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Why Tea Partiers Are Boycotting Fox News
The Daily Beast ^ | Mar 23, 2013 | David Freedlander

Posted on 03/24/2013 6:43:20 AM PDT by Mozilla

Is Fox News going soft?

That is what a number of Tea Party activists are saying and they are organizing a boycott to protest the conservative station’s coverage, especially what they view as the network’s relative silence in investigating the attacks on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

“Particularly after the election, Fox keeps turning to the left,” said Stan Hjerlied, 75, of Fort Collins, Colo., and a participant in the boycott. He pointed to an interview Fox News CEO Roger Ailes gave after the election in which he said that the Republican Party and Fox News need to modernize, especially around immigration. “So we are really losing our only conservative network.”

The three-day boycott lasted Thursday morning through Sunday morning, and is the second time this group of activists have gone Fox-free in an effort to steer the coverage. Organizers say a two-day boycott earlier this month knocked 20 percent off of the network’s regular viewership. (A Daily Beast analysis of the same data showed that the boycott had little effect.)

A spokeswoman for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.

A leader of the boycott, Kathy Amidon, of Nashville, declined an interview, instead directing The Daily Beast to a website, Benghazi-Truth. The website, a single-page, 23,000-word manifesto complete with multicolored fonts, supposedly incriminating videos of Fox News’s complicity in a coverup, and communist propaganda photographs, is kept by someone who identifies himself online as “Proe Graphique,” and who other members of boycott described as someone who works “in New York media.”

-snip-

Organizers then encourage would-be Fox News viewers to wait until the One America network, which is supposed to launch this summer as an alternative to Fox, goes on the air.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado; US: Tennessee; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: benghazi; benghazitruth; bias; colorado; dailybeast; davidfreedlander; fortcollins; foxnews; kathyamidon; libya; msm; nashville; oneamerica; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; proegraphique; rogerailes; stanhjerlied; teaparty; tennessee; waronterror
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From the Benghazi Truth blog: Early yesterday I got communication from Kathy Amidon that someone claiming to be from Newsweek Magazine/the Daily Beast (they have merged) contacted her for an interview. Yes, we're talking about this Newsweek:Well, it turns out that was apparently true, the person was/is from Newsweek and the person's name is David Freedlander (try to refrain from saying "Freeloader", like I just didn't), and as I get the story from several people, in their opinions he was aggressive, contacting Kathy via phone and DM on Twitter several times requesting a phone interview she did not want to give. Interestingly I heard nothing from the guy, and I suspect he simply did not want to give the name of a contributor which would lead people to this blog. Makes no sense, otherwise, since he was clearly aware of all the players (Edit: Freedlander did link to this blog, the numbers of which are a up a bit today. Thanks for the free advertising, Dave! Hopefully a few of your liberal knot-head readers will get with the program).

Wisely, Kathy had no interest in feeding the left-wing Tea Party destruction machine - I am unaware of any favorable reporting of or editorials about the Tea Party by Newsweek and the cover, above, speaks to their opinion of conservatives - so Kathy kept telling Freedlander at most she would do a written interview, not a telephone interview. But apparently he insisted on a telephone interview, and IMO in so doing hid from a process that would have produced a written record of what Kathy actually would have told him. Eventually he told her, according to Kathy, "This is your chance to be heard." Now considering that she was in the forefront of organizing approximately 700,000 Tea Party members to successfully Boycott the first time, and Newsweek has a mostly left-wing audience of just about only double that, it's hard to see how any Conservative would care less about being "heard" in Newsweek's, in my opinion, trashy, hate-filled pages.

.... He never did ask us anything on Twitter. IMO unimaginative at least - would have made for a big, engaging tech/human-interest story for a faded giant. Maybe David just didn't want to find himself in a venue where he did not have 100% control of the message. Anyway, we feel he had his chance to be heard. Anyone can talk as they please, but for our part here, we're no longer interested in speaking with Newsweek, telephone, written or smoke signals. Edit: Freelander says our boycott calculations are not correct. I guess we're supposed to take his word on that. If you scroll down a bit to March 11, we give you links/screenshots to the ratings and an online percentage calculator, and you can calculate the number dip for yourselves. I challenge David to prove his manifestly inaccurate statement by describing the process by which he claims to have disproved the fact that the 1st boycott March 8 -10 brought FOX down by 22%. When uber-left outfit Newsweek defends FOX NEWS numbers against the Tea Party, that should tell all conservatives that FOX really has moved to the wrong side of the fence for conservatives.

So instead of finding the Benghazi Witnesses, a liberal Newsweek bigwig chases us around wondering why the Tea Party is boycotting FOX NEWS, and defending FOX from the Tea Party. Curiouser and Curiouser.

1 posted on 03/24/2013 6:43:21 AM PDT by Mozilla
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To: Mozilla

http://benghazi-truth.blogspot.com/


2 posted on 03/24/2013 6:43:44 AM PDT by Mozilla
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To: Mozilla

Faux News is too liberal for me and becoming more so with every passing day.


3 posted on 03/24/2013 6:47:24 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Mozilla
"The three-day boycott lasted Thursday morning through Sunday morning, and is the second time this group of activists have gone Fox-free in an effort to steer the coverage."

I've been 'Fox free' since election night.

4 posted on 03/24/2013 6:48:05 AM PDT by Baynative (Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine; onyx; cripplecreek
Rove hates the TEA Party and Conservatives, which is why he's employed at Fox News. Rove is the epitome of squishy, big tent, moderate R.

Take Sarah Palin for example. Rove never had any use for her. Never had any kind words for her. Why not? She was the most popular and beloved and yet he viewed her in the same frame as the lamestream. Never stood up for her. Never came to her rescue.

Well, he never came to President Bush's rescue either. The great architect with the white board stands for nothing. Not God, not our Constitution, nothing. He doesn't win elections either. Not since Bush's in 2004.

AND, because he didn't stick up for Bush, Rove is highly responsible for the GOP losing the House in '06, so let's put Rove in his proper place: MENDACIOUS LOSER.

Rove is a perfect fit at Faux News, but idiot Fox doesn’t realize that both Conservatives and democrats hate him. He’s a true loser all the way around. He gains them NOTHING.


5 posted on 03/24/2013 6:50:52 AM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: Mozilla

Fox lost me in 2001 when they hired Whorealdo. I turned off my TV and have never turned it back on.


6 posted on 03/24/2013 6:51:05 AM PDT by KevinB (A country that would elect Barack Obama president twice is no longer worth fighting for.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Maybe but they still cover stories the MSM won’t. Lesser of the evils, I guess.


7 posted on 03/24/2013 6:53:03 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: KC_Lion

This is because Rove and the heart of the GOP are Leftists. They hated Reagan, too.


8 posted on 03/24/2013 6:55:43 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I love how, when engaged with a liberal in an argument, they ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL, accuse me of spouting Faux News talking points.

It’s especially amusing since I haven’t had television at all since Algore conceded.

But that is how I know I’ve beaten a liberal in an argument. If they’re so afraid of Fox news, and fox news is too liberal, they themselves reveal how far gone they are. Sad, but funny at the same time.


9 posted on 03/24/2013 7:03:59 AM PDT by Big Giant Head
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To: Mozilla

“News”-for-profit will always be a shell game.


10 posted on 03/24/2013 7:05:13 AM PDT by John 3_19-21 ("as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.")
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To: KevinB

Amen to that, I get my news on the radio the local newspaper, and on FR.


11 posted on 03/24/2013 7:07:13 AM PDT by wita
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Yes...Fox is becoming RINO. They smell the demogaphic change coming and they want to be ahead of the projected curve.

Dems are preparing to load millions of new Latino onto voting rolls for 2014...they are planning on grabbing the House and holding the Senate...then they are coming after guns. Fox knows this and wants to get out of their way.


12 posted on 03/24/2013 7:07:23 AM PDT by kjo (+)
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To: Mozilla

I am at a loss as to what people expect of Fox. It was Fox that gave rise to the Tea Party and sent its hosts to cover and even host the first rallies on 4/15/09. But Fox is not the propaganda arm of the Right , the Tea Party or anything else. Ailes is responsible to make money for Newscorp not please all elements of the Right. Folks here complain abut BOR, but BOR pulls 3 million viewers a night . I don’t think many are Freepers or Tea Partiers. Ailes must keep those viewrs as well as Hannity’s. On the consultant side Ailes,unlike any other network, takes fair and balanced seriously. He has Rove, but he also has Erickson. He has Juan but he has Jonah Goldberg. Too often many conservatives are not accepting that people who share many but not all of their beliefs also consider themselves conservative. Fox isa welcome island in the swamp of truly left wing media. Maybe it doesn’t meet the needs of many here, but there is never going to be a net staffed by Jim Robinson and Kristin. Oh and on the news end Fox is by far the most objective.


13 posted on 03/24/2013 7:08:23 AM PDT by xkaydet65
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Rove and the heart of the GOP are Leftists
**********
They are Republicrats. They are more interested in keeping their season tickets with good views of the action than actually playing to win any game.

Despite an abundance of evidence, its not so much the Stupid Party as it is Status Quo Party. They like things the way they are and are content with having good seats as spectators in the grandstands.


14 posted on 03/24/2013 7:08:44 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Mozilla

Remember that FOX is owned by News Corp, which is in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch and his family. This means that much of what they do is in context with the British and its former empire.

Murdock likely favors the Conservative party in England, but their conservatives are our liberals, and they favor things such as internationalism, gun control, socialized medicine, and other abominations.

They also just overwhelmingly voted to eliminate the freedom of the press. So now, if you go down the American Bill of Rights, what they call “conservatives” in England despise most of them.

And this is what Murdock supports, and likely what FOX will eventually support.

Remember when Ted Turner created CNN? He proudly proclaimed himself a conservative, and the network really prospered. And while some say it was Jane Fonda who turned him into a leftist, I suspect he was one all the time, but was smart enough to realize that CNN would never amount to a hill of beans if it was as liberal as the other networks.

Something Al Gore was too stupid to realize with his Current TV channel.

In any event, as FOX continues its drift to the left, and it likely will, its ratings will start to decline, until it is just a shell, like CNN. And conservatives will be left with no conservative voice on television, as they were before FOX.


15 posted on 03/24/2013 7:09:39 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Best WoT news at rantburg.com)
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To: KevinB
I wasn't that abrupt. I simply changed the channel when unlikeable personalities came on. But they keep adding unlikeable personalities to the extent that there are not enough reasons to remember to watch FNC...

Unfortunately, more people in the desirable advert demo prefer such persons, as well as the tabloidial topics, rather than what's either really important, or even newsworthy.

16 posted on 03/24/2013 7:10:55 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Mozilla

I am down to watching the last half hour of Special Report


17 posted on 03/24/2013 7:15:24 AM PDT by UB355 (Slower traffic keep right)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

They’ve caved and gone Left since 2008, when they were in the tank for The Messiah (political-correctness to show “no racial bias”, like most of the white-guilt Republicans who voted for the asshole).


18 posted on 03/24/2013 7:15:34 AM PDT by traditional1 (Amerika.....Providing public housing for the Mulatto Messiah)
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To: Mozilla

Don’t lose track of the fact that FOX News is a business, not a non-profit PR firm for the TEA Party.

Yes, there are more leftists and RINOs than I would like but FOX is still light years better than anything else.

And I do get a certain satisfaction of shutting it off whenever I hear or see Whorealdo or Juan “Obama” Williams.


19 posted on 03/24/2013 7:16:44 AM PDT by Iron Munro (I miss America, don't you?)
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To: All

Fox is not conservative....


20 posted on 03/24/2013 7:17:26 AM PDT by Doofer (Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.)
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