Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security

[swag]

https://www.wired.com/story/fox-news-is-now-a-threat-to-national-security/?fbclid=IwAR1k0jc95fe_LOJM7l7ZLjoETMXSlhNxcZnoeouigaF7Q5wL4252p_yUUNc

Garrett M. Graff

Monday’s split-screen drama, as the House Judiciary Committee weighed impeachment charges against President Trump and as the Justice Department’s inspector general released a 476-page report on the FBI’s handling of its 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign, made one truth of the modern world inescapable: The lies and obfuscations forwarded ad infinitum on Fox News pose a dangerous threat to the national security of the United States.

The facts of both dramas were clear to objective viewers: In the one instance, there’s conclusive and surprisingly consistent evidence that President Trump pushed Ukraine to concoct dirt on a domestic political rival to affect the 2020 presidential election, and in the other, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI was proper to investigate Trump’s dealings with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign.

But that set of facts is not what anyone who was watching Fox News heard. Instead, Fox spent the night describing an upside-down world where the president’s enemies had spun a web of lies about Trump and Ukraine, even as Horowitz blew open the base corruption that has driven every attack on the president since 2016.

Sean Hannity, who had long trumpeted the forthcoming inspector general report and expected a thorough indictment of the behavior of former FBI director James Comey and other members of the “deep state,” had a simple message for his viewers during Fox’s Monday night prime time: “Everything we said, everything we reported, everything we told you was dead-on-center accurate,” he said. “It is all there in black and white, it’s all there.”

Except they weren’t right and it wasn’t there. But Fox News’ viewers evidently were not to be told those hard truths—they were to be kept thinking that everything in their self-selected filter bubble was just peachy keen.

. . . much more (very much worth reading and sharing)

[Iahotdog]

1. As far I'm concerned

They always have been.Right wing hate at its worst.

[swag]

2. a bit more -

"Fox’s bubble reality creates a situation where it’s impossible to have the conversations and debate necessary to function as a democracy. Facts that are inconvenient to President Trump simply disappear down Fox News’ “memory hole,” as thoroughly as George Orwell could have imagined in 1984.

The idea that Fox News represents a literal threat to our national security, on par with Russia’s Internet Research Agency or China’s Ministry of State Security, may seem like a dramatic overstatement of its own—and I, a paid contributor to its competitor CNN, may appear a biased voice anyway—but this week has made clear that, as we get deeper into the impeachment process and as the 2020 election approaches, Fox News is prepared to destroy America’s democratic traditions if it will help its most important and most dedicated daily viewer.

The threat posed to our democracy by Fox News is multifaceted: First and most simply, it’s clearly advancing and giving voice to narratives and smears backed and imagined by our foreign adversaries. Second, its overheated and bombastic rhetoric is undermining America’s foundational ideals and the sense of fair play in politics. Third, its unique combination of lies and half-truths has built a virtual reality so complete that it leaves its viewers too misinformed to fulfill their most basic responsibilities as citizens to make informed choices about the direction of the country."

[Ferryboat]

3. Reagan tossed out the Fairness Doctrine

Giving rise to what we have today. Faux "news" is doing a great disservice to our country.
Others will point out that CNN isn't much better, and they have a point. But CNN viewers are far more informed than the average Faux viewer. Even people who don't follow the news have a better grasp of current events than faux viewers as numerous studies have shown.

We own and license the airwaves. What should be done?

[dware]

4. Satellite and cable is not licensed,

so Faux would be exempt, and even if the Fairness Doctrine were still in effect, it wouldn't apply to non broadcast stations, cable would have been exempted.

[colsohlibgal]

5. This

It was later in his second term when he was starting to go around the bend mentally. Whatever the damage this caused is incalculable. Over time it has changed the brains of millions who believe in a false narrative.

So here we are. On top of his evilness he seems to be declining quickly mentally.

We are in quite the dangerous moment in our history.

[Kaiserguy]

7. Thats easy

suspend there license until they either stop the out right lying or have a disclaimer that what you are being told may not be true. A public broadcast license should require that any broadcaster is fractural. The first amendment does not let you lie by shouting fire in a crowded locations and it should not allow public license holder to do so either. Of course we have 5 members of the SC who will say its OK to lie as long as its a right-winger doing it. We have a group that should not even exist in a democracy ,the federalist society. No one should be helping to and picking out judges to put on the bench that have preconceived ideas about the direction they want the American people to be forced into following . Judges should be as nonpartisan as humanly possible in order to render fair judgement.

[dware]

11. Faux doesn't have a broadcast license,

they're on cable, which the FCC has no authority over.

[ffr]

6. We don't have to understand a rePutican's mindset, but here's why they cannot back down.

It's their political view held since childhood; you make the determination if they ever reached adulthood. But imagine a closed-minded anti-liberal world view held since childhood crashing down day after day after day on TV, radio, visually by people mocking what's the crumbled remains of Reagan's once proud and boastful GOP. They cannot let go that their political party is truly a bastion of criminals and mobsters without any moral compass. Imagine having it blasted in your face for the past two months that your whole world view is a lie and the perpetrators you worship as your leaders are ethically bankrupt.

Now you can understand why rePuticans will go and support the downfall of America, even if it means supporting and embracing our country's adversaries. It's a last-man-standing mentality.

[DENVERPOPS]

8. My post from another article

I have been flipping around news networks while watching the hearing......CNN MSNBC etc etc.

It is appalling that the networks reporting on this, could not possibly have watched the same hearing I am watching.

As over the past few weeks, there have been several Repubs like Jordan and Graham that have gone on with dramatic rants that look well written, orchestrated and delivered by them. All are highly absent of anything reality based.......

Their sole purpose is to give Fox etc great video soundbites to gin up their party, and to portray that the Republicans are destroying the Dems in this impeachment inquiry...........

We have no idea, on what Trump discussed with Graham during that golf game, but whatever Kopromat Donald and Putin have on him has caused him to throw a big 180 and become a doting subservient, submissive to Trump. It must be really really juicy to scare Graham into going all out defending Trump, the Republican Senate, and the entire Republican Party.....

I keep having to step back and look at the bigger picture and that is, that this whole prooceding is moot. As soon as this hits the Republican Senate, it will be DOA, and dead in the water.

We are just months away, and millimeters away from a total Obliteration of Democracy, and installation of a Tyranny run, Fascist Government.....

[ck4829]

9. K&R

[More_Cowbell]

10. @FoxNews hasn't tweeted for more than a year

In November last year, for a few days, all of the Fox twitter handles and some of their personnel handles were frozen. Most of them came back up, but this one hasn't posted since 11/8/18.

People were speculating that the accounts were frozen because of some legal action (Hannity, in particular, deleted a lot of tweets as soon as his was back up) and I've also heard that Fox stopped tweeting from its official account as some kind of protest.

It's weird.