Murdoch Meltdown

[Undertoad]

Can you recall the current slogan of any other cable news channel?

Precisely.

And brilliant. Congratulatory to the viewers, incendiary to the non-viewers. They got the non-viewers to promote the channel. You can think of that as using your powers for evil instead of good, if you prefer, but here we are, talking about the channel.

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Can you recall the current slogan of any other cable news channel?

Precisely.

And brilliant. Congratulatory to the viewers, incendiary to the non-viewers. They got the non-viewers to promote the channel. You can think of that as using your powers for evil instead of good, if you prefer, but here we are, talking about the channel.

Sure I can. The Morgue Channel: You Stab 'em We Slab 'em.

Good point, UT. Unrelated to the point that I don't think a reasonable person could actually claim, without tongue firmly planted in cheek, that they don't misrepresent themselves and that they blatantly let us know of the bias.

Fox News: Yeah, We're Biased. But It's Working For Us.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

Fox News: Yeah, We're Biased. But It's Working For Us.

I love it! I would support an online drive to get them to change their name.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

I don't think a reasonable person could actually claim, without tongue firmly planted in cheek, that they don't misrepresent themselves and that they blatantly let us know of the bias.

Let me rephrase for you - I find their bias blatantly obvious.

[infinite monkey]

It was a legitimate point. What a child.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

Fox News: Yeah, We're Biased. But It's Working For Us.

Fox News: Yeah, we're biased. So are you. That's why you like us.

[Griff]

Heard on Morning Edition

July 13, 2011 - [POST-BROADCAST NOTE: Reuters issued an advisory indicating that the column written by David Cay Johnson, on which this interview with Johnson was based, was wrong. We will provide further clarification as information becomes available.]

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

As British investigators dig for details in the News Corp. scandal, a columnist for Reuters looked at some financial figures that were already public. News Corp. is a publicly traded American company, meaning it must disclose financial information. So columnist David Cay Johnston ran the numbers on how much News Corp. made in the last four years and the taxes it paid on those earnings.

Mr. DAVID CAY JOHNSTON (Columnist): Murdoch's company News Corporation made over $10 billion in profits over the last four years, and their tax came to $4.8 billion negative. That is they made $4.8 billion from tax refunds.

INSKEEP: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I've heard of people eliminating their tax burden down to zero. General Electric was criticized for getting its tax burden down to zero. But you're saying that News Corporation was actually paid by the United States government?

Mr. JOHNSTON: Almost $5 billion, which would increase their profits, if you looked at it that way, by almost 50 percent.

We'll see what, if any, part of this is wrong but right now it looks like the US has two public broadcasting systems. As we sit at a budget impasse, I'd say the Democrats could make hay with an anti tax haven argument.

[glatt]

They did a correction on that story the next day. I hadn't heard the original story but I did hear the correction. David Johnston was absolutely mortified at how badly he fucked the story up. He was reading the financial report wrong and read negative numbers as positive. News Corp paid $4.8 Billion. They didn't get a refund of $4.8B.

The correction was amazing. These NPR reporters kept trying to explain how they made the mistake and were absolutely mortified at how wrong they got the story.

I don't know how to search for it, but it's an amusing story to listen to if you find it.

[Griff]

Total f-up! Retract all conclusions.

[tw]

From The Economist of 9 July 2011:

Fox was setup by Roger Ailes, a former media adviser to three Republican presidents, specifically to appeal to conservative viewers. Its star hosts, such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, offer distinctively right-wing opinion and commentary though the channel insists that its news reporting is unbiased. Fox is famous for being opinionated rather than for being profitable. ....

How profitable? Fox News is estimated to profit $0.8 billion dollars on revenues of $1.5 billion. That is obscenely profitable. Says how opinionated their reporting is. Promoting opinions rather than facts has always been that profitable because so many only want to hear their political agenda. Not a reality that might challenge them to think. To ask and answer damning questions.

These are the people who make advertising so much fun. They can be so easily manipulated. They were told to smoke cigarettes for increased health. Then got angry when the Surgeon General define it as a lie. Angry at the Surgeon General. Not at the liars who first told them what to think.

Same attitude is why so many knew Saddam had WMDs when facts and numbers said otherwise. Saddam only had WMDs because so many only believe the first thing they are told. Profits by manipulating these 'most easily deceived' people can be massive - as Dannon Yogurt has recently proven.