Fox News Anonymous
Your News Source:
Every day, countless political pundits issue reports, opinions, arguments, information and disinformation. It's now impossible for most people to keep track of what's important, let alone true. Most people are too busy, work for a living, and have lives to live. This means you must trust someone else to fairly and accurately summarize the most important news, while hopefully avoiding most of the bitter trash talk. Please choose your source carefully...
Your key to sanity and peace is an unbiased and truthful news source. For decades the national news was comprised mostly of AP and UPI newswires. TV/radio and newspapers would dependably use these careful sources, avoiding the typical yellow journalism at grocery checkouts. Except for 24-hour cable news, this is still basically the case today, particularly with the national TV news every evening. On average, ABC, CBS, and NBC devotes no more than 10 minutes to the important political news of the day. There simply isn't enough time to get into editorializing, so it's highly dependable and truthful. There is such competition for the news that if any of the three reported anything that was not dependable and well-sourced, or a lie, their competitors would quickly hound them out of business. The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal (though owned by Rupert Murdoch) are also good print newspaper sources, dependable for finding the best obtainable version of the truth (BOVOT), just like during Watergate...
History:
Compare the Hearst media empire to Fox News today. In the late 20s, right before the prior depression, William Randolph Hearst was the greatest newspaper baron in U.S. history. He also ran for president. One in four Americans read his newspapers every day, and many more read his magazines. With what would today be called 'yellow journalism' or 'grocery checkout news,' he used his newspaper chain to constantly stir up racist tensions, and portrayed Mexicans as lazy degenerates and violent marijuana-smokers who stole jobs from “real Americans.” He protected his lumber empire with anti-hemp propaganda and was also key to starting marijuana prohibition. This began decades of drug prohibition, resulting in today's drug cartel billionaires and 8000 heroin/opioid deaths per month.
By the 1930s, Hearst was flirting with fascism, and his papers carried paid-for columns that were pro Hitler and Mussolini. Compare this trend with the anti-NATO, pro-Soviet leanings of the Trump era. In 1934, Hearst even attended a Nuremberg Rally...more recently 2020 presidential rallies drew rabid crowds. In terms of information in general, Hearst was also a heavy supporter of Joe McCarthy and his senior adviser, Roy Cohn, in their conspiracy to find communists and socialists (whatever that meant). Roy Cohn was also a lawyer for the Italian mafia, and in the 80s began helping Russians launder money, including Trump units for the first time. (Roy Cohn then became Trump's first 'fixer,' before Michael Cohen.) Hearst News influenced the public to slowly take on fascist beliefs and McCarthyism, and truth faded amongst half the populace. Thousands were blacklisted, or had their careers and reputations destroyed. KKK membership soared to 4 million. Eventually truth was renewed. But still today, half the population is confused about the terms socialism and communism. If you suggest we take better care of the poor today, you're called socialist.
In 1996, Fox News was created. It was felt the media was not adequately describing Republican arguments. Since then, Fox has basically become the communications arm of the GOP. And since 2016 has been the communications arm of Donald Trump. Fox is thriving as an entertainment channel, not subject to news regulations. But instead of looking at Fox as a tabloid, millions depend on it for news. It has been accused of ignoring or downplaying important political developments, while finding constant complaints with anything Democrats do. And it has also been proven in court, that they broadcast information that was known to be false, in the Dominion trial. Dominion received $3/4 billion.
Fox still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit by Smartmatic in 2025. I predict that lawsuit will be settled, and again cost Fox a lot of money. And that the judge also requires that Fox never again suggest they are a news media, including in their name. This will not violate their free speech, but if you live by the entertainment label you die by that label. A free and factual press is the heart of a democracy.