative media are effective at "whipping up stories out of nothing and forcing the mainstream media to pay attention, capable of keeping their troops in line and bucking up their morale, capable of quickly disseminating messages far and wide, creating new stars and enforcing discipline."
But, he added, the success of this misinformation resulted in the "single most damaging moment for Mitt Romney in this election, the 47 percent tape." Waldman further wrote that Fox and other conservative media may be "the right's Achilles' Heel."
They're basically saying that the 47% tape was 'misinformation' from the conservative media.
this gif has been useful.