Fox News Deprogramming
January 25, 2011 12:01 PM Subscribe
Do the critiques and exposés of Fox News' lies and misinformation ever change anyone's mind? Are you, or is someone you know well, a former fan of Fox News?
It happens all the time - opponents of Fox News (frequently on competing networks) point out examples of demagoguery, misinformation, and lies promulgated by the "Fair and Balanced" network. Here are two examples off the top of my head:
Bill O' Reilly attempts to discredit Democrat and former General Wesley Clark by falsely attributing Nazi war crimes to American soldiers. Here, Keith Olbermann (an unapologetic political partisan) provides the analysis and indignation.
Anchor claims that Fox News never compares anyone to Nazis, even though, as Jon Stewart points out, they do it frequently and casually.
My question is, do you know anybody who has changed their mind about Fox News after seeing such critiques? Sure, these segments play well to the audience already watching shows like the recently deceased Countdown or the still vigorous Daily Show, but that's just preaching to the converted. Do these complaints ever actually reach the audience watching Fox News, and does that audience ever listen or care?
It happens all the time - opponents of Fox News (frequently on competing networks) point out examples of demagoguery, misinformation, and lies promulgated by the "Fair and Balanced" network. Here are two examples off the top of my head:
Bill O' Reilly attempts to discredit Democrat and former General Wesley Clark by falsely attributing Nazi war crimes to American soldiers. Here, Keith Olbermann (an unapologetic political partisan) provides the analysis and indignation.
Anchor claims that Fox News never compares anyone to Nazis, even though, as Jon Stewart points out, they do it frequently and casually.
My question is, do you know anybody who has changed their mind about Fox News after seeing such critiques? Sure, these segments play well to the audience already watching shows like the recently deceased Countdown or the still vigorous Daily Show, but that's just preaching to the converted. Do these complaints ever actually reach the audience watching Fox News, and does that audience ever listen or care?
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is kind of more a political discussion or audience poll thing than something I think AskMe is really designed to help with. -- cortex
during baby bush's first term i was with my dad in some themestraunt bar and fox news came on. i ranted a little. he said, "daughter, all news is biased, but basically the same. sometimes i watch fox news because it's funny/interesting/like to hear all sides."
i didn't send him any articles or play him any videos. we just watched it off and on while we were eating and drinking and i brought up some things i knew they had lied about. then some story came up where they just bold face lied again, this time on a topic my dad was semi-knowledgeable about.
i'm proud to say that this was apparently one of the seeds that turned my dad from a moderate conservative to a moderate liberal...who hates fox news.
like any topic, approach it with respect, don't get too invested in changing minds or winning, and the ones who can be swayed will be swayed. those who can't - well, i'd prefer them on the other side.
posted by nadawi at 12:10 PM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
i didn't send him any articles or play him any videos. we just watched it off and on while we were eating and drinking and i brought up some things i knew they had lied about. then some story came up where they just bold face lied again, this time on a topic my dad was semi-knowledgeable about.
i'm proud to say that this was apparently one of the seeds that turned my dad from a moderate conservative to a moderate liberal...who hates fox news.
like any topic, approach it with respect, don't get too invested in changing minds or winning, and the ones who can be swayed will be swayed. those who can't - well, i'd prefer them on the other side.
posted by nadawi at 12:10 PM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have a family member who watches fox news and buys into everything they say. There are two things I've noticed about her, 1) She's convinced that all of those outlets that bash fox are just trying to hide the truth and Fox is the only network with the balls to tell you how it really is and 2) her attention span is directly related to whatever is actually being talked about on Fox news at that time. Three months she was breathing fire about the ground zero mosque, today it's all about repealing obamacare.
posted by phelixshu at 12:22 PM on January 25, 2011
posted by phelixshu at 12:22 PM on January 25, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 12:07 PM on January 25, 2011