Posted on 04/06/2003 7:45:37 AM PDT by Timesink
By Steve Johnson
Tribune television critic
Published April 4, 2003
They report. We deride.
We deride Fox News Channel for saying "us" and "our" in talking about the American war effort, a strategy that conjures images of gung-ho anchor Shepard Smith, like Slim Pickens in "Dr. Strangelove," riding a Tomahawk straight into Baghdad.
We deride Fox for playing ratings politics with the news, turning Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers' public call Tuesday for media to be "fair and balanced" into a back-door endorsement, pointing out frequently afterward that the general had echoed a Fox News marketing slogan.
And we deride the channel for the infamous and canny "we report; you decide" slogan, because, I learned all over again after watching five straight hours of Fox News earlier this week, there isn't, comparatively speaking, that much reporting, and because the channel's very point seems to be to reaffirm the opinions of people who have long since decided.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
She was literally pouting more and more as the people with whom she was talking discussed how well the war is going for us. Even though I know where she's coming from, I was astounded at how open she was about it.
Everyone got the same slant. It was a monopoly, it couldn't be avoided. It used to really burn me how Communist they really were, especially during the Reagan years. The hypocrisy was, and is, astounding.
Now, though, it doesn't bother me at all. I have the internet, I have the radio, I have FNC. Why should I care about these dinosaurs stuck in the stone age? They're deluding themselves into thinking they're relevant.
This is just the beginning of the wave. Rush Limbaugh drilled the pilot well and showed the potential. Matt Drudge followed in a heady new medium. You can't deny a market like that, at least Rupert Murdoch couldn't. It sounds like some folks are bitter about missing out - on a lot of things.
Welcome to the new world of 'Alternative Media', liberal elites. Oh, the irony...
But where was the Fox patriotism -- or its news judgment -- in covering the deeds of cowboy correspondent Geraldo Rivera, who angered the Pentagon in a weekend report by drawing a sand map that outlined where the troops he was with were and said where and when they were going?
Fox, so vocal on the topic of Arnett's perceived anti-Americanism, was strangely silent on the topic of Rivera all afternoon Tuesday, as the correspondent's fate was apparently being decided. (After the Pentagon initially said he would be removed, he was allowed to voluntarily withdraw from Iraq, a courtesy that was not extended to a Christian Science Monitor reporter who had earlier revealed too much for the Pentagon's taste.)
If Rivera had done what he did on any other network -- especially without being immediately withdrawn -- you can bet that his actions, and what they said about how the "rest" of the media misbehaves, would have been one of the provocative questions with which Fox likes to lead each hour.
SNIP
I read through the entire piece (I have a strong stomache) and I had to agree with his assesment of the Geraldo incident. Fox should have jerked him immediately.
My TV stays tuned to FNC and I haven't heard them comment on why he is now reporting from Kuwait.
However, I note that even in these three paragraphs about Geraldo he refers to "Arnett's perceived anti-Americanism". What a maroon.
In his own words; "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."
We don't need game-show rejects like him attempting to do serious reporting. PUt the adults on the air all the time, Fox.
Right. That's what all sore losers say.
Another dried up, hagged-out, ageing reporterette who dreams of being "taken" by Bill Clinton.
FNC thanks you for your viewership.
maybe he didn't see FOX, the only network, rolling with the 3rd through baghdad a day or so ago.maybe he thought that was cnn...
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