Ex-Fox News analyst rips Sean Hannity and calls the network a 'destructive propaganda machine'

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Commodus

Commodus

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Oct 9, 2004
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Linux23 said:
http://www.philly.com/philly/entert...rump-sean-hannity-shepard-smith-20180607.html

it's worth a watch if you have a few minutes. thought it was quite interesting.
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The problem, I'd say, is that he implies this was a sudden shift once Trump won, rather than something that had been percolating for years. Fox News has long been a propaganda wing for the Republican party, especially after 9/11 and Bush Jr.'s "you're either with us or against us" mentality helped it cultivate mindless loyalty. It's just that the Trump administration forced Fox News to make a choice: either it maintained a basic level of dignity and held Trump to task for his constant lies and incompetence (at the risk of losing some loyal viewers), or it embraced the insanity in the name of viewers and money. Clearly, it chose the latter.

With that said, it's good to know that some people who've worked with Fox have refused to join its further decline. I just wish the weight of public opinion went further against it to the point where it had to stop defending the indefensible.
 
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Thebobo

Thebobo

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MomentsofSanity said:
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...sive-email-questioning.2541039/#post-39354569
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That thread was dead for two months and a half months until you linked it. :) The OPs post is from a recent interview with CNN.

Updated: JUNE 7, 2018 — 12:10 PM EDT

"Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a former Fox News contributor who in the past harshly criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, unloaded on his former network in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night for its part in pushing a baseless conspiracy theory about the FBI spying on President Trump’s 2016 campaign."

The Interview June 6th

 
Jaskalas

Jaskalas

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Jun 23, 2004
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Commodus said:
especially after 9/11 and Bush Jr.'s "you're either with us or against us" mentality helped it cultivate mindless loyalty.
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I mean... I get it. But you're citing a statement on 9-11 that Bush Jr. made for nations with regards to them harboring terrorists.
It just... you present it in a domestic context when it was anything but domestic.
 
S

soulcougher73

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Nov 29, 2006
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Nice watch. This guy speaks a lot of truth and understands the dangers we are facing from President Man Baby.
 
Commodus

Commodus

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Jaskalas said:
I mean... I get it. But you're citing a statement on 9-11 that Bush Jr. made for nations with regards to them harboring terrorists.
It just... you present it in a domestic context when it was anything but domestic.
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I'd argue that the statement, along with the context of the immediate response to 9/11, both dictated and reflected the Fox News mindset for a long time. It helped them shape a simplistic, black-and-white narrative where 'patriots' mindlessly supported Republicans and critics were soft on or in league with terrorists.
 
Thebobo

Thebobo

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paperfist said:
Then there would be no resistance to the left. How's that fair?
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Well it's not because that's the same thing trump said he wanted to do with the "liberal" media.

Just maybe if they stopped the all the lies, obstruction of justice and unjustly degrading our institutions just for the service of Trump and ratings then they can keep it. And who said there has to be a conservative resistance on cable TV? Is there a liberal equivalent to Rush on the airwaves? Fox needs to fire certain anchors who are nothing more that stooges for this administration they provide no public benefits. Their entire prime time lineup are caustic for this country.
 
paperfist

paperfist

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Thebobo said:
Well it's not because that's the same thing trump said he wanted to do with the "liberal" media.

Just maybe if they stopped the all the lies, obstruction of justice and unjustly degrading our institutions just for the service of Trump and ratings then they can keep it. And who said there has to be a conservative resistance on cable TV? Is there a liberal equivalent to Rush on the airwaves? Fox needs to fire certain anchors who are nothing more that stooges for this administration they provide no public benefits. Their entire prime time lineup are caustic for this country.
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It was the same deal under Obama. Prolly the same deal under da Bushes, Regan, Nixon, Roosevelt, Kennedy.

Actually I think there is some document that says there has to be equal coverage of Elephants and Donkeys. I believe that's how NPR came about...?

I dunno if there's a an equivalent to Rush (is that even possible?) but there's a slew of AM broadcasts similar and even more brazen then his.

Fox has fired a ton of people already. All sides have caustic 'news' anchors, but the key to all of this is they are all basically of the same ilk as sports broadcasters. Note which side they are fighting for and take that with a grain of salt.
 
Thebobo

Thebobo

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paperfist said:
It was the same deal under Obama. Prolly the same deal under da Bushes, Regan, Nixon, Roosevelt, Kennedy.

Actually I think there is some document that says there has to be equal coverage of Elephants and Donkeys. I believe that's how NPR came about...?

I dunno if there's a an equivalent to Rush (is that even possible?) but there's a slew of AM broadcasts similar and even more brazen then his.

Fox has fired a ton of people already. All sides have caustic 'news' anchors, but the key to all of this is they are all basically of the same ilk as sports broadcasters. Note which side they are fighting for and take that with a grain of salt.
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All sides, you mean the networks? Show me anyone as caustic as Hannity on CNN MSNBC NBC CBS ABC NPR BBC ect. There are none and there are not two sides to this issues.
 
paperfist

paperfist

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soundforbjt said:
How did conservatives survive before Fox? They didn’t seem to have any problems before.
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Was joking. But there was/is (have to look it up again) a point in time where there wasn't or there was danger of loosing coverage on one side so I believe congress got involved to balance it out.

Thebobo said:
All sides, you mean the networks? Show me anyone as caustic as Hannity on CNN MSNBC NBC CBS ABC NPR BBC ect. There are none and there are not two sides to this issues.
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Not just networks, but radio too. Honestly I don't know your political beliefs (guessing left) so even if I showed you someone on the left that was caustic would you believe them to be as such? It's really a matter of opinion anyway. I'd say off the bat that Hannity, Ingraham are caustic and to a lesser extent Tucker can be.

BBC isn't caustic at all.
 
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Thebobo

Thebobo

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soundforbjt said:
How did conservatives survive before Fox? They didn’t seem to have any problems before.
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Also there are two even more conservative "news" stations than Fox on my cable line up now, One America News Network and NewsMax. How they stay in business I have no idea, they are rarely live.
 
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Stokely

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There's "equal coverage" vs slanted, and then there is just flat-out propaganda. Fox actively avoids stories that impact negatively on Trump (for instance, there was nary a peep about the G7 idiocy while it was happening.) You can bet CNN would be all over anything juicy about Hillary or anybody else--because while they suck as "news", they are in it for the $. Fox is a GOP propaganda tool and (IMO of course) is another level of dangerous.

Fox has also gotten worse over the past year from my (thankfully) small sample sizes. My mom stays with us and she'll have it on to watch Hannity (she's Evangelical so of course a fine upstanding man like Hannity is aces) and other shows...and it's just mind-blowing to me. They are mind-fucking people. The reality they paint has no bearing on real life. What makes it even worse is that it's all made in a delivery that almost sounds like a fucking children's show, think Blue's Clues. If anything it reminds me of the news network from Starship Troopers (movie).
 
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paperfist

paperfist

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Stokely said:
There's "equal coverage" vs slanted, and then there is just flat-out propaganda. Fox actively avoids stories that impact negatively on Trump (for instance, there was nary a peep about the G7 idiocy while it was happening.) You can bet CNN would be all over anything juicy about Hillary or anybody else--because while they suck as "news", they are in it for the $. Fox is a GOP propaganda tool and (IMO of course) is another level of dangerous.

Fox has also gotten worse over the past year from my (thankfully) small sample sizes. My mom stays with us and she'll have it on to watch Hannity (she's Evangelical so of course a fine upstanding man like Hannity is aces) and other shows...and it's just mind-blowing to me. They are mind-fucking people. The reality they paint has no bearing on real life. What makes it even worse is that it's all made in a delivery that almost sounds like a fucking children's show, think Blue's Clues. If anything it reminds me of the news network from Starship Troopers (movie).
Click to expand...

See that's my point, it's a matter of opinion. There's actually news on Fox that I watch and I don't find that skewed at all. Those guys like Hanity aren't news, I don't even think he's human and you couldn't pay me to watch something where you get asked a question and you get 1.5 seconds to answer before Hanity is accusing you of something different.

But I feel the same way on other stations where it's very much skewed to the left and they don't cover things that Fox does because it's not what their audience want to hear about.

If I want real news, something educational I'll tune in to the BBC or NPR.
 
Indus

Indus

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Jhhnn said:
There's no Left in this country, just a range of centrists, a large gap, & the GOP out on the right wing.
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You forgot to mention everyone not supporting the GOP is "out of touch with America" or so we hear from Trump fans.
 
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Moonbeam

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Since it is obvious even to the most right wing people on Fox who maintain a loyalty to the virtue of the constitution as their primary moral concern, that Fox News is a propaganda machine that is destroying the nation, it seems reasonable to me to allow people on Fox to say whatever they want, but to have an independent arm of the FCC examine any claims made there as to whether they are subversive, and if found so, to bring charges of treason against those making the claim. Conservatives like me are big on personal responsibility, as a conditional factor of freedom including freedom of speech.
 
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