Anyone who reads this site knows that Fox News is neither fair nor balanced. Many of us (myself among them) cannot stand to watch more than a few moments, or listen to a few minutes of a radio show. However, there are some brave souls among us who are willing to put in the time to call out Fox "News" on it's BS. If you might be interested in reading some objective evidence of how frequently the lies fly on a Fox News program, follow me below the jump.
So I stumbled upon a new blog whose mission is to help call out Fox, and point out the danger that the repeated lies have on our society. I firmly believe that when a lie is repeated over and over and over, it becomes truth to many, and when a lie is contained in a quick talking point, it is very difficult to disprove. People make an initial impression, and it is simply not possible to change that impression completely. Even if you have facts, logic, and reason on your side, if someone has heard a particular phrase repeated as truth 20 times in an hour, you're not going to be able to change their mind.
When an entire network (Fox News, originally pitched as "GOP TV" devotes its air time to promoting one political ideology, and does not care what lies, smears, and distortions it needs to achieve its aim, then we get a network which does damage to our society. In ways both large and small, direct and indirect, Fox News changes the framework that many Americans use to process their thoughts on policy and politics. There are those who will believe every thing said on the network as absolute truth, but there are also many who will hear the repeated lies, and have a difficult time distinguishing between propaganda and truth. In today's culture, a culture of sound bites, where mocking the opposing viewpoint is considered OK, Fox News remains tremendously popular. It is truly unfortunate that in a nation founded on ideas, truth, and equality, what we have now is an entire subculture who is being fed lies, distortions, and half truths, in a decidedly un-Christian manner (framed, ironically of course as the correct viewpoint of true Christians).
This is more or less the framework of the blog foxnewsisnt.blogspot.com - that Fox News is tearing down our society and we ought to be vigorously protesting.
As I mentioned in the intro, I don't think that I could stomach a half hour of Hannity, or 5 minutes of Beck, but for those who are so inclined, the author of the blog has provided a nice form called a Fox News Tracking Sheet to help record an objective measurement of violations on any particular show. The hope is to create more of a grassroots tracking of the lies, to collect data that might be used in the future to help educate others on what is really going on on Fox, and how unacceptable it really is.
To be actually fair and balanced, this seems like a good time to point out that when I say that I "stumbled upon" the blog, I mean that my dad is the author of the blog, and he emailed me the link. I think it's another good resource that some of us could use, and another place to discuss progressive ideals. So check out my dad's blog. It's only a week old at the time this diary was written, and has plenty of room to grow.