Joe Conason: Criticizing Fox News isn't "Nixonian." But Fox News is

[babylonsister]

Criticizing Fox News isn't "Nixonian." But Fox News is

Pundits are making false comparisons between Obama and Nixon. They have no idea what they're talking about

By Joe Conason


With outraged Washington journalists and Republican politicians crying "Nixonian!" over the public scuffle between the Obama White House and the Fox News Channel, what began as a mundane spat is turning into a cosmic jest. Somewhere, Nixon himself is enjoying a mordant laugh to hear this shrill defense of his old servant Roger Ailes, the television wizard whose deceptive campaigning ushered him into the presidency more than 40 years ago -- and who then became the living symbol of everything negative and nasty in American politics during the two decades that followed.

To understand what is going on today, it is essential to remember that where Ailes came from, "Nixonian" was not an insult but a badge of honor -- and seething hatred and even persecution of the press, rather than mere criticism, was a way of life.

Whatever the merits or defects of the strategy pursued by Obama's communications office in pushing back against Fox News, the furious backlash inside the Beltway is badly overwrought. Mainstream defenders of the conservative cable channel suddenly seem to be afflicted with a strange amnesia, causing them to forget not just the numerous episodes of partisan distortion that have permanently pocked its reputation, but the dirty war against the press and the First Amendment that was waged by the Nixon gang in the late '60s and early '70s. That lost memory does a disservice to journalism and history.

In a sense, Fox News Channel has never been able to overcome its nature as the offspring of Ailes, notoriously one of the angriest, toughest Republican consultants in politics, and Rupert Murdoch, the ruthless mogul whose political abuse of his news outlets became legendary long before he entered the cable news business. The objective for Ailes, as for Murdoch, is not fairness or balance; the objective is always to win by whatever means necessary. That includes marketing himself and his employees as high-minded truth-seekers and innocent victims of snotty liberalism -- much in the mode of old Nixon.

snip//

With the advent of Glenn Beck as the prophet of protest, however, the drumbeat of partisan paranoia on Fox News is growing much louder. The cable channel heavily promoted the Beck-inspired Sept. 12 Tea Party protests against the Obama administration, with highly favorable live reports from Fox News correspondents, anchored by ... Beck himself.

In short, the Obama White House has ample reason to question whether Fox News Channel is a news organization that can be expected to treat a Democratic administration with fairness and balance. All they have accomplished so far is to inflame the right-wing base and renew the alliance of the Clinton era between right-wing media and mainstream outlets. Pundits and producers who claim to see no difference between their own outlets and Fox News are certainly entitled to express their opinions (and to insult themselves and their colleagues) as they see fit. But when they join the Fox chorus lumping Obama with Nixon, they need to be corrected.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/fox_news/index.html?story=/opinion/conason/2009/10/22/fox_versus_obama

[UpInArms]

1. Joe Conason, you are a gem

with the pen - so happy to see someone who remembers life before the microwave and puts it back into perspective for those that are still too young to know the truth.

Twenty-plus years of bad media has really put the zap on people.

[yellowcanine]

2. Krauty was flogging the "enemies list" line this morning in the WP. Obviously the meme of the week

of the rightwingers. I was a bit surprised that Lamar Alexander picked it up as well though. Could he be running for President in 2012?

[spiritual_gunfighter]

3. Andrea Mitchell was surprised too

Alexander was probably helping Nixon with that enemies list back in the day anyway.

[dtotire]

4. It Could be Self Defeating

I Believe this may be energizing the rabid right wing of the Republican Party, and end up electing extremists instead of intelligent moderates. In the long run, the party may lose its reputation as a responsible conservative party.

[Doctor_J]

6. There aren't any intelligent moderate repukes

the last one left the party years ago

[Overseas]

5. K&R. The "Nixonian" accusation itself is quite Rovian.

Accuse the other guy of doing what your team did ten times over.

[Zoeisright]

7. There's a reason that most FUX viewers are misinformed.

Because all FUX does is lie.