Tag Archives: Roger Ailes

March 24, 2013 · 11:46 AM

Why Tea Partiers Are Boycotting Fox News

Tea Party versus Fox News?

This is a strange development…

The Daily Beast

First it was the ‘left’ turn after the election, then Benghazi cover up accusations.  Activists have a list of demands for the conservative network, which some say is ‘not as fair and balanced as I thought.’

Is Fox News going soft?

That is what a number of Tea Party activists are saying and they are organizing a boycott to protest the conservative station’s coverage, especially what they view as the network’s relative silence in investigating the attacks on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

“Particularly after the election, Fox keeps turning to the left,” said Stan Hjerlied, 75, of Fort Collins, Colo., and a participant in the boycott. He pointed to an interview Fox News CEO Roger Ailes gave after the election in which he said that the Republican Party and Fox News need to modernize, especially around immigration. “So we are really losing our only conservative network.”

The three-day boycott lasted Thursday morning through Sunday morning, and is the second time this group of activists have gone Fox-free in an effort to steer the coverage. Organizers say a two-day boycott earlier this month knocked 20 percent off of the network’s regular viewership. (A Daily Beast analysis of the same data showed that the boycott had little effect.)

A spokeswoman for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.

A leader of the boycott, Kathy Amidon, of Nashville, declined an interview, instead directing The Daily Beast to a website, Benghazi-Truth. The website, a single-page, 23,000-word manifesto complete with multicolored fonts, supposedly incriminating videos of Fox News’s complicity in a coverup, and communist propaganda photographs, is kept by someone who identifies himself online as “Proe Graphique,” and who other members of boycott described as someone who works “in New York media.”

By way of explanation, the website reports: “People ask why not all mainstream media? Why just Boycott FOX? The answer, again, is that FOX needs the Tea Party/conservatives more than the conservatives need FOX after FOX turned left, basically selling out the people who made FOX successful in an attempt to earn an extra buck. FOX is extremely vulnerable to these boycotts while the rest of the MSM doesn’t need us at all, to speak of.”

Organizers then encourage would-be Fox News viewers to wait until the One America network, which is supposed to launch this summer as an alternative to Fox, goes on the air.

Continue reading here…

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March 9, 2013 · 8:35 AM

Week in one-liners: Paul, Reid, Ailes

 

The top quotes in politics…

Politico

“I would have worn different shoes.” — Sen. Rand Paul reflecting on his 13-hour filibuster.

“You need strong convictions but also a strong bladder. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid commending Paul’s effort.

“It kills me not to be there” —  Former Gov. Mitt Romney on not making it to the White House.

“He’s just a great guy.” — Dennis Rodman praising his friend Kim Jong Un.

“I’m going to invite him over to my house.” — Journalist Bob Woodward making amends with Gene Sperling.

“I like him. But he’s dumb as an ashtray.” — Fox News chief Roger Ailes knocking Vice President Joe Biden.

“It’s just silly.” —House Speaker John Boehner criticizing the White House for canceling tours.

 

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February 10, 2013 · 4:12 PM

Obama’s Reelection is Literally Destroying Fox News

obama-smile-fox-news

My mom used to say: Be careful what you wish for, it may come back to bite you in the [butt]…

PoliticusUSA

President Obama’s reelection has had a devastating impact on Fox News. Ratings are down, viewer trust is at an all time low, and now the network is caught in the middle of a Republican civil war.

Republicans and right wing media have become fond of claiming thatPresident Obama is out to destroy the Republican Party, but no other media organization has suffered greater damage from the president’s reelection than Fox News. But it wasn’t Obama that wounded Fox, it was a series of absurdly poor decisions that have left the network reeling.

As the Republican Party’s demographic base has shrunk, Fox News has followed. The recent news that FNC (Fox News Channel) registered their lowest ratings with the 25-54 demographic in 12 years is not a surprise. During Obama’s first term, Roger Ailes and company have geared their programming towards the newly radicalized base of the Republican Party. They ran wild with anti-Obama rhetoric and conspiracy theories. The daily Fox News message that the country really didn’t like Obama was one of the main reasons that the Republican Party went into the 2012 election thinking that they could nominate anybody and win. While Fox embraced the quest to make Obama a one term president with gusto, the rest of the country still liked Obama. Fox News alienated everyone who wasn’t a hard core conservative with their extremism. As a result, many moderate people stopped watching Fox.

However, the biggest problem for Fox News is that they were wrong. FNC was so blinded by their partisan mission that they got the 2012 election completely wrong. They were wrong about Obama’s vulnerability, wrong about Romney’s victory, wrong about who would show up to vote, wrong about Republicans retaking the Senate, and most importantly, they were completely wrong about the direction of the country. The success of Obama’s tax message, the popularity of ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and his action on immigration were a clear signal that the country was moving left. Instead of injecting a bit of reality into their coverage, Fox News kept trotting out people like Sarah Palin and Dick Morris to tout the inevitability of Romney’s victory. Viewers reacted to Fox’s propaganda over facts attitude by giving award the network their lowest trust ratings ever. Except for the political right, viewers don’t trust Fox.

The third wheel to fall off the Fox News juggernaut is the now out in theopen civil war between the Republican Party establishment, and the tea party. Fox News employs both Karl Rove, the leader of the establishment push back, and several tea party darlings, like Mike Huckabee. Fox News was a big factor in the promotion of the right wing billionaire backed AstroTurf movement known as the tea party in 2009 and 2010, but over the past year, they have been trying to distance themselves from the monster that they helped create. President Obama’s landslide reelection turned what was stealth conflict inside the Republican Party into full on public warfare. Fox News is going to be forced to alienate a portion of their audience by picking a side. So far, the network has tried to straddle the middle publicly, but the firing of Sarah Palin made it clear that Murdoch and Ailes are siding with the party establishment.

All of these problems at Fox News were caused by Obama’s reelection. If Romney beats Obama, Fox News was correct about the election. They have a Republican president to sell, and the warfare between the establishment and the tea party goes back underground.

Firing Sarah Palin and Dick Morris won’t be enough to fix what is wrong with Fox News. Like the Republican Party, Fox execs think that adopting a more moderate tone will bring the viewers back. It won’t. Having a conservative slant is not the same thing as partisan political activity. Cosmetic changes can’t hide the fact that viewers are rejecting both the ideology and the tone of the network.

Fox News will continue to lead in total viewership until either CNN gets their act together or MSNBC is available in more homes, but their viewership edge, which is built on monopoly of conservative news viewers, is camouflaging some much bigger issues.

The Fox News audience is static. Fewer younger people are watching, and fewer Americans trust the network. Fox News is an aging network, with aging leadership that is being left behind because, like the Republican Party, they are fighting losing battles against demographics and time.

In other words, the fallout from Obama’s election to a second term is causing the piecemeal destruction of what we used to know as Fox News.

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February 7, 2013 · 5:08 PM

Fox Viewers: Fools or Marks?

Fox Bobblehead Idiots - Morris, O'Reilly, Hannity, Doocy : http://mariopiperni.com/

Mario Piperni

This take on the reason Fox let Dick Morris go is just about right.

Morris was so laughably wrong in almost everything he said that even many die-hard conservatives no doubt found him to be a buffoon. When he tells you over and over again that there’s no way your side can lose, and then they do, his credibility suffers even with people who want to believe him. But what really did him in, I think, was when it came out in December that he was, in all probability, running a scam on the Fox News viewers whom he implored to contribute to his super PAC to defeat Barack Obama. None of the money went to that cause, instead probably finding its way back into Morris’s pocket. It’s one thing to treat Fox viewers like fools—most of the network’s personalities do that every day. But it’s quite another to treat them like marks. If you do it as blatantly as Morris did, the entire brand is threatened.

In the end, it became too obvious that Dick Morris wasn’t working for the betterment of the conservative movement, or the Republican party, or Fox News. He was working for the betterment of Dick Morris. Once that became all too obvious, I’m sure Ailes had no qualms about showing him the door. After all, there’s plenty more where he came from.

Fox viewers – fools? Nah. Really?

Morris might have been more blatant in his ways than the many grifters who appear daily on Fox but there’s a fine line between Morris’ antics and those of say, a Bill O’Reilly. Truth and honesty would never take precedence over the $20 million O’Reilly pulls in each year in salary alone from Fox. Bill knows what his audience of low-information muppets wants to hear and he delivers without fail.

2013-02-07-dmorris645

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December 11, 2012 · 7:45 AM

Rove returns to Fox after 27-day absence

That didn’t take long.  I had hoped his hiatus was more permanent,  but after all, he is Karl Rove…

Politico

He’s back — Karl Rove returned to Fox News on Monday night for his first appearance in 27 days.

The Fox News contributor, who was reportedly benched from the cable network, was back on the air Monday on “Special Report with Bret Baier.” Rove, who appeared alongside Democratic consultant and fellow Fox News contributor Joe Trippi, discussed the implications of the looming fiscal cliff.

“Gentlemen, welcome back,” Baier said after introducing the pair.

“Good to be back,” Trippi replied.

Rove did not say anything to address his return.

Last week, New York’s Gabe Sherman reported that Fox News president Roger Ailes told staffers to keep the main faces associated with the election — namely, Rove and Dick Morris — off the air for a while. According to the report, producers were ordered to get permission before booking either pundit.

Rove was last on Fox News on Nov. 13, when he appeared on “Hannity” to discuss government regulations. The Nov. 13 “Hannity” show also marked fellow Fox News contributor Morris’s last appearance on the network. Trippi, meanwhile, was last on Fox News on the Nov. 30 edition of “Happening Now.”

During Monday night’s “Special Report,” Rove suggested several ideas to deal with the fiscal cliff and tax policy, including capping itemized deductions at $25,000 or at $50,000. He also said “it’s going to be very hard to get the Republican caucus to go for rates. They’ve offered revenues — they said, look, okay, fine, you won the election. We’ll give you the $800 billion, but let’s find it in a way that has less of an economic impact.”

As the eight minute segment wrapped, Baier told the pair, “Gentlemen, we will do it again. Thanks very much.”

Rove has no upcoming Fox News appearances listed on his website.

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December 5, 2012 · 12:20 AM

Fox News to Karl Rove And Dick Morris, ‘Bye Bye, Boys’

This is too delightful.  I can hardly compose myself.  Three back to back articles about right-wing hacks and they’re all just plain bad news for the GOP.  However, this one is my absolute favorite of the day:

Apparently lying all day long on Fox News is okay, but getting your election predictions wrong by huge margins, is strictly grounds for the boot on Faux News…

Addicting Info

In the continuing, squirming readjustment of the Republican party since the gut punch known as Election 2012, and in a story that’s either completely stunning or pulled from the “why’d it take so long?” vaults, Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, has seen the light and given the boot to crow-eating duo Karl Rove and Dick Morris.

It’s no secret that both Rove and Morris took preposterous punditry to its height during the election – Rove with his infamous post-Ohio “it’s premature!” hissy fit and Morris’ smarmy, smiling, absolute assurances that “Romney will win in a landslide.” In the pre-election culture at Fox News it’s likely everyone would’ve looked away and neither would’ve been called on their crazy. But it’s a new day, the playbook has changed, and this one says both were wrong, both made the boss look bad, both are gone.

Stunning and “why’d it take so long?”

New York Magazine reports that given the new, somewhat chagrined post-election atmosphere at Fox News, it’s time for “freshening story lines – and in some cases, changing the characters”:

According to multiple Fox sources, Ailes has issued a new directive to his staff: He wants the faces associated with the election off the air — for now. For Karl Rove and Dick Morris — a pair of pundits perhaps most closely aligned with Fox’s anti-Obama campaign — Ailes’s orders mean new rules. Ailes’s deputy, Fox News programming chief Bill Shine, has sent out orders mandating that producers must get permission before booking Rove or Morris.

In other words, gentlemen, you are no longer needed.

Likely they’ll find other pulpits, other soapboxes; other carnivals at which to bark, probably sooner as opposed to later. But until then the airwaves will seem somehow clearer. Take a deep breath and enjoy. Ahhhhhh.

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December 23, 2011 · 6:44 PM

Fox Pundit Suggests Obama Looks Like ‘Skinny, Ghetto Crackhead’

 

This is so sad.  To hate a person so much that one would stoop to the level of those people on Fox News is just sad…

The Huffington Post

A Fox News guest said that some people might want to describe President Obama  as a “skinny, ghetto crackhead” Thursday night.

The Conservative Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell appeared on Fox News and was interviewed by guest host Mark Steyn. Steyn replayed a March 2011 clip from Chris Matthews’ MSNBC show, when Matthews described Newt Gingrich as looking “like a car bomber” who “loves torturing.”

Steyn and Bozell both responded to the clip. Steyn said that he wasn’t much of a “Newt fan,” but thought the GOP candidate looked more like a “cuddly…Winnie the Pooh.”

Bozell said, “How long do you think Sean Hannity’s show would last if four times in one sentence, he made a comment about, say, the President of the United States, and said that he looked like a skinny, ghetto crackhead? Which, by the way, you might want to say that Barack Obama does.” Bozell then criticized Matthews’ ratings, and said only about “45 people were watching him.”

This probably isn’t the best example of the Fox News “course correction” that CEO Roger Ailes has described.

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December 15, 2011 · 1:18 AM

Geography and History According to Fox News

I’m one of those people who believe that everything Fox News does is calculated and calibrated.  Nothing is by accident with those folks, Roger Ailes is too much of a perfectionist to have that many faux pas at Fox News….

AMERICAblog

Does Fox make ‘mistakes’ deliberately or are they just very sloppy? Or perhaps the sloppiness is also deliberate, an attempt to give plausible deniability for their intentional misinformation.

Media matters has this and a long list of similar ‘mistakes’.

This sort of thing is the reason I try not to visit Media Matters without protective headgear. There is always the risk that the temptation to hit my head against a wall will prove too strong. The latest Fox News atrocities they document:

Funny how the ‘mistakes’ made by Fox News always tell a certain story.

And just as I thought this post might be finished they do this:

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October 8, 2011 · 12:06 PM

Politico’s: The week in one-liners: Christie, Ailes, Brown

 

 

The week’s top quotes in politics …

“I’m used to being an underdog.” — President Barack Obama talking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about his reelection.

“There’s too much drama and theater in politics.” — White House hopeful Jon Huntsman knocking Sarah Palin for taking so long to announce that she won’t run.

“Now is not my time.” — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie explaining why he won’t run for president.

“I think the table is set.” — Rep. Michele Bachmann responding to Christie’s announcement.

“I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings.” — Roger Ailes on why Fox News picked up the former Alaska governor as a contributor.

“I kept my clothes on.” — Elizabeth Warren knocking Sen. Scott Brown for posing nearly nude in Cosmo.

“Thank God.” — Scott Brown expressing relief that Warren didn’t do the same thing.

“It’s totally stupid, but we can’t help ourselves.” — GOP presidential candidateNewt Gingrich revealing that he and his wife love “The Hangover.”

“It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu, okay?” — Hank Williams Jr.on Obama hitting the green with John Boehner.

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September 27, 2011 · 7:58 AM

Fox News Chief Makes Huge Admission, Disses Tons Of His Stars

Does this mean that Fox News is abandoning the monster they created called The Tea Party?

The Huffington Post

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has given one of his typically candid interviews to Newsweek. The interview was published Monday.

For a man who first made his name as a media guru for Richard Nixon, Ailes is often surprisingly forthcoming about Fox News and his opinions. In previous interviews, he has called NPR executives “Nazis” (he later apologized), said he didn’t mind if people thought Glenn Beck was fired from the channel, and admitted that he wants both Bill and Hillary Clinton to join Fox News.

Behind the scenes, Ailes is reported to have clashed with Sarah Palin and told Beck to cool his more controversial rhetoric.

Monday’s interview offered up more of Ailes’ unvarnished opinions about his network and his employees. He made a big admission to Newsweek, saying that he has made a “course correction” at Fox News, veering it away from the hard-right line it took in the earlier days of the Obama administration. (Ailes offered a preview of this strategy in January, when he told Russell Simmons that he had ordered his anchors and pundits to “tone it down” in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting.) Beck’s departure, as well as a more nuanced approach to his most famous pundit, Sarah Palin, have been part of that strategy, Ailes said.

He also spoke openly about many of his anchors, saying that Bill O’Reilly “hates” Sean Hannity because he’s jealous of his radio success (and thus confirming years of rumors about the animosity between the two).

Ailes also called Hannity “predictable” and said that he sometimes has to have a word with Shepard Smith when Smith says things that may not go over well with the Fox News crowd. (He didn’t say whether he was referring to Smith’s seemingly pro-union comments about the Wisconsin protests, or his saying that the killing of Osama bin Laden was illegal and that American foreign policy is on a dangerous path.)

Read the full interview, including news about Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry’s relationship with Ailes, here.

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