Fox hunt: ‘The ineffectual in full pursuit of the uncredible.’
Barack Obama and Chris Wallace in happier days, before one became president and the other got snubbed.
Oscar Wilde once described fox hunting as “the unspeakable in full pursuit of the inedible.” What would he have said about Fox hunting? Perhaps “the ineffectual in full pursuit of the uncredible.”
The Obama administration’s campaign to marginalize Fox News seems to us a case of badly misplaced priorities. With unemployment nearing 10 percent, with 10,000 Americans a day having been foreclosed upon in the second quarter, with two wars to fight, with the banking and insurance industries asserting their hegemony over Congress, with regulatory agencies more concerned with turf than protecting the American public, with a weak public option the best they can do on health care reform, is a Fox hunt really a good use of resources?
The feud has been good news for Fox; the cable news network’s viewership is up 8 percent since Oct. 11, when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told CNN that Fox News operates “almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.”
Top advisers Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod and press secretary Robert Gibbs then chimed in, and it became apparent that the White House was trying to “marginalize” Fox suggesting that other news organizations shouldn’t follow Fox’s lead.
And since Washington journalists like nothing better than to talk about their own importance, the issue has bubbling merrily along ever since. Newsweek editor Jon Meacham this week suggested it might even be a back-door ploy “to give otherwise dissatisfied Democrats something to cheer … [making] the White House seem more progressive than it is.”
More news than ever is available to Americans, but the percentage of those who avail themselves of it is smaller than ever. The market for news has been segmented, like the markets for many other products. General-interest media like newspapers, network news and news magazines now compete with niche media targeted to specific market segments.
Cable news networks are the largest of the niche media, and, of them, Fox has the largest audience, about 1.2 million viewers across its broadcast day. And while it’s widely assumed that Fox’s “niche” is hard-core conservatives, a study done of broadcast news last year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that’s not the case.
Fifty-nine percent of Fox’s viewers reported that they believe all or a lot of what they hear on the network. Forty-one percent believe little or nothing of what they hear. CNN scored 70 percent in the top two believability categories. Fox scored just behind MSNBC, the “liberal” niche, and slightly ahead of the PBS NewsHour, the “elite” niche. Go figure.
Since that study was published, Barack Obama was elected president and politics has become more polarized. Fox News’ commentators — including Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity — gleefully have done their part, in some cases inciting the very protests that they then piously “covered” as news.
Commentary is different from news and news is different from entertainment; viewers and readers should realize it. So should the president. So should Fox; if their people want to beat up on the president, they shouldn’t expect him to do them favors. Welcome to the NFL.
We speak from experience. Matt Blunt only came to see us once in the four years he was governor of Missouri. We haven’t seen Gov. Jay Nixon yet. We try to endure.
Thanks for the good laugh. The newspaper that endorsed Blagojevich twice has some nerve calling anyone uncredible.
–Wow, you guys, gals are over the place on this one. You start out by saying Obama is “ineffectual,” (nice) then go on to say his administration is wrong-headed in it’s approach to Fox (also nice).
–Then you backtrack to wonder what is driving the market for news and who is believing what they see and where, ending in lamentations for your inability to score a “niche” with local politicians.
–For your consideration:
–Since Fox has scored a ratings bonanza for drawing the White House criticisms and attempts to “marginalize” them, Why not turn 180 degrees in your editorial stance and begin focusing on criticising Obama and his leftist bent. It would do wonders for your bottom line and create new interest from politicians from all sides.
–The idea of a “mainstream” newspaper actually going against the current of typical leftist ideals editorially would bring publicity far and wide. The politicians from both sides of the aisle would scream and cheer accordingly, raising your “Q” even higher.
–Soon the administration would boycott your “turncoat” philosophy and send your public image through the roof. Heck, you may even make it to Fox for a national story! The sky is the limit.
–Just remember me if this comes to fruition. Perhaps a little piece of the action would be in order, maybe even a byline. Ol’ Kevie and I would get along just great, I’m sure.
Thank you for pointing out the difference between “commentary” and “news”. Beck, O’Reilley, et. al are commentators who appear on the Fox News Channel. They are not Fox News. The bright line between commentary is brightest at Fox, unlike MSNBC. You never see Wendall Gollar, Major Garrett, Jim Angle, etc. on the opinion shows on Fox, however you often see NBC news people on The Morning Joe, etc., giving opinions. i find Fox News to be very objective. I find Fox commentators to be very opinionated, however, I will say that you almost never see a subject discussed on Fox News Channel where both sides are not represented. That is also not the case on MSNBC or CNN which today was ranked the lowest of the cable news networks. While Fox may have ratings of 1.2 million averaged over the day, the opinion shows at times nearly equal or exceed network shows and beat the other two networks combined. O’Reilley’s rerun often beats CNN’s prime time competition. Glenn Beck’s website gets more hits a day than the NY Times has readers. The public has spoken and Fox isn’t going away and the Chicago Ward bosses’ clumsy attempt to marginalize it is embarrassing. Obama is showing an amateur’s thin skin.
Interesting editorial coming from the PD. Perhaps the next one will be about the transparency and bi-partisanship promised by this administration.
Ha! Or perhaps why the Obama Admin. is more concerned with attacking Fox News which may report information they don’t want reported then asking his economic advisors Jeffrey Immelt of GE and Ron Bloom (union negotiator) why we are going to be forced to buy all of our mercury filled CFL light bulbs only from China in two years without an option to buy American-made lightbulbs when this global warming thing is a big hoax.
It would be great if they expended as much effort in returning good union jobs to America so that people can afford to stay in their homes and obtain their healthcare through their employers.
BUY AMERICAN THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Post Dispatch: Ineffectual AND uncredible
During the Election the Pew Research for Excellence in Journalism did a review of stories ran by the majoe news outlets and Found FOX to be the most
balanced. While others like CNN and MSNBC ran stories that 69% of the time favorable to OBAMA while only running 35% favorable stories about McCain.
The details of their study can be found online at http://www.journalism.org/node/13307
Gov. Nixon has been here in just the last couple weeks. He talked about the Recovery Act and what it was doing for Missouri. Then he introduced VP Joe Biden. Where were you Post-Dispatch?
Fox News is in the tradition of Wm. Randolph Hearst — if there isn’t any news go out and make some.
I could tolerate Chris Wallace if he were not surrounded and overwhelmed by O’Reilly, Hannit, Beck (whose new book cover truly exposes his desire to mimic Benito Mussolini, only in Beck’s case he will become Il Douche).
“Commentary is different from news and news is different from entertainment; viewers and readers should realize it. So should the president. So should Fox; if their people want to beat up on the president, they shouldn’t expect him to do them favors. Welcome to the NFL.”
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Yes, you realize this and so do most other rational. Do you not believe how many out there do not realize such? Your big mistake as most of ours at one time or another is to assume that most people have good sense, a conscience and are rational thinking people. These people who the White House are attacking back against are not and should because we may take for granted just how weak in mind and conscience their followers are, they truly are and they are being taken advantage of just the same as Hate Organizations prey on the weak minded. We sometimes take it for granted how vulnerable many of our citizens are and how it is necessary to confront and expose this monster.
I think that Obama is doing the correct thing. Have you noticed how much more irrational and negative focused these on Fox have become since this all have come about? It is becoming obvious even to the most weak minded the schemes and deceptions.
Now let’s not forget that the White House certainly have much information that we are not privy to and we know that Obama and his administration are extremely intelligent people with insight, common sense and street smarts. I think we should trust them a little more than this.
I think that Republicans and Conservatives are going to open their eyes up to how they are just tools being used for a truly corrupted Party (Republicans) soon or maybe not, but either way we will get our “public option” without being watered down and even more beneficial to the citizens than any of us ever imagined.
Fox News is an arm of corporate America. It is not a news organization. It is time for it to be removed from cable. What we need is the Fairness Doctrine back.