Yes, I'm aware that it's supposed to be a blog no-no to make comparions between right-wing excesses and Nazi Germany, but as a media member and media junkie, with a side interest in the history of the holocaust, it seems a sin of ommission not to point out the paralells when Fox news pulls a propaganda whopper worthy of Goebbels, and as obvious as the nose on my face.
The backstory: Fox News channel, while still pulling in an overall audience just under that of CNN and MSNBC combined, had experienced a slower growth rate in viewership in the second quarter of 2008 (10%), than both MSNBC and CNN's galloping growth rate of more than 50% each in viewers.
As for the age viewer age group that advertisers salivate over, Fox found the other channels stepping on its' tail:
In the first five-and-a-half months of 2004, the last presidential election year, Fox’s prime-time audience among viewers aged 25 to 54 was more than double that of CNN’s — 530,000 to 248,000, according to estimates from Nielsen Media Research. This year, through mid-June, CNN erased the gap and drew nearly as many viewers in that demographic category as Fox — about 420,000 for CNN to 440,000 for Fox.
Statistics quoted by New York Times entertainment reporter Jacques Steinberg in a June 28 article: http://www.nytimes.com/... which also noted that those figures were part of an "ominous trend" in Fox News' ratings decline.
Never one to take bare-faced facts lying down, Fox news sent out buffoon propagandists Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade to label Steinberg and his editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," and the Fox art department to alter the NYT staffer's photos.
http://mediamatters.org/...
Both Steinberg and Reddicliffe's teeth were yellowed, and although their altered photos were later superimposed on that of a poodle, the "attack dog" image ended there.
The circles under Reddicliffe's eyes were darkened, his forehead and chin enlongated to Young Frankenstein cartoon quality, Steinberg's ears enlarged, his forehead lowered, and yup, Fox news made it a point to give the Jew a cartoonishly large nose.
If you're not a student of history, you may be asking, "So what?"
If you are a student of history, you're aware that the cartoony large-nosed Jew is the characterization that was part and parcel of hundreds of years of anti-semitism, followed by pogroms and ethnic cleansing, and oh, yes, the holocaust.
Scoll down the below page for but two typical examples of Nazi propaganda big-nosed cartoon Jew:
http://www.thinkequal.com/...
The book Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom), was published in 1938 for older schoolchildren in Nazi Germany. In the book, a mother explains to her son, Franz, that there are good and bad people in the world. The good people are the good mushrooms. The bad people, the Jews, are the poisonous mushrooms. [With a cover illo cartoon of the 'bad mushroom" big-nosed Jew]
‘It is almost noon,’ says the teacher. ‘Now we must summarise what we have learned in this lesson. What did we discuss?’
All the children raise their hands. The teacher calls on Karl Scholz, a little boy on the front bench. ‘We talked about how to recognise a Jew’.
‘Good! Now tell us about it!’
Little Karl takes the pointer, goes to the blackboard and points to the sketches. ‘A Jew is usually recognised by his nose.'
Which is, as per usual for Nazi propaganda, depicted as cartoonish, larger-than-life honker, of course.
Fox News may consider their big-nosed Jew "attack dog" a light-hearted spoof, but in addition to posters, books, and propaganda films, the historical record includes the Nazi's big-nosed Jew comic books for the kiddies.
I'm just sayin'.
And don't get me started on the Obama Sock Monkey. http://www.plunderbund.com/...