The FOX Nation: Will You Take the Blue Pill?

Image from Huffington Post

I've been seeing a bit of buzz about "The FOX Nation," and didn't pay much attention to it. It sounds like another in a long line of uber-patriotic-sounding things that come out of the conservo-sphere, not worthy of notice. But I kept seeing it, and got curious. Was it some sort of recruitment drive? How does this FOX nation fit in with Hannity's America?

And I think I've figured it out. For the last eight years, Karl Rove and Frank Luntz have been busily creating a false reality. And for the first few, it worked. "These are not the droids you're looking for," they'd say, and despite video taped evidence or transcripts showing the damned droids dead to rights, much of America played along. And FOX "News" played a huge role in keeping this alternate reality going. They were well on their way to their "permanent Republican majority," and then a funny thing happened: actual reality hit America in the face.

We swallowed some whoppers over the years, but eventually a huge chunk of us started saying, "Wait a minute! That's not true!" The Rovian Alternate Reality Machine ground to a sputtering, gasping halt. Until now. Most of us are out of it now, but the 25%-ers, the "base" if you will, craves and misses The Matrix. And The FOX Nation will provide it for them. It's a blue pill in the shape of the USA with a FOX logo on it.

Ironically, their mission seems to be "It's Time to Say NO to Biased Media and Say YES to Fair Play and Free Speech." Which is as Rovian and/or Luntzian a phrase as I can even imagine.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, I'm aware I mixed Star Wars and Matrix metaphors, and that I'm also a geek.

[Excerpt]

Online, Vox Populi Can Roar

Biased media are in the eye of the beholder, and with a site built around such high-decibel stars as Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, Fox is hoping to leverage its brand online, especially among conservative true believers. "We felt that giving people a real destination to go and express themselves would give them a feeling of belonging," says Senior Vice President Joel Cheatwood. "People feel they're dictated to a lot by the media. . ."

Read more at: Washington Post

Hannity Removing Even the Pretense of Balance?

I'm a great fan of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, as my faithful reader (ha!) knows. But after that program, I generally toddle off to my computer to try to get some posts up. Doing that is a lot easier with a little background noise, so I'll flip on the TV in my office, usually first landing on MSNBC.

Not long ago, the program on in that slot was Scarborough Country, with former Republican Congressman, Joe Scarborough. Toward the end of the run of that program, Joe--previously rabidly right-wing--was becoming disenchanted with the Bush Administration, and was becoming much more reasonable, and watchable. Then he left to take over the Don Imus slot in the morning. . .something about naps or something. So Joe was replaced with Live with Dan Abrams, a talking head show with little structure or format. But it too was watchable, as long as super-silly celebrity "news" wasn't in the headlines.

Recently, that program was revamped with the same host, but now called The Verdict, with splashy Lichtenstein-type graphics. It's garish, and I'm not overly fond. Anyway, all this time, the other alternative, on FOX "News" has been Hannity & Colmes. It pits a bullyboy right-winger against a milquetoast moderate and calls that "fair and balanced." It's virtually the only thing that is pointed to to defend that slogan.

Lately, I've noticed that Sean Hannity--who usually has his time with guests divided nearly evenly with Colmes--has been forcing his way into his co-host's time and space on the show. He's been belligerently stepping all over Colmes' toes. Colmes, to his credit, has been fighting back quite a bit. The other thing Sean Hannity does to hog the spotlight is to do one-on-one interviews with figures George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Fred Thompson and John McCain. Colmes occasionally gets interviews like this, but with much less frequency.

So tonight, I flipped over to FOX for noise (they're very good at that), and was surprised to see Hannity's America, a show typically seen on the (very, very bad) FOX weekend "news" lineup. It wasn't referred to as a "special time" or "special episode," it's just there in place of Hannity & Colmes.

In his first segment, Hannity interviewed Karl Rove--which ought to be a sign of the Apocolypse--without ever identifying him as a McCain advocate. He did refer to Rove as "the Architect," but omitted what Rove built. Hmmm, I wonder why? Also, more than a half hour in, the entire program has been devoted to anti-Democrat election stories, chiefly about Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. And it looks like (in the "just ahead" bumper) that it is all he'll be talking about in the second half. Wow. Groundbreaking.

Rant over.

Dr. Laura Gets a Spot on FOX "News"

Dr. Laura photo from Army Times

Linda Richman photo from Oy Bay

Though FOX "News" recently proved that they at least have the capacity to live up to their "fair and balanced" moniker, for the most part--as most people know--it's neither fair, nor balanced. . .discuss amongst yourselves. . .

One show in particular, Hannity's America is eye-rollingly bad, and completely unbalanced. Oh sure, Sean hauls out a few "FOX Democratic Strategists" to nominally argue his ideology, but they're amateur Alan Colmeses at best. Now, Hannity is getting ready to make the show even more tilted, adding Dr. Laura Schlessinger. She's neither a psychologist, nor a psychiatrist. . .discuss.

[Excerpt]

Dr. Laura gets weekly segment on Fox News

On Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes last night, host Sean Hannity announced that on his other Fox News show, Hannity’s America, controversial talk radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger will be getting a weekly segment to offer advice and answer questions from viewers. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Sean Hannity: Investigative Reporter?

I've made no secret of my feelings for Sean Hannity on this blog. He's a blowhard, he's disingenuous, he's got an enormous ego, and he couldn't legitimately argue his way out of an argument with a fifth grader. And those are the nice things about him!

Sadly, some people (a favorite FOX "News" phrase) take nearly every word this Lou Costello lookalike says literally. And now (very humorously) he seems to fancy himself an investigative reporter. And this was the best he could do, in his "expose" of MoveOn.org.

Marie at Newshounds.us has annotated the piece, which is helpful for pointing out the flaws in Sean's "investigative report." By the way, love the ominous negative campaign commercial music! Enjoy.