An important - and very chilling - piece this. Many of us will have tuned out on hearing the story of the settlement of Dominion's defamation clain against Fox News, but the story bears scrutiny. Why? Because it illustrates a crossing of the journalistic Rubicon as it were. Journalism has historically been based on the reporting and analysis of factual content. Yes, tabloids have bent that principle almost to breaking point but the conduct of Fox News in the months after Trump's contested election defeat has taken cynicism to a new and alarming levels. Even though Murdoch and his employees knew full well that Trmp's claims were bullsh*t, they repeatedly gave airtime to those (including their Trump-supporting employees) peddling absurd conspiracy theories about 'voting machine algorithms' and the like. The reason? Because they were losing audience share to other right-wing news platforms who were prepared to broadcast the lies - about 'the liberal elite' 'the deep state' etc - which Fox's wacko audience demanded, indeed has essentially grown addicted to.
Why does it matter? Because the creation of a voting bloc kept in a perpetual rolling boil of indignation is the end point that every Culture War gambit is designed to effect, and the reason the formerly strict guidelines on broadcast media partisanship have been deliberately loosened under the Tories - resulting in the setting up of GB News etc. The fact that Fox settled - for a staggering $787 million - is also important, as it has enabled Murdoch and co to escape the need to admit in a courtroom the fact that they lied, and did so deliberately. That's why the fact needs to be disseminated, so people understand that an open contempt for truth is now the norm.
I also recommend the long expose of Fox's fatal descent into journalistic shame by Matthew D'Ancona, mentioned in Freedland's article.
The new 'opiate of the masses'
Why does it matter? Because the creation of a voting bloc kept in a perpetual rolling boil of indignation is the end point that every Culture War gambit is designed to effect, and the reason the formerly strict guidelines on broadcast media partisanship have been deliberately loosened under the Tories - resulting in the setting up of GB News etc. The fact that Fox settled - for a staggering $787 million - is also important, as it has enabled Murdoch and co to escape the need to admit in a courtroom the fact that they lied, and did so deliberately. That's why the fact needs to be disseminated, so people understand that an open contempt for truth is now the norm.
I also recommend the long expose of Fox's fatal descent into journalistic shame by Matthew D'Ancona, mentioned in Freedland's article.
The new 'opiate of the masses'
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