Chris Bowers (I think) initiated a blogswarm to try to get the Nevada Democratic Party to drop Fox News as the host for a caucus debate in Reno this August. He set up an email form that you can use to register your displeasure. It’s a worthy cause and I sent in my little note. But, I’m not sure this was the right battle at the right time.
With Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee, it doesn’t seem very likely that we are going to get a win here. Let’s review an article from May 2006.
Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch will host a fundraiser for liberal New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Financial Times reports.
The mating ritual of the unlikely allies has been under way for months. Clinton set political tongues to wagging last month by attending a Washington party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fox News, the cable news channel owned by Murdoch.
And let’s just look at what Harry Reid and the state party have to say:
In making the announcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “This is more great news for Nevada. I’m happy FOX News will be a partner for the August presidential debate. Western issues will be a major focus of this debate in particular. With FOX News as our partner, candidates will have an opportunity to not only speak to Nevada voters, but voters across the West who will be instrumental to electing a Democratic president in 2008.”
FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes added, “FOX News is proud to be a leader in coverage of the 2008 campaign season and a co-host of this important presidential debate. We look forward to working with the Nevada Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.”…
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour general news service covering breaking news as well as political, entertainment and business news. For five years, FNC has been the most watched cable news channel in the nation and currently presents 9 out of the top 10 programs in cable news. Owned by News Corp., FNC is available in more than 85 million homes.
Does that sound like a position that is likely to change just because the blogging community and moveon.org throws a fit?
On the other hand, Fox News is less valuable as a source of information than al-Jazeera. They are a nakedly partisan component of the Republicans’ Mighty Wurlitzer. No Democrat should ever agree to appear on FOX News for any purpose. Ever. We should actually make what they do illegal, as it would be in England. The problems are not all unique to FOX News…some of them are common throughout the cable news format. Anchors should be distinct from opinion makers, and financial disclosures and other conflicts of interests should be plainly described on the screen. But FOX News takes these abuses to levels never before seen on American television. They are nothing but a full-time commerical for the Republican Party and the financial services industries. When they are not shilling for them they are trying to put the rest of America to sleep with relentless coverage of the latest missing or dead white girl (Aruba, Utah, Florida, Colorado…you take your pick).
If the top of the Democratic Party really was in touch with the bottom of the Democratic Party there is no way in a hundred years that Hillary Clinton would celebrate the 10th anniversary of FOX News and accept cash from Murdoch. There is no way that Harry Reid would choose FOX News to carry the Nevada debate. Prior experience should show them that FOX News doesn’t give Democrats a fair shake. The Las Vegas Gleaner has a nice piece of snark that drives the point home:
…we’ve always suspected that Reid is delighted to have FOX News sponsoring a Dem debate, especially one that’s in Reno (as opposed to Las Vegas). Reid has been unhealthily obsessed with the nation’s vast rural swaths ever since Tom Daschle got his hat handed to him up in the Dakota territory. Reid is not interested in assuring Democratic majorities (or Democratic policies) by changing the public’s mind as much as he is in convincing a majority of the public that Democrats like guns too, have values too, hate taxes too and are, if not right on the issues, then at least, oh, acceptable.
The beltway being his native habitat, Reid has probably been informed by some media consultant that the quickest way to the heart of the heartland is through Hume (Brit, not David). Reid is either ignoring or oblivious to the fact that FOX is also the quickest way to get your message distorted in the heartland, in that FOX is on message in accordance with Karl (Rove, not Marx).
I can’t find much to fault here. Except, I might add, Reid, Hillary, and Murdoch probably all ‘respect’ each other and see each other as ‘peers’. And that might be fine and understandable, seeing as they are all wealthy, successful, and powerful people. Nothing wrong with that. Except Murdoch runs a media empire that is ostensibly out to destroy Hillary and Reid, take away their power, and relegate them to the dustpin of history. Sorry…I’m not buying it. What we have here is as obvious as the disconnect between the family values trumpeted in FOX shows like The Simpsons and The Family Guy and the values espoused by loudmouths Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. It’s a bait and switch.
So…don’t get me wrong…if we actually succeed in getting Nevada to drop FOX News from the debate it would be a huge move in the correct direction. It would be fantastic. It’s worth trying…I guess. But sometimes it’s better to choose your battles a little more carefully. If we get the higher echelons of the Democratic Party to suddenly declare FOX News a worthless propaganda outfit and to shun it…well…then I guess I’ve totally misjudged the state of American politics.
As far as I can see, when we get up to Reid and Hillary, the distance between the parties is about as broad as the distance on the couch between James Carville and Mary Matalin. Speaking of which…are they in therapy? It seems like they’re becoming emotionally unstable.
