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BlackGriffen · Oct 31, 2003, 02:55 PM

Under a post about Fox News considering legal action against the Simpsons, I read this, and thought it would be an interesting conversation piece:

Originally posted by Zeinfeld (263942) on slashdot.org: The history here is that the head of Fox News, Roger Aisles is a long time Republican activist and partisan. He was put in charge of the news operation for the sole purpose of slanting the news to the extreme right.

To get an idea of what really goes on at Fox take a read of the experiences of people who have worked there [salon.com]. Every day a note goes arround called 'The Memo' which contains the Republican party messages of the day. If you do not toe the line then you get fired. This is a bad thing since experience working at Fox news does not exactly enhance your resume when applying for a job with the real media.

You can tell this is going on because Fox was even able to report Bush's claim that the Whitehouse did not order the 'Mission Accomplished' banner with a straight face.

So yes it is completely believable that the executives running this bubble world outfit would have so little clue about the real world as to threaten to sue another Murdoch production - in this case a production that can if it choose defect at will to another station and a production that makes money rather than looses it hand over fist.

Fox News does well in the ratings but very poorly with advertisers. The problem is that its core democratic of poor middle aged southern white racist men do not have much in the way of buying power. Advertisers much prefer to reach 18-35 audiences, gays, professionals, etc. in short pretty much everyone who is unlikely to watch Fox. In fact advertising on Fox News actually trades at a discount to other broadcasts reaching the same demographic because advertisers know that many of the demographics they do want are actually less likely to buy a product they see advertised on a channel they associate with biggotry.

The joke on the GOP and the likes of Bill O'Really is that Murdoch has no ideological commitments only business interests. He is quite happy running a Pro-Bejing communist sympathetic news channel on his Asian Star TV and he does not broadcast the BBC signal which might offend the dictators. In the UK Murdoch is quite happy to support Tony Blair's government, provided they do not threaten his economic interests. Murdoch undoubtedly considers his US channels in the same way, if Bush looses power in such a way that a return of Republican government looks to be unlikely in the near future then Fox news will flip flop to the left.

I think I'll let the comment stand as is without comment from me for now, because I need to read the salon.com article first.

BlackGriffen

eklipse · Oct 31, 2003, 03:21 PM

The Simpsons episode FOX is ticked off about was brilliant:

In a TV debate between two candidates for congress:

Reporter: "Welcome to Fox News, your voice for evil. Tonight we'll be interviewing the top two candidates for Springfield's 24th congressional district. For the Republicans, beloved children's entertainer, Krusty the Clown. And for the Democrats, this guy.
Armstrong: "I have a name." (with horns superimposed on his head and hammer & sickle visible in the background)
Reporter: "Yes, I'm sure you do comrade. I do appreciate you're being here, you're usually so mired in sleaze, it must be an effort to come down to the studio."
Krusty: "May I say something?" (stars and stripes fluttering in the background)
Reporter: "Certainly, Congressman."
Armstrong: "He hasn't won yet."
Reporter: "You make a very adulterous point. We will now conclude this debate with a Krusty campaign commercial."

While the debate was airing, the following ran on the news ticker: "Pointless news crawls up at 37 percent. ... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at Foxnews.com. ... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific Dancer. ... Dow down 5000 points. ... Study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay. ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party. ... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple. ... Dan Quayle: Awesome."

Lerkfish · Oct 31, 2003, 03:51 PM

Originally posted by eklipse:
The Simpsons episode FOX is ticked off about was brilliant:

Indeed! very funny.
so, I guess we have determined that foxnews has such a moral virility that it must sue comics and cartoons. I bet that makes their mommies so proud.

BlackGriffen · Oct 31, 2003, 04:44 PM

You think that's funny, read this (again, a post from slashdot):

Originally posted on Slashdot.org by Octagon Most (522688):
I heard that interview and Groening said that ultimately the parent corporation decided it did not want to sue itself. They did institute a new rule that the Simpsons, or any other non-news show on Fox, could not use an onscreen information scroll lest the audience become confused and think it was actual news.

Hear that Zimmy, spacefreak, Spliffdaddy, et al? Fox thinks that you're stupid enough to confuse a cartoon for their news program!

Collaboration of claim: Fresh Air Interview here (go to the six minute mark), from the mouth of Groening himself.

BlackGriffen

Mohammed Atef · Oct 31, 2003, 04:45 PM

I think the stereotype is wrong, but it's hilirious nonetheless.

classic work.

spacefreak · Oct 31, 2003, 05:46 PM

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
Hear that Zimmy, spacefreak, Spliffdaddy, et al? Fox thinks that you're stupid enough to confuse a cartoon for their news program!

I don't watch much TV, let alone the Simpsons, so I doubt Fox has any concern about me.

However, if I was watching a program on a major network (like Fox), and the bottom scroll bar came on and started firing off information, like "The Sears Tower in Chicago has collapsed....", I'd think it was news before I thought it was a hoax.

Heck, if I was watching any show (even a primetime cartoon), and a bottom scroll appeared and said "Report: Incoming nuclear missiles have been fired from an unspecified location and are due to hit the (your town) metro area within the next 5 minutes...", I'd freak the hell out. Wouldn't you?

petehammer · Oct 31, 2003, 05:52 PM

Originally posted by spacefreak:
I don't watch much TV, let alone the Simpsons, so I doubt Fox has any concern about me.

However, if I was watching a program on a major network (like Fox), and the bottom scroll bar came on and started firing off information, like "The Sears Tower in Chicago has collapsed....", I'd think it was news before I thought it was a hoax.

Heck, if I was watching any show (even a primetime cartoon), and a bottom scroll appeared and said "Report: Incoming nuclear missiles have been fired from an unspecified location and are due to hit the (your town) metro area within the next 5 minutes...", I'd freak the hell out. Wouldn't you?

Apparently you didn't see the actual scrolls during the Simpsons. These are what was shown:

While the debate was airing, the following ran on the news ticker: "Pointless news crawls up at 37 percent. ... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at Foxnews.com. ... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific Dancer. ... Dow down 5000 points. ... Study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay. ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party. ... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple. ... Dan Quayle: Awesome."

A little bit different than NUKES ARE ON THEIR WAY, no?

Lerkfish · Oct 31, 2003, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by spacefreak:
I don't watch much TV, let alone the Simpsons, so I doubt Fox has any concern about me.

However, if I was watching a program on a major network (like Fox), and the bottom scroll bar came on and started firing off information, like "The Sears Tower in Chicago has collapsed....", I'd think it was news before I thought it was a hoax.

Heck, if I was watching any show (even a primetime cartoon), and a bottom scroll appeared and said "Report: Incoming nuclear missiles have been fired from an unspecified location and are due to hit the (your town) metro area within the next 5 minutes...", I'd freak the hell out. Wouldn't you?

um..no. Not when its Krusty the clown over the crawl...and the crawl was obviously part of the cartoon.

but that you would argue from this stance proves that any republican will defend any other republican no matter how insipid they are. ?Suing a cartoon?

BlackGriffen · Oct 31, 2003, 06:47 PM

Originally posted by Lerkfish:
um..no. Not when its Krusty the clown over the crawl...and the crawl was obviously part of the cartoon.

but that you would argue from this stance proves that any republican will defend any other republican no matter how insipid they are. ?Suing a cartoon?

I've heard rumor that Groening admitted to making the suing thing up.

The lawsuit thing is certainly what he said in the FreshAir interview, though. Perhaps his boss, Rupert Murdoch, decided to have a word with him?

BG

vmarks · Oct 31, 2003, 07:58 PM

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
I've heard rumor that Groening admitted to making the suing thing up.

The lawsuit thing is certainly what he said in the FreshAir interview, though. Perhaps his boss, Rupert Murdoch, decided to have a word with him?

BG

Or he was really making it up- he is, after all, a person who has made his living through humor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Oct30.html

pooka · Oct 31, 2003, 08:25 PM

macvillage.net · Oct 31, 2003, 10:06 PM

Originally posted by vmarks:
Or he was really making it up- he is, after all, a person who has made his living through humor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Oct30.html

I doubt it.

Fox News is well known for using all legal means to silence anyone who says/infers it's "conservative" or "republican oriented". It only allows "balanced". Fox News has threatened everyone from celebrities to individuals for remarks on the channel.

It's not at all out of character for the network.

And it's not out of character for The Simpsons either... they are perhaps the most balanced show in american entertainment. They make literally hundreds of political jokes every episode. Yet never orient in any direction. They have attacked liberals, conservatives, homosexuals, heterosexuals, blacks, whites... and backed all thse groups. Made fun of stereotypes, etc. Pretty ingenious.

Sadly, the Simpsons use of political humor made is pretty much a flop overseas. Once thought to bring in big ratings in Europe... didn't do very good. The Europians didn't get the political/american culture jokes... leaving them to a few culture jokes a slapstick humor.... which is already overdone.

The simpsons use of political humor is just histerical.

zigzag · Oct 31, 2003, 10:36 PM

Reina seems very forthright. He doesn't merely rip Fox - he questions liberal orthodoxy as well, including his own.

I don't think you have to watch Fox for more than ten minutes to realize that it's a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. I mean, Roger Ailes isn't just a Republican partisan - he was Nixon, Reagan, and Bush I's media consultant, then produced the original Rush Limbaugh Show. That's fine - as Reina says, partisanship is OK, just be honest about it. "Fair and balanced" is a joke.