"Bill O'Reilly, shut up!" Okay. I'm on board for that one.
Posted on 09/01/2004 2:21:31 AM PDT by kattracks
New York (CNSNews.com) - About a thousand protesters descended on Fox News Channel's headquarters in New York City on Tuesday afternoon and blasted the network as a fascist arm of the Republican Party.
The crowd chanted slogans ranging from "Fox News lies," "Fox News, get off the air," "Fair and balanced is a lie," "Shut the Fox up," and "Anti-peace, Anti-Gay, Rupert Murdoch, Go Away." The protesters billed the event as a "Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon."
Protester Cameron Peterson told CNSNews.com that people who listen to Fox News "have a twisted view of the world."
"[Fox News viewers] think we found the weapons of mass destruction, think we found many things that they would like us to believe they haven't found," Peterson said.
Asked to explain why Fox News Channel is the highest rated cable news network, Peterson responded, "I think it's their scandalization of everything. If you make everything seem like a scandal, a huge deal when it is not, then you frighten people into listening to you."
Protesters held signs reading "Boycott Fox News - Time to flush Fox News extreme right wing-nuts," "Fox News lies," Faux News: We decide you lose," and "ABC Sucks, CBS Sucks, CNN Sucks, NBC Sucks, Fox really sucks."
Protester Beth Bernardo said Fox News is "so pro-Bush that it is disgusting." She said she thinks CNN is "more honest, they are more unbiased."
Another protester, Debbie Riga, criticized the corporate ownership of the media and said she believes that the Fox News ratings' dominance has resulted in making Americans "ignorant."
"I think [Fox News] keeps a lot of people ignorant. [Its high ratings] mean we are ignorant. We are an ignorant country," Riga told CNSNews.com.
Riga said she has found a way to get unbiased news by bypassing the American media. "I listen to the international media now. I no longer listen to any news local news," Riga said.
A protester who identified himself as Robert said, "People are fed up with the lies and deception that are going on throughout our media and throughout our government. Without an active, questioning, resilient news media, our country is really lost," Robert explained.
A protester who called himself Carlton carried a poster with the Fox News anchors all sporting fake, Hitler-style mustaches.
CNSNews.com asked Carlton if the stubby mustaches painted on everyone from Greta Van Susteren to Sean Hannity to Bill O'Reilly was his way of implying that the network had fascist tendencies.
"I am a big Charlie Chaplin fan, and I thing everyone should have a Charlie Chaplin mustache. So that is kind of the message behind [the poster]. You can make whatever implications you want out of it," Carlton responded.
When asked specifically if the mustaches were meant to conjure up images of the former Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler, Carlton replied, "Who is he?"
Other protesters were not as demure. One woman was selling stickers that read, "CIA Approved Fox News Channel," and a "Vote Republican" sticker with a swastika emblazoned across it. Another sign showed a hooded KKK member with the phrase "compassionate conservatism?"
Many of the protesters also singled out the Australian-born owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, with signs saying, "Deport Rupert Murdoch" and "Stop Murdoch's war on journalism."
'Bill O'Reilly, shut up'
Most of the participants focused their hostility on Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, the highest rated cable news program in America.
One sign read, "Bill O'Reilly is a [expletive] chump, and one t-shirt read "Bill O'Reilly is full of s***." The crowd of activists also chanted, "Bill O'Reilly, shut up!""
Protester Cameron Peterson told CNSNews.com, \ldblquote Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity (the latter a conservative radio talk show host and co-host of the cable TV program Hannity and Colmes) are probably the biggest figures of my dislike."
Peterson mocked the Fox News slogan "fair and balanced," calling the network "unfair and imbalanced." He said Fox News creates "fear through lies and deceit" and tries to "give people their own perception of news, rather than objective news."
Protester Debbie Riga said, "There is no deep analysis of any news anymore. It is not balanced, there is no debate. Bill O'Reilly tells everyone to shut up. How is there a debate if he is telling his guests, people he invited to his show, to shut up?"
'America loves Fox News'
Counter-protesters from the conservative website FreeRepublic.com carried signs praising Fox News Channel.
One sign read, "Americans prefer their news fair and balanced. Thanks, Fox" and "America loves Fox News."
A Free Republic counter-protester, who identified himself as Joe, told CNSNews.com that Fox "is fair and balanced."
Joe mocked the notion that many of the protesters at CNN and the three network newscasts are more balanced than Fox News.
"CNN? The Clinton News Network? Oh, okay, you mean [CBS News's] Dan Rather, [ABC News's] Peter Jennings, and [NBC News's] Tom Brokaw, are not biased?" Taylor asked.
The international media is no better, according to another FreeRepublic.com counter-protester Kristin Taylor.
"Americans living overseas are appalled at the international news media. They believe it is deliberately misrepresenting what America is doing in the world," he said.
See Earlier Article:
Protesters Clash With Police at GOP Convention (31 Aug. 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
Is she really this stupid? All news is biased. She's just trading news biased in one way with news biased in another.
"Bill O'Reilly, shut up!" Okay. I'm on board for that one.
"...If you make everything seem like a scandal, a huge deal when it is not, then you frighten people into listening to you..."
Yeah, kind of like the protesters themselves.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
BBC and other Eurapeeing media folks are just as bad. You can REALLY get a fair and balanced view of America from them. Guffaw.
Nope. No lives, and NO JOBS!
Nope. No lives, and NO JOBS!
Nope. No lives, and NO JOBS!
No joy in that hope, Keith. Where do you think the term "dumb f***ers" came from?
"We can hope they're too stupid to reproduce..."
ya know... since we can rightly assume they support abortion... perhaps they will just abort themselves out of future generations!
Of course that explains everything.
Another sign showed a hooded KKK member with the phrase "compassionate conservatism?"
Psst, protester brainiacs, the KKK was founded by Democrats.
What the hell kind of crack is this moron smoking??? I can't believe that there are people this stupid that vote!
It's ironic that the opposing viewpoint of FOX News happens to be "state run media", for instance NPR and Voice Of America in this country, the CBC in Canada, or the BBC in Britain, or Radio France Internationale in France, or Deutsche-Welle in Germany.
Are you getting the feeling that some of these protestors need Prozac?
She really does believe what she is saying because she is confused about the definitions of "honest" and "unbiased".
"Honest" means "sharing your feelings"; "unbiased" means "not conservative". So you see; she is absolutely correct given her understanding of the English Language.
Well kristinn seemed to want to follow Dr. Tucker Carlson's advice and show Jodie Evans a good time...
Oh... THAT'LL work!
Well...........
They DO abort more often!
Golly!
It looks like a LOT of us have noticed the abortion angle!
The crowd chanted slogans ranging from "Fox News lies," "Fox News, get off the air," "Fair and balanced is a lie," "Shut the Fox up," and "Anti-peace, Anti-Gay, Rupert Murdoch, Go Away." The protesters billed the event as a "Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon." Protester Cameron Peterson told CNSNews.com that people who listen to Fox News "have a twisted view of the world."Those are Brown Shirt tactics, which figures, because when you've seen one single party state advocate, you've seen them all.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
Sound familiar?
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