here's what's worse:

murdoch claiming itfoxs the best part of an entity -- cable news -- which consists of just various piles of shit...

modern republicans are a "no brain was harmed by thinking" party. they voted for george W. Bush, who was the cheerleader for politics, not careful thought.
We shoudl stop talking about them. They are a dead party that will sink furhter into the mud from which the rest of us evolved.

shorter Murdock:
The graveyard must be great because people are just dying to get in.

I can't tell what's more annoying -- the network making a mockery of professional journalism, or the network maintaining the facade that it's a legitimate, objective outlet.

What's most annoying of all is Democrats appearing on the network and pretending that they are dealing with legitimate journalists with legitimate questions.

What I'd love to see is Joe Biden or Carl Levin go on the offensive. Whenever a Fox "journalist" injects a Republican talking point into the interview with the cover of "Some say . . . .", the Democrat should respond:

"It's true that your fellow Republicans say that, but the truth is . . . . "

When the journalist protests that he/she isn't a Republican, the Democrat should reply, "Well, you folks here a Fox work for them."

I would also love to see Robert Gibbs refer to Fox as "The Voice of the GOP Cable Network."

I agree with Steve, but I am at a loss to explain Fox's large audience share. Is it that ALL conservatives watch Fox while independents and liberals watch a wide variety of news shows and thus that audience is split? Really? Maybe that's true, if so then it suggests that one way to develop a large audience is to create "news" programs with a clear identity(brand) that an audience can easily recognize and feel comfortable about and will become loyal to. Or do you think that based on its conservative fan base (we assume that the Fox fan base is conservative), that conservative-thinking people really want a "news" program to confirm and affirm their world view, not give them news neutral of political slant. Is that part of the way the conservative mind works? I'm inclined to believe that.

The part that sucks is that Fox "style" News (propaganda) works.

And the Hannitys, Limbaughs, Oreilys very well know how effective their garbage is.

Party before country! Or is that Money before country?

I hear constant references to FoxNews' ratings and share points but I almost never see the actual numbers. Does anyone know what they actually are?

This is a running theme on the far right--Bernie Goldberg's book Bias went on for pages detailing how the big three broadcast network nightly news shows had steadily lost audience during the 90s and included ratings points and audience numbers. He followed that analysis with the claim that The O'Reilly Factor was the hottest show on TV. He backed that up with NO numbers.

One reason for FAUX pulling in a large cable audience is that RepuGs have always been far more in a goose, er lock step mode than Democrats. Democrats appear to have a far wider range of interest. Not many of us awaken each day to receive our "Marching Orders or Talking Points" from others. RepuGs are, indeed, a party of lemmings.

Thank God America still has media owners like Rupert Murdoch who are willing to speak truth to power.

Thank God America still has media owners like Rupert Murdoch who are willing to speak truth to power.

THAT was hilarious! ROFL! Thanks for the laugh, Al!

"Or do you think that based on its conservative fan base (we assume that the Fox fan base is conservative), that conservative-thinking people really want a "news" program to confirm and affirm their world view, not give them news neutral of political slant. Is that part of the way the conservative mind works? I'm inclined to believe that." by tomb

Wow - a Republican. Every Republican I know claims to be objective, then they go ga-ga over Spicy Mustard (or anything else Fox spits out). They fall for the "Kerry lied to get his Purple Hearts", Obama "palled around with terrorists", or "Acorn could be the end of Democracy as we know it".

There is only one reason for Fox, Limbaugh, etc. Republicans like nasty - the nastier the better. The propagandists know this and deliver in spades.

Another day, another Republican fallacy. Today, it's my favorite, post hoc ergo propter hoc, or "correlation = causality". By the same rationale, McDonald's makes the best food because it's the best-selling.

Since the Teller killing the arrogance and sheer lack of compassion on the part of Mr Oreily I have decided that I will no longer watch or listen to FOX at all ( I listen to the FoxNews Sunday show via podcast). A small jester.

OK - I re-read my post and I think I owe tomb an apology.

Sorry for misreading what you wrote!

Steve Benen wrote: "I can't tell what's more annoying -- the network making a mockery of professional journalism, or the network maintaining the facade that it's a legitimate, objective outlet."

What I find most annoying is "sensible liberal" bloggers who seem unable to recognize that the rest of the corporate-owned mass media is doing the same thing: making a mockery of professional journalism and putting up a facade of impartially informing and educating the American people in the public interest, when in fact they are propagandizing the American people in the corporate interest.

CNN and the broadcast network news programs, and NPR for that matter, are no less corporate-funded propaganda than Fox News. The Washington Post editorial pages are no less corporate propaganda than The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Times. NPR's Morning Edition is no less corporate propaganda than Rush Limbaugh.

The corporate propaganda from the so-called "mainstream" media is different from the propaganda of the openly partisan Republican, so-called "conservative" media because it is aimed at a different audience.

But ultimately its purpose is the same: to undermine public support for and confidence in the Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress and to thwart their efforts to govern in the public interest rather than in the corporate interest, and to promote the corporate-sponsored, fake, phony, trumped-up, scripted pseudo-ideology called "conservatism" in America today -- government of, by and for America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc.

The secret to FOX's high ratings is that they are not, in fact, high ratings. They are high ratings FOR CABLE NEWS.

The network news dinosaurs still have much, much higher ratings than Fox news. So does the NBA playoffs, John and Kate plus Eight and Spongbob.

Think about it this way: The vast, vast majority of Americans almost never watch any cable news at all. Among the small percentage who do, FOX has the biggest slice. That's all there is to it.

Tomb,

Murdoch completely misses people like me. I watch no TV at all and haven't for 15 years. As a result I don't boost the ratings of the non-Fox cable outlets either.

I get a small amount of my news from the sorry, right leaning Austin American-Statesman and most from the internet. My home page is BBC News.

Mock FAUX at will, but, who, amongst you can forget many of the pithy words spoken there? Reminds me of those lofty words from Edward Everett at Gettysburg.

secular animist....to whom are you referring? I know of no liberal blogger that would even suggest that institutional media is a friend of democracy. No one I see comment on those same liberal blogs has ever said, for example, that CNN is a great "news network."

I think all of "us" get the undermining of democracy and reasoned discourse by the corporate/military controlled media empires.

I am not disputing your assessment of the media, merely the seeming criticism of Steve and others becuase they often times highlight the new heights to which Fox takes the practice.

One day, Chomsky and Herman will receive their just due for explaining how the propaganda process has worked in US media. What was controversial years ago, is now the common understanding of the entire liberal blogosphere as proved by the term "Villager."

For those who have not seen it, I highly recommend Lewis Lapham's essay Versailles on the Potomac.

eric

Steve, you have to remember, as Glenn Beck so eloquently put it: "I'm not a reporter--I'm a commmentator. I commentate on the news."

"If we weren't fair and balanced, we wouldn't have the number one network in news -- by a very wide margin. People believe we're fair and balanced, and they love us."

I always thought that Rush was "FAIR and BALANCED". Now I understand why he is #1.

Without Murdock explaining things to me then I would never be able to understand the way the world works.

ONLY fair and balanced newscasts are successful.

60 Minutes with Mike Wallace et al. were #1 because they were fair and balanced.
Huffington Post is #1 because it is fair and balanced.

It all makes sense to me now.

The premise is false: Fox may be the #1 cable news network, but the three broadcast networks' evening news broadcasts dwarf their ratings.

media owners...willing to speak truth to power.

Too bad they weren't willing to speak it from 2001-2008.

my inlaws are among the chuckleheads who leave their sets on faux all the time, whether they are home or not, bc they were told it would ramp up the Neilsen ratings...

"And now I shall demonstrate how objective Fox News is by allowing myself to be interviewed by a man I employ on a show I own."

FOX NEWS

We Report (The Propaganda)

You Decide (If We're Nuts)

I'd go with this Steve:

The network making a mockery of professional journalism."

FOX NEWS

We Report (The Propaganda)

You Decide (If We're Nuts)
-Joe Friday

I'd go a step further, Joe.

FOX NEWS

We Report (The Propaganda, Lies, Misinformation)

You Decide (Based on a source that MediaMatters.Org proves is lying on a daily basis but many of these folks are so 'indoctrinated' that they don't care about truth)

(Ideology and Lies are more important than Truth and Intelligent Discourse over the Major Issues of the Day)