FOX: The Socialist News Network

[Tsukasa Buddha]

A search of transcripts available on Lexis-Nexis -- a limited sample, unfortunately -- for Fox's programming from Tuesday shows that in the span of just six hours, the network managed to squeeze in five segments devoted to a discussion of impending socialism; the words "socialism," "socialist" and "social democracy" were used a total of 37 times. "Your World with Neil Cavuto," "The O'Reilly Factor" and "On the Record with Greta" all managed to stay socialism free, but "Special Report" and "Hannity" each had two segments about it, and "Glenn Beck" had one. No transcript for "FOX Report" was available, but I happened to see the show repeat one of the segments from "Special Report," for a total of six time slots on the subject between 4 p.m. ET and 11 p.m.
Admittedly, the channel wasn't nearly as socialism-heavy before Tuesday. A search of transcripts available for the weekday programming from last week, as well as this Monday, revealed only one additional segment, from "Hannity." There were 58 additional uses of the words "socialism," "socialist" and "social democracy," however. (It's also worth noting that none of these counts include the network's in-house advertising, which, from anecdotal observation Tuesday, seemed to be pushing Beck and Hannity's discussion of the issue pretty hard.)
We did the same search of CNN and MSNBC, over the same time period, and came up with only two occurrences of those key words -- both in the same night, from the mouth of Lou Dobbs, natch.

Linky.

I liked how when Beck got an actual socialist on the show, he was a complete jerk:

BECK: Would you like an M&M?
LLEWELLYN: No, thank you.
BECK: I'll share them.
LLEWELLYN: I'm already too large.
BECK: No, no, no. Look at me. I'll share them and you know why? Because I choose to share them. Not because somebody tells me to share them.

Ohh, a stunning point!

BECK: So, we might — we might have also been spending a lot less, and we would have been less socialist during the Clinton administration than we are today under Obama.
LLEWELLYN: I wouldn't describe the Clinton administration as...
BECK: Less socialist — as less socialist as what we are now?
LLEWELLYN: ... as socialist at all.
BECK: Come on, we're socialist like — look, Frank .
LLEWELLYN: America is blessed with having the two most capitalist political parties in the world. The idea...
BECK: You got to be kidding me?
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: They're both socialist. Listen — here's the thing, here's the thing — really, I will share them. They are mine. I purchased them and I'll share them willingly.
LLEWELLYN: I'm sure. That's — OK, I'll have one though.
BECK: All right. Here's the thing — the only debate that I think we need to have in America is this road to socialism — will you agree we're on the road to socialism?
LLEWELLYN: Actually, I would hope that that were the case, but if you talk about what's being proposed generally — no, they're not socialist programs.
BECK: Really?
LLEWELLYN: They're programs that are stimulative. They're Keynesian economic programs but they're not socialist, they don't change power relationships.

BECK: OK. Here's the thing, Frank, all I want, and this is the reason I brought Frank on today, is all I want is if we're going to be a socialist nation, we should have this debate. We shouldn't be hiding behind the Democrats or the Republicans or anything else. If we want to be a socialist nation, has anybody asked you — "Newsweek" magazine prints on the big title, "We're All Socialists Now."
Well, nobody has asked me. I don't want to be a socialist. If America decides to be socialist, then Americans should decide to be socialists, but that's not what we're doing. We're not having a conversation. I haven't seen actual socialists on television talking about how great socialism is.
LLEWELLYN: No, and most of the people who are writing about socialism don't know anything about it either. You know, the discussion that emerged in the campaign was — you know, very surreal. It didn't — it wasn't based on facts. It was more like name-calling.
I mean, if you want to be honest, and you want to take who of the four people running for national office was actually the most socialistic, it was Sarah Palin — because she administered a state that says that the oil revenues are collectively owned...
BECK: Right.
LLEWELLYN: ... and she used her position as governor to force the oil companies to pay the state more money, which they then redistributed to the people. Now, I have a feeling that that's what Chavez does in Venezuela, that people like you criticize him for. So, you know, that would, at least, be a more serious discussion .
BECK: Right.
LLEWELLYN: ... than the type of discussion that's appeared in magazines and whatever.
BECK: OK, Frank...
LLEWELLYN: If people want to learn about socialism, they should go to our Web site...
BECK: OK.
LLEWELLYN: ... which is www.dsausa.org.
BECK: There you. And more and more — more and more students, more and more college students, more and more people that are young are signing right up to be a Marxist and a socialist. Everybody should be aware of what that means.
Thank you very much, Frank. I appreciate it.
LLEWELLYN: Not all Marxists are socialists. Most socialists are not Marxists.
BECK: I know. That's fantastic. And I'll have the red tie.

Linky.

(The whole ending was particularly dickish)

So they will yell at us about how we are going down the road to socialism, and when a socialist is on the show they will tell him he doesn't know what socialism is? And they don't see the problem with that?

The whole thing is just so surreal.

 

[Tumblehome]

They could take a lesson from evolution. When a culture becomes too rigid in its thinking and doesn't adapt when the situation calls for it...well, you know the result.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I have a hard time believing anyone with two working brain cells cannot see how transparent, full of crap and moronic Beck is.

But his sort of idiocy is par for what constitutes "Conservative" political discourse today. John Gibson's been playing the Soviet national anthem whenever he talks about Obama on his radio show.

 

[Childlike Empress]

I have a hard time believing anyone with two working brain cells cannot see how transparent, full of crap and moronic Beck is.

I would extent this to all of FAUX news. Why even pay attention to this crap?

John Gibson's been playing the Soviet national anthem whenever he talks about Obama on his radio show.

Ouch. Soviet national anthem? I assume you mean The Internationale? Send him here, so he can play the Farsi or Arabic version next time, to increase the drama.

 

[Cicero]

I would extent this to all of FAUX news. Why even pay attention to this crap?




Ouch. Soviet national anthem? I assume you mean The Internationale? Send him here, so he can play the Farsi or Arabic version next time, to increase the drama.

Beck is a pundit, not a journalist or news anchor. Do you also dismiss as crap what MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Raychill Maddow, Chris Matthews spew on their shows? Or is their crap more to your acquired taste?

 

[Childlike Empress]

Personally i'm very egalitarian in this regard - i don't watch TV at all. I know only one of those people, Olbermann, and his show is labeled as satire, isn't it? If FOX would put on that label to their station, maybe it could be amusing, but really, the poor spin doctors at news corp will fear for their job if they see quite intelligent people falling for FOX NEWS - Murdoch has other, more sophisticated outlets targeted at you. Think of the jobs, please.

 

[Cicero]

Personally i'm very egalitarian in this regard - i don't watch TV at all. I know only one of those people, Olbermann, and his show is labeled as satire, isn't it? If FOX would put on that label to their station, maybe it could be amusing, but really, the poor spin doctors at news corp will fear for their job if they see quite intelligent people falling for FOX NEWS - Murdoch has other, more sophisticated outlets targeted at you. Think of the jobs, please.

You don't watch TV "at all," but you refer to FOX as "FAUX news." Always refreshing to hear from a JREFer who admits being ignorant about the subject they chose to comment on. Odd that the only MSNBC person you know is Olbermann, the guy who calls FOX News "FAUX news" as if he would be shocked with a cattle prod otherwise.

Olbermann's show is labeled as satire? MSNCB assigned him to do straight news election coverage. While KO is indeed a baffoon, neither MSNBC or KO acknowledges this fact.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Well, i read alot ABOUT the corporate media in general and Murdoch in particular, doesn't mean i have to pollute my beautiful mind with this crap (paraphrasing B.Bush), and FAUX News is a term i've learned on this very forum. Anyway, have fun.

 

[mortimer]

Well, i read alot ABOUT the corporate media in general and Murdoch in particular, doesn't mean i have to pollute my beautiful mind with this crap (paraphrasing B.Bush), and FAUX News is a term i've learned on this very forum. Anyway, have fun.

And are the sources you read regarding Fox News any less biased than Fox News itself? How would you know?

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Beck is a pundit, not a journalist or news anchor. Do you also dismiss as crap what MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Raychill Maddow, Chris Matthews spew on their shows? Or is their crap more to your acquired taste?

You really need to get some help man. (though you get some credit for not calling her "Madcow")

That said, Rachel Maddow, whatever you feel about her politics, is level headed in her news and opinion presentation. Beck seems unhinged. Olbermann is a raving loon but you can tell he's got a sense of humor. He and O'Reilly make perfect foils since the latter has a sense of humor too. Hardball is basically a Sunday morning show aired weekly.

 

[UserGoogol]

Ouch. Soviet national anthem? I assume you mean The Internationale? Send him here, so he can play the Farsi or Arabic version next time, to increase the drama.

The Soviet Union switched to a different anthem during the Stalinist years which was more nationalist to be in line with the whole "Socialism in one country" idea. (A third song was introduced by Boris Yeltsin and later the Stalinist version was reinstated by Putin with the lyrics changed to be more capitalism-friendly.) I imagine they were using that version, and apparently there is a parody song which rewrites the lyrics of the Soviet National Anthem to be about Obama attributed to Glenn Beck.

Personally i'm very egalitarian in this regard - i don't watch TV at all. I know only one of those people, Olbermann, and his show is labeled as satire, isn't it? If FOX would put on that label to their station, maybe it could be amusing, but really, the poor spin doctors at news corp will fear for their job if they see quite intelligent people falling for FOX NEWS - Murdoch has other, more sophisticated outlets targeted at you. Think of the jobs, please.

The Keith Olbermann show isn't a satire, he's just willing to make bad jokes from time to time.

 

[Alex Libman]

Political hacks are always more appealing when they're not in power. Limbaugh was OK during the Clinton years. During the height of the Bush regime, I've listened to Air America and contemplated suicide-bombing Fox News WHQ. And now... Fox News sounds like the most reasonable branch of the mainstream media, but I'm not falling for that again. Just because you hate Communist A doesn't mean his false-paradigm opposition, Communist B, is worthy of your support - the lesser of two evils is still evil!

LRN FTW!

 

[Cicero]

You really need to get some help man. (though you get some credit for not calling her "Madcow")

That said, Rachel Maddow, whatever you feel about her politics, is level headed in her news and opinion presentation. Beck seems unhinged. Olbermann is a raving loon but you can tell he's got a sense of humor. He and O'Reilly make perfect foils since the latter has a sense of humor too. Hardball is basically a Sunday morning show aired weekly.

Level headed? So is Herman Munster. Raychill is KO with testosterone. When she can't use facts to support her liberal rants, no problem, she just makes up stuff.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4278592#post4278592

 

[gumboot]

I read a report on US election coverage by the major US networks, and Fox News came up as the most balanced. Just saying.

 

[Cicero]

I read a report on US election coverage by the major US networks, and Fox News came up as the most balanced. Just saying.

Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell (D) made this statement on FOX News during the election. Of course those who refer to FOX as "faux news" will never concede this fact.

 

[UserGoogol]

I read a report on US election coverage by the major US networks, and Fox News came up as the most balanced. Just saying.

I don't know what study you're talking about and am not going to make any judgment one way or the other as to its validity, (and I don't really watch much TV news) but it should be noted that any method of objectively quantifying something as vague as "balance" can be flawed very easily. The meaningful measure is whether the network overall sends a message that is in favor of one organization or against one organization, and this is hard to measure, so most focus on some discrete atom of bias (which think tanks they reference, categorizing individual statements as pro- or anti- a candidate) and this can miss the big picture of how these individual atoms of bias are framed together.

 

[gumboot]

I don't know what study you're talking about and am not going to make any judgment one way or the other as to its validity

I have no idea either. I can't even remember who did the study, and I have no idea of their leanings.

but it should be noted that any method of objectively quantifying something as vague as "balance" can be flawed very easily. The meaningful measure is whether the network overall sends a message that is in favor of one organization or against one organization, and this is hard to measure, so most focus on some discrete atom of bias (which think tanks they reference, categorizing individual statements as pro- or anti- a candidate) and this can miss the big picture of how these individual atoms of bias are framed together.

From memory they took long periods of coverage from multiple programs on each channel and then counted instances of good coverage versus bad coverage for each of the candidates.

Fox News came out as the channel that was most even-handed in treatment of each candidate, but most interesting of all, Fox News were also unique because the majority of their coverage for both candidates was negative.

This leads me to the conclusion I drew from Fox from the rare times I ever saw their broadcasts - Fox are simply interested in leaping on sensationalist news that sells, and then commercialising it for all its worth. This seems to be confirmed by Seth McFarlane who created Family Guy who says "Rubert Murdoch is a businessman first and a Republican second" - as long as it makes money he doesn't actually care.

 

[Childlike Empress]

“For better or for worse, our company (The News Corporation Ltd.) is a reflection of my thinking, my character, my values.”

Other quotes where he openly admits that his network first of all is about presenting his opinion to the people and influencing society are legion.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I started a related thread, Political Framing Decoded

 

[Cicero]

Other quotes where he openly admits that his network first of all is about presenting his opinion to the people and influencing society are legion.

Do you object to Pinch Sulzberger doing the same thing with the New york Times? Only in Pinch's case, he is a rabid liberal.