Frum: Fox News Has an Interest in Making People Angry
"On CNN's "Reliable Sources," WaPo's Howie Kurtz asked David Frum about his comment that "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox."
The former George W. Bush speechwriter told Kurtz:
"What that means is that Fox, like Limbaugh, has an interest in pushing the Republicans to the margins, making people angry. When people are angry and alienated, they don't vote. They succumb to feelings of helplessness. What people need right now are feelings of power, that they can make a difference by participating in politics."And Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) cautioned a constituent to not believe everything she hears on FOX as well.
Both of these statements come from Conservatives:
Senator Coburn in response to a woman telling him that Americans would be put in jail if they didn't purchase health care (a blatant lie perpetrated by FOX and other propagandist).
"COBURN: I want everybody else to get answer a question, ask a question, so let me. The intention is not to put anybody in jail. That makes for good TV news on Fox, but that isn’t the intention. There is the intention, though, to use the Internal Revenue Service to hold you accountable and you have to prove that you have bought health insurance."
Later in the town hall meeting he said:
"And what we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what’s going on and make the determination yourself. So, don’t catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody’s no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don’t know what they don’t know."
"At the end of the town hall, Coburn implored the audience to stay “informed on the issues.” “Don’t just watch Fox News or CNN. Watch them both,” said Coburn. He then seemed to refer back to the woman who asked about health care reform putting people in jail, saying that he was “disturbed that we get things like this lady said and others have said on other issues that are so disconnected to what” he knows “to be the facts.” “That comes from somebody who has an agenda that’s other than the best interest of our country,” said Coburn. “So, please balance and be careful as you take in. Make sure you get a balance.”
h/t Think Progress
This isn't news to me or other liberals. FOX News is a propaganda machine and has been caught in many instances giving out wrong or deliberately false information, and for promoting the fake grass roots tea parties.
It is encouraging to see people like Frum and Coburn speak out publicly and tell the truth about FOX News, warning those who get all their information from that one source that they're being duped, played for suckers, and being fed lies and disinformation.
Here's a site that documents, with FOX videos, all the errors and deliberate lies that keep certain members of the right enthralled with this faux news cable show.
Here's a link to evidence where FOX News photoshopped pictures of people they don't like and then aired the touched up photos on their morning show. I expect this behavior from mean-spirited children and idiots. From a cable "news" station? Not so much.
Below is summary of a result of a survey taken in 2007 that tested the news savvy of cable news audiences. FOX News' audience were the least informed--and since it hasn't changed its programming, this is probably as true today, 3 years later, as it was then:
The results about Fox News echo findings of previous surveys. In 2003, University of Maryland researchers studied the public’s belief in three false claims — that Iraq possessed WMD, that Iraq was involved in 9/11, and that there was international support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The researchers stated, “The extent of Americans’ misperceptions vary significantly depending on their source of news. Those who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions.” Fox News viewers were “three times more likely than the next nearest network to hold all three misperceptions.”
