Fox News Bias ... Through The Eyes Of The Liberal Viewer

Ailes Of Fox News Goes All In With Tea-Bagging Morons With Crazy Comments

Far-right extremist Roger Ailes of Fox News

Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News and a far-right zealot, is at it again with the talking points that his network has made famous: Barack Obama is socialist.

Fox News, which long ago divorced itself of any hint of objectivity, has now gone to openly cheerleading for far-right causes and candidates and against anything viewed as left of the political middle. The comments of Ailes, as documented by Howard Kurtz, are indicative of a man who is no journalist and essentially overseas a network that is a 24-hour right-wing propaganda machine.

This is from Media Matters for America:

Ailes: Obama was "told by the French and the Germans that his socialism was too far left." From Howard Kurtz' November 17 Daily Beast article:

"The president has not been very successful," the Fox News chairman says in a lengthy interview. "He just got kicked from Mumbai to South Korea, and he came home and attacked Republicans for it. He had to be told by the French and the Germans that his socialism was too far left for them to deal with."

The 70-year-old Ailes, dressed in a lavender shirt and tie, goes on in this vein, saying the network isn't singling out Obama for criticism but that its style "tends to be more direct" in challenging presidents. Then he offers this observation about Obama:

"He just has a different belief system than most Americans."

That seems a rather loaded phrase--different belief system--even if you strongly disagree with most of Obama's policies. It fits the view of those who are trying to paint the president as being outside the mainstream. But from the big second-floor office at Fox's Midtown Manhattan headquarters, it's the rest of the media that are using a distorted lens.

This is nothing new with Fox News, a network that now clearly is devoted to advancing Republicans, tea baggers and nearly all conservative causes.

Bill O'Reilly Lies ... I Know ... It's Redundant

Bill O'Reilly Goes On The Attack Against Detroit Free Press Cartoonist

Here is Mike Thompson's Detroit Free Press cartoon that apparently caused Bill O'Reilly to blow a nut.

Fox News far-right (I know ... kind of redundant) commentator Bill O'Reilly has been working overtime to take revenge on numerous people who have dared to in any way be what he perceives as negative toward Juan Williams, who made bigoted comments about his fear of Muslims on airplanes.

One of the targets of O'Reilly has been Detroit Free Press cartoonist and blogger Mike Thompson, who apparently drew a cartoon that drew the ire of Big Daddy Bill.

I found the response of Thompson, and a portion of it is published here:

For the past week, Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly and his colleagues at Fox News have been bending over backwards to defend former National Public Radio news analyst and current Fox commentator Juan Wiliams, who was fired from his NPR gig for making disparaging remarks about Muslims. A journalist should not be fired for speaking his mind, according to O’Reilly. No, apparently a journalist who speaks his mind should have his e-mail inbox crammed with threatening, disparaging e-mails, according to O’Reilly.

Last Sunday I drew a cartoon about Fox News and the Juan Wiliams affair. O’Reilly apparently took offense to my cartoon and showed it on the air Monday evening. He then gave out my work e-mail address and instructed his viewers to “let him know what you think.” O’Reilly stressed that his viewers should take the high road in their e-mails to me, which is a little like placing a bowl of Halloween candy in front of kids and telling them not to gorge themselves. O’Reilly’s smart enough to know what would happen.

And e-mail me they did, more than 2,500 e-mails, many of them unsuitable to publish here, clogged my inbox.

O'Reilly is not above name calling (does the word "pinhead" ring a bell?), badmouthing people (ask Boyce Watkins, the family of the murdered Dr. George Tiller and others), using blatant acts of intimidation (not unlike what gangs do), dispatching his hired thugs (disguised as "producers") to harass and badger his enemies and more. He has not resorted (yet) to the methods of U.S. senate candidate Rand Paul supporters through which he would have people beat down and stomp on critics.

Ah yes, tough guy Bill O'Reilly now is going after cartoonists.

Fox News Called Out For What It Is: A Mouthpiece For Republican Party

Fox News has always been bias (as I've written here numerous times ... obviously), but Nathan Daschle (Democratic Governors Association) is correct in that now the network is just flat out funding the Republican efforts (specifically the Republican Governors Association) to defeat Democrats.

Again, Fox News is not even faking their far-right bias. The network is disgraceful as proven by its incredible silence.

Strangely enough, News Corp/Fox News is actually paying the Republicans for the rights to promote the GOP.

Eric Boehlert, of Media Matters, is right on the money with his analysis.

Fox News Keeps Silent On Dr. Laura's Repeated Use Of The So-Called N-Word

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is shown here in a screen grab from a Fox News program. Dr. Laura appears somewhat regularly on the network and the network ignores her repeated use of the so-called n-word in a venomous and racial rant.

Think Progress and News Hounds makes an excellent point about the right and the far right going silent about the crazed rant of Dr. Laura Schlessinger who hysterically and repeatedly dropped the so-called n-word like it was her job.

What has Fox News had to say about Dr. Laura's rant ...

In recent months, Fox News (the public relations firm of the GOP) has made a point of digging up and pointing out as many cases as possible of black racism to scare white people.

This is from News Hounds:

Fox News is so quick to accuse black people of racism against whites. Yet, as Think Progress reports, it has ignored Dr. Laura Schlessinger's on-air harangue with an African America caller in which Schlessinger repeatedly used the n-word (Huffington Post counted 11 times in 5 minutes). So where's the "fair and balanced" coverage? Nowhere to be found apparently.

This is from Think Progress:

Why has Fox News ignored the story? Perhaps because Schlessinger is a regular guest on the network. Just last year, Sean Hannity hosted the right wing radio host to promote her new book.

Perhaps, but perhaps it's because it is not aligned with the Fox News trend of reporting black racism.

Fox News has predictably been very quiet on this subject, but plays up everything even remotely negative said about their darling, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (Fox actually pays Palin to, in essence, provide her a media platform to stay in the spotlight ... quite an arrangement when a PR firm pays to represent a client).

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/13/fox-news-ignores-schlessinger/

News Hounds:
http://www.newshounds.us/2010/08/13/why_hasnt_fox_news_reported_on_laura_schlessingers_nword_harangue.php#more

Bill O'Reilly Race Baiting ... A Blast From The Past

Here is an old clip from Fox News as posted on Media Matters for America regarding now U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Fox News far-right commentator Bill O'Reilly, who in the past has had the nerve to accuse CNN of race baiting, doing some race baiting of his own when he asks: "Should white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor."

Here is a clip that is Dr. Boyce Watkins' response to O'Reilly's ridiculous and hypocritical accusation of CNN engaging in race baiting.



Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907140004

Fox News Doesn't See The Racism In Arizona Legislation

Here is the ignorance on Fox News.

Join Media Matters For America Effort To Demand A Rupert Murdoch Apology For Agreeing With Glenn Beck Calling President Obama 'A Racist'

"[H]e was right."
-- Rupert Murdoch discussing Glenn Beck's comment that President Obama is "a racist."

In July, Glenn Beck infamously stated that he believes President Obama is "a racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." These comments played a major role in at least 80 advertisers dropping their support of Beck's television program. Numerous media outlets and personalities rebuked the comments, but Fox News gave Beck a free pass. Why?

Well, the reason is now clear: Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, agrees that President Obama is a racist. This is a new low even for Fox, and one we cannot let stand.

Since Murdoch refuses to rebuke Glenn Beck - we need to hold him accountable and demand that he apologize for his own hateful remarks.

Join us and demand that Murdoch apologize. We'll deliver the signatures to NewsCorp: mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

In an interview with Sky News Australia, Murdoch said of Beck's notorious comment:

On the racist thing, that caused a [unintelligible]. But he did make a very racist comment, about, you know, blacks and whites and so on, and which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And, you know, that was something which perhaps shouldn't have been said about the president, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right.

A Fox News host calls the President of the United States a racist, and his boss, rather than suspending or publicly rebuking him, says that his employee "was right." We need to hold Murdoch and Fox News accountable for this incendiary, outrageous rhetoric. Please take a moment to sign our petition demanding an immediate apology from Murdoch. When you are done signing, please ask your friends to join our call for accountability.

mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

Unfortunately, this type of race-baiting is par for the course for Fox News. As we recently documented, Fox News president Roger Ailes spent the better part of his career working as a Republican media consultant, during which time he became known for appealing to racial fears and biases for political gain. Under Ailes' leadership Fox News routinely employs these same tactics in its ongoing campaign to destroy the Obama administration and the progressive agenda. Examples include:

• Hannity just can't "get over" his Rev. Wright obsession. Sean Hannity -- who claimed he "broke the story" about Obama's controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the 2008 campaign -- mentioned Wright on at least 45 different episodes of his Fox News show between Obama's inauguration and July 31.

• O'Reilly tease: "[S]hould white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor?" Bill O'Reilly stated, "Next on the rundown: Should white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor? Later, far-left Hispanic group says if you oppose the judge, you could be racist." [The O'Reilly Factor, 7/13/09].

• Rev. Peterson: Obama was elected "mostly by black racists and white guilty people." On Hannity, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson said, "I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people." [Hannity, 2/3/09].

Murdoch's comments are simply the latest example of Fox News shredding the last vestiges of its credibility. Fox News is not a news organization; it is an official arm of the GOP,openly advocating against President Obama and the progressive agenda. As the cable network has shown repeatedly, no tactics are too sleazy to further its goal of damagingprogressives. Murdoch has now given his stamp of approval to the idea that the president of the United States is "a racist."

Demand that Murdoch apologize: mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

Thank you for your continued help in holding the media accountable.

Eric Burns
President
Media Matters for America

To sign the online petition, visit: http://mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology/

Childish Bill O’Reilly Resorts To Making Fun Of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Accent

Conservative right-wing talk show host Bill O’Reilly, arguably the face of Fox News, went on the attack against Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democrat. Anders took a little shot at Fox News after he called out the network for what it is: a propaganda machine for right wingers.

Sanders made an appearance on MSNBCwith host Rachel Maddow and made the following comments (as documented by David Neiwert on the Web site Crooks and Liars):

SANDERS: We need to do grass roots organizing. I’ll tell you what else we need to do. We need to understand that it is very, very hard for the president or anybody else to take on, not just the Republican Party – that’s the easy part – to take on all of right-wing talk radio which covers 90 percent of talk show hosts, a whole FOX Network which is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party.

The thin-skinned and childish O’Reilly rushed to the defense of Fox News by declaring Sanders was wrong, he called Sanders a “pinhead” and made fun of the senator’s New England accent.

Most of us probably stopped doing that after the sixth grade.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/pinhead-indeed-oreilly-doesnt-being

I Kind Of Hope Megyn Kelly Didn’t Really Say This, But …

… It appears she did in fact make the statement below about perceptions of the right-wing bias of Fox News.

KELLY: When asked about her employer’s reputation for being conservative, she attributed those perceptions to the network’s prime-time host lineup, not its news coverage. “There is no question that Hannity is a conservative,” she says. “But I can tell you from personal experience after having worked with O’Reilly for years now, you never know where he is going to come out on an issue. He definitely leans right when it comes to certain social, traditional value issues, but he’s all over the board on certain other issues. And Greta-nobody knows exactly what her stripes are. I think [the conservative reputation is] really because of Hannity.”

Uh, come on Megyn. Sean Hannity is obviously a right-winger. Hannity would have to turn to the right and pick up binoculars to see Glenn Beck, and how far away he is. The right-wing bias begins in the morning, with Fox and Friends, and is almost unrelenting through “anchors” like Megyn Kelly (she is a true right winger), Brett Baier (read his blog entries and you see his right-wing bias) and others down through Beck, Bill O’Reilly (his right-wing bias is well documented … as his dishonesty about being not being biased), Hannity and Greta Van Susteren (with the amount of time she has spent covering anything and everything about the Palins as if she is a fan … it’s clear where her political loyalties are founded these days). Then, look at their roster of “analysts” who pollute the airwaves: Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Bernie Goldberg, Mary Katharine Ham, Liz Trotta (a so-called media analyst who joked about killing then-Sen. Barack Obama during the presidential election), Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, John Kasich, Cal Thomas, Jim Pinkerton, Dennis Miller, Dick Morris, Jesse Lee Peterson, Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and the list goes on. All of these are committed, hardcore right wingers. They mix in a few moderates/liberals, and think that is supposed to create balance. Fox News is fair and balanced in words only. Want more evidence of bias? Check out The Fox Nation.

What’s laughable is that their media accountability show, Fox News Watch, is typically stacked with far right commentators like Pinkerton and Thomas who don’t even attempt to display objectivity … ON A SHOW ABOUT MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY. Although I don’t exactly have unconditional love for CNN’s Reliable Sources, Fox News Watch is a poor imitation of the real thing.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/11/kelly-fox-hannity/

Haute Living:
http://www.hauteliving.com/ny/junejuly-2009-hamptons/behind-the-screen/