I don't think this bodes well for the future of our ability to get anything other than statist propaganda.
If anything should have been abundantly clear since the Trumpening, if not years before this past November, it's that left will not tolerate free speech. They will not tolerate the presentation of ideas that don't fit their totalitarian agendas. There's an entire infrastructure that has been formed to fight Fox News Channel; David Brock's Media Matters, well backed by George Soros and his many organizations, is just one example. Media Matters made a guy named Angelo Carusone their president. Carusone had previously run the Stop Beck campaign and specialized in convincing advertisers to drop their sponsorship of people hated by the left.
Carusone, the president of liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America, is one of the main organizers of the #StopOReilly campaign, which is pressuring businesses to pull their ads from “The O’Reilly Factor” in light of sexual harassment allegations against the popular Fox News host.More details at Politico. Carusone is very upfront about it and takes pride in bringing down opposing voices. In the Village Voice (not your "vast right wing conspiracy" kind of place), he boasts:
He also was the organizer of Media Matters’ successful campaign against former Fox News host Glenn Beck, and another campaign that succeeded in needling Rush Limbaugh.
I started it on July 2nd, 2009, during the summer between by second and third year of law school. For me, it was an interesting time. I was in law school, getting an info dump. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, and for me, it became clear that things were pretty messed up. Our policies are messed up, and didn't think the conversation around them was going well. I started looking at the irresponsible, reckless pillars of the media. Beck represented the worst of them at the time. He was extremely reckless, and illustrated the very worst of the media abdicating their responsibility. That's why I picked him as a first target....At the risk of belaboring the point a bit too much, he later brags about damaging Rush Limbaugh after the incident where he called Sandra Fluke a "slut". You'll recall she was a college student/Democratic operative that wanted free contraceptives, and said something like $3000 a year wasn't enough for her contraceptive expenses.
With the firing of Roger Ailes over similar sexual harassment claims last summer, it's possible that the magic formulas that made Fox successful have all been destroyed. If not, the defacto control of the network going over to Rupert Murdoch's son, James, probably marks the beginning of the end for the news outlet. Glenn Beck puts it this way,
“You better make a decision, America. Because you’re about to lose a big conservative ally and voice. And it’s not just Bill O’Reilly. I’m telling you, Sean Hannity will be next. Then Tucker Carlson will be next. Until everyone complies with what they say is not misinformation, they will continue to go. And once you have the big bear of Fox News out of the way, then they come for TheBlaze. Then they come for The Daily Wire. Then they come for all of us,” Glenn said.In the Hollywood Reporter piece, James Murdoch is not in the least bit trying to disguise or hide the message that he wants to kill Fox News as we know it.
....
So Roger Ailes, like him, hate him, let’s know him for who we think he is — no matter what, he built a ship that was not going to be sunk. Rupert Murdoch was part of that. But Rupert Murdoch has children and wives — lots of them — that hate the Fox News Channel. They are embarrassed by the Fox News Channel. They’re not conservatives by any stretch of the imagination.
And the big thing when I was there was, as soon as Rupert is gone, the kids are going to take over Fox News and they’re just going to clean house and stop this nonsense.
[S]ources say James Murdoch’s longtime annoyance if not disgust with Fox News became cold fury after the Times' April 1 story — even though several of the O’Reilly settlements had happened when James was CEO of the parent company."Be reformed"? I would argue that has started already. Obama spokes droid Marie Harf has been a regular voice as a "Fox News Contributor", adamantly defending everything the Obamanoids did in the last 8 years. Other in-your-face Democrat spokes droids have also joined the staff.
...
Fox News is a business he should not be in, he had told people before, despite its major contribution to 21st Century Fox's bottom line — 20 percent of its profits came from Fox News last year, the biggest-earning division in the company. Presumably, he meant the in-your-face world of conservative cable news with its mega personalities. Indeed, James regarded many of the people at Fox News as thuggish Neanderthals and said he was embarrassed to be in the same company with them.
...
“Fox [News] is an important brand, but it needs to develop, and, to some extent, be reformed,” James said when I interviewed him 10 years ago...
I have to say that I never particularly liked Bill O'Reilly; to me, he came across as too egotistical; he always had to carve out a niche on every issue so that he could be better than everyone. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched one of his shows, although I might have seen a minute now and then. I also have to say that it has been a long time since I thought Fox espoused real constitutionalist views; the occasional host will, but if it's anything, it's mostly GOP TV. On the other hand, because it had conservative, libertarian and other real alternative voices far more often than any other network, it has been the channel I tended to leave the TV on. If James Murdoch continues and turns it into another CNN, we may as well just leave the box off. If everyone sounds the same, it becomes much harder to stay informed.
I keep hearing the death of cable TV being talked about. This is probably another milepost along the way.
I haven't been hooked up to an antenna, cable, or dish since 1987 (damn, that's 30 years now), and have only seen Fox News when visiting my sister, who has it on almost 24/7 when she is home. Nonetheless, it seemed that Fox leaned over backwards to present the liberal viewpoint in their stated attempt to be "fair and balanced. Like you say, SiG, there was a lot more of GOPe TV along with SorosVision, and just a smidgeon of true conservatism, from the few weeks I saw while visiting her over the last thirty years.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't miss O'Reilly either - not only is he arrogant, but he doesn't pay much attention to the Constitution or free markets or much at all of conservative principals. Nonetheless, the ability of the Left to smear individuals, getting them fired, ruining their lives, suing them, falsely accusing them of rape, etc. is unconscionable. Conservatives should wake up to these immoral and illegal tactics (false accusations should be a felony, as are false police reports) and make the perpetrators of these acts suffer real consequences.
When a man's (or woman's) reputation can be destroyed simply because someone has the money (or paid for by Soros or Bloomberg) to drive a false narrative, when their livelihood can be taken from them by lies and innuendos, their should be a means to attain justice. Yes, there is no such thing as life being "fair", but it needs to stop. Conservatives need to learn that it isn't always right to be "Mr. Nice Guy", that sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, to turn the tables and bring down some justice upon their heads.
No, I'm not clear on just how we can accomplish that, but I'll fall back on an old joke: what do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of San Francisco Bay? A good start. And if concrete blocks aren't your thing, how do you feel about raising hogs?
Well said. The bar has apparently been really lowered on sexual harassment. It used to be that if she doesn't agree to sex with the boss, she doesn't keep her job; now it's apparently anything that a boss says can be called that.
DeleteWhich means charges can very easily be made up on the spot.
Case in point is Kirsten Powers, a democratic opinion droid who used to be on Fox all the time. I've actually heard her making sense, and was thinking maybe she's maturing. Yesterday, she made headlines talking about what an awful guy O'Reilly is, and there are recordings of her saying just the opposite in 2014. Did something really change, or just who's paying her to talk? That's the problem with dealing with media whores.
What horrible, harassing, "put out or get out" thing did O'Reilly say to Kirsten? If I read this properly, he said, something like, "I confused you with someone else" and something about them both being blonde.
Such horrible mistreatment.
If you want to be in the public arena, or in any area that has that level of scrutiny, you better be prepared. To anyone that questioned Mike Pence's rule about being alone with a women, this becomes exhibit A...
ReplyDeleteSecondly, what is it with powerful people and their tone deafness to the mores of polite society? Positions of authority do not create autonomy or exemption from polite behavior and common sense...
Civility, or lack there of, is a slippery slope. These are not dumb people, but seem to think normal rules don't apply. I disagree with almost everything a liberal might think; but find it hard to fault their issues in this case. Pot calling kettle black, doesn't make the pot NOT black...
Wrong is Wrong - irrespective of political bent, sex, race or creed.
If you want to be in the public arena, or in any area that has that level of scrutiny, you better be prepared. To anyone that questioned Mike Pence's rule about being alone with a women, this becomes exhibit A... Absolutely! 100% right. No male in a position like that should ever, ever be alone with some woman other than his closest family.
DeleteThe rest of it, though, assumes he's actually guilty of something, which I sure don't know. I don't believe that his settling some suits means anything. As far removed from that high-stakes world as I am, I realize that cost-effectiveness causes too many suits to be settled than to conclude "where there's smoke there's fire". I've seen companies settle patent lawsuits simply because they thought it would cost far more to go in front of a jury than to just settle, and that's before you count the odds that the jury will even understand the claims. I know from reading other peoples' stories that they were 100% convinced a jury would side with them and their employer or their insurance just said, "settle it".
I believe it would amaze - and disgust us - if we were aware of just how many law suits were settled in the interest of saving money, even when it is possible to easily prove innocence on the part of the plaintiff, whether it is a corporation, small business, or an individual. Litigation is so expensive (why we truly need "a good start") that even those wishing to preserve their good name/reputation may often settle in lieu of fighting the charges. Besides, I am convinced (and so may many attorneys) that juries often find in favor and vote for huge awards simply because of the "it could be me getting rich/that company can easily afford to pay X million dollars" fantasy. People don't become honest/moral people simply because they are chosen for a jury - in fact, the way voir dire is run these days, it can be easy for an attorney to screen for jurors who will help him (her) to win their case.
ReplyDeleteThis woman who is now echoing the charges against O'Reilly (Powers) may simply be jumping on the bandwagon in feministic support, either due to a desire for the publicity OR to avoid being castigated and/or ostracized for defending him.
Folks, it is simply astonishing how much the Left has warped our society, especially our legal system. Baseless suing of an individual - or even a corporation - should have consequences, including fines and/or jail time, if it can be proven the suit was frivolous or malicious. This should include baseless prosecution by DAs or U.S. Attorneys (especially asset forfeiture proceedings).