Media Matters: Fox News volunteers for Scott Brown's campaign
MediaMatters
January 22, 2010
Picking up where the network left off in 2009, Fox News jumped into its first political campaign of the year, this time setting its sights on the U.S. Senate to help elect Republican Scott Brown to the seat previously held by Democrat Ted Kennedy. Fox News and other media conservatives anticipated and celebrated Brown's election with a hyperbolic fervor that would redden the faces of the "Obamaniacs" they most despised in 2008. As conservative media saw it, in defeating Democratic challenger Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, Scott Brown took down Goliath, the 1980 Soviet Olympic hockey team, the Berlin Wall, and the British Empire. Before Brown assumed his seat in the Senate, he had been nominated by Drudge and Fox News to be our next president.
Fox News didn't simply cheer from the sidelines of this contest. Indeed, the network actively aided Brown's campaign. Fox News repeatedly hosted Brown in the days leading up to the election, and during each appearance, Brown directed viewers to his website to find out "how to help with donating and volunteering." Fox News political analyst Dick Morris took it upon himself to urge viewers to "go to DickMorris.com ... to help elect Brown," because if "we win this fight, then there will never be another victory for Obama." When asked at a rally about "ethical questions" raised by Fox News' advocacy for Brown, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron fled, saying he didn't have time to answer. But he did have the time to autograph "Brown for Senate" campaign materials and pose for pictures with Brown's volunteers, as Think Progress documented.
Fox News also did Brown the favor of repeatedly misrepresenting remarks Coakley made to portray her as incompetent. America's News HQ anchor Gregg Jarrett stated on January 17, "Martha Coakley is out of step when she says things like terrorists are no longer in Afghanistan, or in the debate saying, quote, 'We need to get taxes up.' " Interpreting Coakley's remarks in this way requires a willing suspension of basic verbal reasoning skills; and that was Fox's "straight news" programming. On Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy actually claimed that Coakley "suggested the Taliban [are] gone from Afghanistan," and Michael Scheuer declared that Coakley "doesn't seem to mind" that "we are losing there." For his part, Glenn Beck accused Coakley of "religious bigotry" for saying that those who would "deny emergency contraception to a woman who came in who had been raped" probably "shouldn't work in the emergency room."
(More here.)
January 22, 2010
Picking up where the network left off in 2009, Fox News jumped into its first political campaign of the year, this time setting its sights on the U.S. Senate to help elect Republican Scott Brown to the seat previously held by Democrat Ted Kennedy. Fox News and other media conservatives anticipated and celebrated Brown's election with a hyperbolic fervor that would redden the faces of the "Obamaniacs" they most despised in 2008. As conservative media saw it, in defeating Democratic challenger Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, Scott Brown took down Goliath, the 1980 Soviet Olympic hockey team, the Berlin Wall, and the British Empire. Before Brown assumed his seat in the Senate, he had been nominated by Drudge and Fox News to be our next president.
Fox News didn't simply cheer from the sidelines of this contest. Indeed, the network actively aided Brown's campaign. Fox News repeatedly hosted Brown in the days leading up to the election, and during each appearance, Brown directed viewers to his website to find out "how to help with donating and volunteering." Fox News political analyst Dick Morris took it upon himself to urge viewers to "go to DickMorris.com ... to help elect Brown," because if "we win this fight, then there will never be another victory for Obama." When asked at a rally about "ethical questions" raised by Fox News' advocacy for Brown, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron fled, saying he didn't have time to answer. But he did have the time to autograph "Brown for Senate" campaign materials and pose for pictures with Brown's volunteers, as Think Progress documented.
Fox News also did Brown the favor of repeatedly misrepresenting remarks Coakley made to portray her as incompetent. America's News HQ anchor Gregg Jarrett stated on January 17, "Martha Coakley is out of step when she says things like terrorists are no longer in Afghanistan, or in the debate saying, quote, 'We need to get taxes up.' " Interpreting Coakley's remarks in this way requires a willing suspension of basic verbal reasoning skills; and that was Fox's "straight news" programming. On Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy actually claimed that Coakley "suggested the Taliban [are] gone from Afghanistan," and Michael Scheuer declared that Coakley "doesn't seem to mind" that "we are losing there." For his part, Glenn Beck accused Coakley of "religious bigotry" for saying that those who would "deny emergency contraception to a woman who came in who had been raped" probably "shouldn't work in the emergency room."
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
3 Comments:
Fox would not appear so right wing if it were not for NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, BBC.... I do not watch Fox (or the rest) because they lack a thoughtful exchange of ideas and present only one side of an issue while pretending to cover all sides, much like Vox Verax. I have more respect for media that states they are liberal or conservative with no pretence of neutrality.
I forgot, please add CNN to the mix.
Of course, this article 1) is a total reach to find a reason in why Coakley lost and, 2) completely misses the obvious - that people would first have to watch Fox News - in Massachusetts! First, you really have to call in to question the judgement of Vox Verax for regurgitating this article. I thought Vox Verax means 'voice of truth' because anyone not on the fringe kooky left like Vox Verax would merely laugh at the suggestion that a cable news network is the reason behind an election result. Remember, to be influced by Fox News, you first have to WATCH Fox News. What's even funnier is that this would also have to happen in a state like Demcorat-dominated Massachusetts. Do people really believe that Massachusans tune in to Fox News? I find the odds of being hit by lightning - twice - far better than Fox News having anything to do with the outcome of the Massachusetts election. So, all of a sudden, 50% of Massachusans who voted for Brown tuned in to Fox News, becoming zombies in the process and doing the bidding of the network?? Does anyone else find this overwhelmingly ridiculous?? Of course, not Vox Verax. To them, it is completely within the realm of reality that Fox News was responsible for a Republican victory in a state where the total number of registered Republicans is between 11% and 15%.
Of course, the Democrat agenda, the way the Democrats are governing, the $14 trillion debt ceiling, the backroom deals for unions, the bailouts, the stimulus bill, the 10% unemployment, the president's apologizing for America abroad, the Louisana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, the blame-Bush rhetoric, the tax evaders in his cabinet, the shadow cabinet of czars, the trillion dollar budgets, cap and trade, health insurance takeover, a Congress who writes bills behind closed doors that their members don't even bother to read, the fact Brown simply out-campigned Coakley - and yet, it's Fox News that is the reason Brown won in Massachusetts? I might have to call the State Health Agency because the pepole at Vox Verax might need to be committed for having the temerity to republish something so lunatic fringe. But, Vox Verax has devloved from 'the voice of truth' to a leftist shill rag anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be suprised they would choose to republish tripe like this.
Post a Comment
<< Home