Originally Posted By DyGDisney <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/fox-nation-readers-confuse-onion-article-real-news/" target="_blank">http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201...al-news/</a> "The Fox News sister site re-posted a joke from the satirical website The Onion Friday about President Barack Obama sending a 75,000-word e-mail to the the entire nation. At no point does Fox Nation note that the story is a satire.....If Fox Nation knows the story is a joke, they aren't letting on, and many of the comments on the post treat the story as if it were actual news. "It is really sad that in a time of crisis in this country with troops on foreign soil the economy lack of jobs and now N. Korea once again rattling their saber we have a President sitting in the White House that by what I read in the email is utterly losing it," Goofy1954 wrote. "We can not afford to have him in the White House at such a critical time."" And again with this story about Obama outlining moral justification for pardoning turkey. <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2010/11/23/onion-obama-outlines-moral-philosophical-justifications-turkey-pardon" target="_blank">http://nation.foxnews.com/cult...y-pardon</a> The comments after this one makes it obvious that people think this is real, and it's scary that Fox isn't making sure people know differently. Gee, I wonder why the Fox followers are so freaked out??!!
Originally Posted By alexbook Looks like Fox Nation has pulled one article and rewritten the headline on the other to note that it came from The Onion.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney True, but a lot of people don't know what The Onion is. The damage is done. People believe it, and spread it. Why would Fox Nation feel the need to put these articles on their website anyway?
Originally Posted By Mr X Bet's on when when and who the first ring winger to chime in here and say "geez, it was just a mistake, all media makes mistakes, geez!" is. I predict DAR within half-a-day max.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt This whole episode not only underscores how ruthless the folks at Fox are, but also demonstrates just how lacking in intelligence its audience is.
Originally Posted By DAR RE:4 Please I've got better things to do like storm the field at Camp Randall because in all likely hood my Badgers are heading to the Rose Bowl.
Originally Posted By Labuda ^^^If they are, I pity their poor band. Those kids to have march that entire however-many-miles parade before they even get to the stadium to start playing during the game and doing their halftime show!
Originally Posted By Labuda Ok, so the Badger band is better than Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, and so on? Got it. DAR = insane
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I'm just waiting till my uncle sends me the fox onion story as though it were fact. It will happen. I've sent him to Snopes numerous times when he forwards me something untrue that's getting passed around among the angry nutjobs, but it does no good.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<This whole episode not only underscores how ruthless the folks at Fox are, but also demonstrates just how lacking in intelligence its audience is.>> The majority of their viewers are straight white males 65 years or older, who never attended college or adult ed, and who worked blue collar jobs their entire lives. Even though many in this demographic once held union jobs, they have always voted Republican and continue to believe that the GOP is pro-working class and represents Main Street family values. These guys want to return to the good ol' days when straight white men ran the country, and straight white men got preferential treatment with jobs, housing, business, you name it. But they're no longer the king of the hill, and they hate that. And that hatred has made them bitter and stupid. At one point in their lives, they were simply uneducated. But the anger and bitterness is shielding them from logic and reason. Even when presented with undeniable facts, they can't reason enough to make the connections. They're too upset to think logically and clearly. That's why it's pointless to argue with these people. They are incapable of rational discourse. The only thing we can do is simply wait until they're gone. Nothing will ever change them, not even losing their Social Security and Medicare through a Republican-controlled Congress and Presidency. Even then, their hate-filled brains would find the means through cognitive dissonance to blame it on the liberals and Democrats.
Originally Posted By alexbook Sorry, but I'm inclined to think it's incompetence rather than a conspiracy. Even other conservatives like to point out that Fox News really doesn't seem to know what they're doing a lot of the time.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Nope. Fox News is smarter than that. So are the conservative politicians like Michelle Bachmann who constantly reference stories from the internet as being credible while speaking on Fox News and other channels. Bachmann's rhetoric about Obama's trip to India is a prime example: <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/bachmann-outraged-over-made-up-cost-of-obamas-india-trip-video.php" target="_blank">http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo...ideo.php</a>. These people will take ANY story, no matter how outrageous, and run with it, if it helps them in their quest to sour American voters on the Obama administration and Democrats in Washington. Period. They know what they're regurgitating is false. They have the means to fact-check but do not because they know their audience and constituents won't. This isn't a matter of incompetence. It's a matter of willful negligence in service of a higher goal: bringing down middle class America.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Sorry, but I'm inclined to think it's incompetence rather than a conspiracy*** How do you explain then, that in just about every single instance of this so called "incompetence" it is invariably someone on the liberal side who's goat is gotten? You really believe that this "incompetence" can be so amazingly one-sided? ***Even other conservatives like to point out that Fox News really doesn't seem to know what they're doing a lot of the time*** ONLY conservatives like to point out that Fox News is a bumbling organization. It's part of the game, and the reason why folks like you believe that it's just gaffes and nothing to worry about. Liberals and moderates, for the most part, realize that Fox is crafty and manipulative...if often in extremely subtle ways which can serve their purpose but be easily dismissed when called out. I don't consider that incompetence, I think it's brilliant. Evil. But brilliant.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<<.if often in extremely subtle ways which can serve their purpose but be easily dismissed when called out. >>> That's certainly part of it. Any individual instance of what they do can easily be dismissed as an honest mistake, minor gaffe, or the like. But the pattern over time is unmistakable, both in terms of whether or not it's done on purpose, and to the desired effect.
Originally Posted By alexbook I'm as liberal as anybody here. I'm just not much of a believer in conspiracy theories. I think the folks at Fox see something that sounds good to them, and they "report" it without checking to see if it's true or not. They do the same thing with non-political stories, too. Remember the LAPD jetpack story?
Originally Posted By Mr X The jetpack story, too, served a purpose. There were TONS of posts on right wing sites about the Damned Liberal Gubmint and their ridiculous spending. What makes you think that was non-political? EVERYTHING they do has a political angle bro.
Originally Posted By Mr X Also, I wouldn't call it a conspiracy. They're not going out of their way to hide anything, in fact they went to court to ensure their legal ability to lie! It's a propaganda campaign, for sure. But a conspiracy? Nope...it's way too "in your face" for that!
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I think the folks at Fox see something that sounds good to them, and they "report" it without checking to see if it's true or not.<< Probably a more accurate assessment. It MIGHT be considered a conspiracy, but more likely it's just a selectively hired group of "journalists" who all suffer from the same brand of weaselness. No conspiracy needed - it runs itself.
