The perils of unfettered Fox News propaganda -- Sabrina Haake

[erronis]

https://sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/the-perils-of-unfettered-fox-news

If England can require accuracy in the media, why can't the U.S.?

In 2021, following MAGA’s J6 storming of the US capital, media columnist Margaret Sullivan observed that such orchestrated violence could not have happened without Fox News. She wrote, “The mob that stormed and desecrated the Capitol … could not have existed in a country that hadn’t been radicalized by the likes of [Fox News hosts] Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, and swayed by biased news coverage.”

Fox News didn’t deny that it platformed Trump’s stolen election claims after knowing them to be false, nor could it, after Dominion Voting brought the receipts. In the run up to J6, Fox anchors laughed to each other that Trump’s and his supporters’ election claims were “Ludicrous” and “totally off the rails”(Tucker Carlson); “F’ing lunatics” (Sean Hannity); “Nuts” (Dana Perino); “Complete BS” (Fox Producer); “Kooky” (Maria Bartiromo); “Mind Blowingly Nuts” (Fox VP); and that, “There is NO evidence of fraud. None” (Bret Baier).

And yet, to the American people, Fox hosts said the opposite, relentlessly, and kept at it until the manufactured outrage crescendoed in the J6 attack.

Fox is normalizing Trump’s police state

In 2025, Fox is at it again, this time parroting Trump’s false claims about immigrants, crime, and ICE. As Trump’s masked agents commit widely documented atrocities in democrat-run cities, Fox hosts call ICE protestors “domestic terrorists,” while platforming false claims that ICE officers have “federal immunity“ for their crimes.

. . .

[ariadne0614]

1. For the life of me, I will never understand the failure of Biden, as Commander-in-Chief,

. . .to intervene in the 24/7 access of Faux News on military bases. It’s the first question I would ask the members of his cabinet and whoever advised him.

[KPN]

5. I'm guessing because they believe deeply in the principle of individual freedom of speech and thought.

But yeah, it's difficult to fathom even with that. Not so much belief in freedom of speech as the mindlessness of the vast number of Faux News viewers who eat that stuff up.

[ariadne0614]

17. If the troops are being fed a constant stream of lies and Russian propaganda,

then it’s hard to accept that there isn’t a higher responsibility to insist on some measure of exposure to other sources.

[KPN]

18. It is hard to accept. I'm with you on that.

[travelingthrulife]

23. Yea, they are basically having Russian propaganda shoved down their throats.

Probably why our military appears to have no problem with any of this.

[ariadne0614]

28. This is a depressing thought.

If true, it’s all the more bewildering that CiC Biden looked the other way. Surely he had intelligence experts who understood and could have explained the impact of lies and propaganda on the troops. I wonder if we’ll ever know.

[yellow dahlia]

2. Fauxnews and other RWmedia sources are to blame for where we are right now.

I monitor RWmedia - I watch, so you don't have to. I fact check RW media (particularly fauxnews and notnewsmax) on the one social media site I use.

People need to be deprogrammed from the propaganda, disinformation, and brain washing.

P.S. Fox is not news - they said so in a lawsuit. They asserted they are entertainment. That statement should be on a chiron/banner across the tv screen.

Great Substack piece. Thanks for sharing, erronis.

[erronis]

3. Thank you. Sabrina Haake has some great insights. I hope DUers read this whole article.

[yellow dahlia]

6. I read the whole thing, and I subscribed.

[RainCaster]

9. They should be banned from the White House

If they are not news.
Once more thing to do differently when we are back in power.

[yellow dahlia]

16. I agree.

[robbob]

14. Then they should not be allowed to call themselves "Fox News"

Why is that so hard? Free speech is fine, but I’m not allowed to hang a sign up claiming to be a Doctor, and perform surgery out of my home.

But, as others have said, it’s the viewers who allow themselves to be lied to, again and again, but still tune in every day for the “daily hate” that are the real problem.

[yellow dahlia]

15. i agree.

False advertising at the very least.

Can't the licensing from the FCC have parameters? Well not now...of course...but in the future.

[eppur_se_muova]

22. They're on cable, not public airwaves, so not much affected by FCC regs.

The radio spectrum is considered a limited public resource, and so is tightly controlled. Cable TV arrives through a contract between the cable company & its subscribers. As long as they don't violate the terms of their contract, they're pretty much OK.

But, yes, maybe the FTC (Federal TRADE Commission) could look into that false advertising thing ... when it's controlled by an administration that cares about laws ...

[Kaleva]

21. All cable news is entertainment

When one is watching a program where pundits are telling you what you want to hear or that which affirms one’s already formed world view, then one is being entertained.

[31st Street Bridge]

26. Limbaugh started the lies; Fox spread them wide

And Fox should be shut down and thrown out of the country.
Lies are not news. Lies are not free thought. Lies are not free expression.
It's like having a billionaire-funded, 24/7 Nazi station on every cable system. Yeah, that would be a mess, too.

[tritsofme]

4. It's actually a very simple answer: The First Amendment.

If England can require accuracy in the media, why can't the U.S.?

[Kaleva]

20. Yes

[William Seger]

7. I'm very afraid that America is IRRECONCILABLY divided...

... and the story of how that happened is the story of Limbaugh and Fox, with their clear intent of ending up with the bigger half. We now live in a country where millions of people have had their critical thinking dulled by reactionary (not "conservative" ) propaganda, and now decide what to believe or disbelieve depending strictly on who says it. There is no easy solution — our ONLY recourse is to defeat them at the polls.

[travelingthrulife]

24. And then tax MAGA churches back under their rocks

[Grins]

8. Fox News* was created to serve ONE purpose...

Fox News was created to serve ONE purpose: To advance the conservative Republican agenda, and ]ONLY the conservative Republican agenda.*

Quotes I saved:

"Fox News, the first deliberately and unapologetically biased and partisan network in American history. You disagree? Be my guest." - Roger Ebert referring to Rupert Murdoch, 12 July 2011.

“The question is no longer whether Fox News is an arm of the GOP, but whether it’s becoming the torso instead.” - Eric Burns, Fox News' former media critic, Rolling Stone magazine, 25 May 2011.

"I declined to renew my contract as Fox News’s strategic analyst because of the network’s propagandizing for the Trump administration. Today’s Fox prime-time lineup preaches paranoia, attacking processes and institutions vital to our republic, and challenging the rule of law. ...Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed." - LTC (U.S. Army, Ret'd) Ralph Peters, on why he quit Fox News after 10-years, 30 March 2018.

* And so was the Heritage Foundation! To only advance Reich-wing conservatives and conservatism. No other voices allowed! That is specifically stated in their founding documents.

"We're not here to be some kind of Ph.D. committee giving equal time. Our role is to provide conservative policy-makers with arguments to bolster our side." - Burton Pines, then Vice President for Research for the Reich-wing Heritage Foundation, 1986.

[erronis]

10. Thank you for that collection of quotes. The Murdoch's wouldn't disagree with them

in fact that is affirmation of their purpose.

[travelingthrulife]

25. So WHY is Heritage Foundation granted tax free status?

They are a terrorist organization.

[Mr.Bee]

11. For The Life Of Me

I can't comprehend why the republicants would want to recreate a NAZI (Not-See) state all over again in the United States of America.
NAZI Germany practically went bankrupt trying to build Hitler's Master Race and Hitler's War Machine.
It aided in their defeat.

[erronis]

12. Hatred of others clouds their minds.

That's just my guess because I can't pretend to (or want to) get inside those places.

[hay rick]

13. In practice, the theoretical benefits of free speech have been eclipsed by the hazards of unfettered propaganda.

[Mysterian]

31. That's the bottom line

Mass media monopolies owned by right-wing billionaires are a clear and present danger to democracy.

[Kaleva]

19. Fox News puts out what their audience wants to hear

Their only goal is to make a profit for their owners. Changing their reporting would cost them viewers and decrease revenues.

[hay rick]

32. Fox News is the middle of a feedback loop.

Their viewers want more of what they have been fed in the past from the same source. In the past they tied themselves to Trump and now they are stuck promoting every insanity he vomits.

[Borogove]

27. We can thank Reagan for getting rid of the fairness doctrine.

[tritsofme]

29. Some myths never die. The fairness doctrine never applied to cable networks like Fox News.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

30. JHC, this crap again?

The Fairness Doctrine was for broadcast stations using public airways, it wouldn't have applied to cable, satellite or the internet, the FCC has zero content authority over these venues, there is no FCC license to operate on those venues.