Eugene Robinson said last night on MSNBC he got talking points from the WH as well.
The issue is not getting the talking points, as I'm sure they send out to most everyone in the mass media, it's incorporating them into the fabric of the programming.
Roger Ailes is a friend to the RNC. That doens't mean he can stick a puppet hand up Bill O'Reilly and force him to do anything. So it's a nice plausible deniability. I have no doubt O'Reilly is his own man, he writes all his own shit, he's the perfect vehicle to knock down this charge.
Let's see what Shaun Hannity or Brit Hume would have to say about it.
What about the leaked memos that have come out over the last few years?
There was a hack documentary called 'Outfoxed' that was released and rather than stick to facts, of which they had some of those memos and some testimonial evidence, they bled over into Michael Moore territory of disengenuous editing and intellectually dishonest 'reporting'. So, they gave FOX the perfect opportunity to knock it down.
Because just putting up the memos and these other things, that just wouldn't have made for a good piece of propaganda all by itself.
The backbone of FOX news is in the tank for the Republicans, there is no question about it but when loonies invent things or make outlandish charges (like Congressman Wexler calling them racist) it just gives them a cushioned defense against legit critcism because they only defend themselves against the whackos and their charges.
"See they are whackos!!!!"-Bill O'Reilly. Allowing them to ignore the evdience of bias.
I'd also say, that while MSNBC has ruined it's objective credibility, mostly throughout the Democratic primary, I don't believe that it's a network agenda to push policy, I just think they have a lot of liberals. There is a difference. Olberman and Matthews are liberals, they are and have been clearly in the tank for Obama but like O'Reilly and Hannity they are just opinion merchants.
It's in the news reporting where the bias should be unacceptable.
I don't see a clear bias from MSNBC in reporting the news, just in the opinions.
When I watch FOX and I do from time to time, it just bleeds out of the screen.
Look at Monica-gate. Every network, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, even including the Daily Show, rode that shit to the ground. Endless sensationalist coverage. I think most sane people can agree that all these networks care about is ratings. They'll put something on the air that is sensational, from Anna Nicole and the latest white girl abduction to tornadoes and hurricanes. FOX will target the right, MSNBC will target the left, CNN will target sensationalism at all times, basically.
Nothing in the last 8 years has been more sensational, viewer-tastic, than the Bush implosion. Yet, there is FOX News, undeterred, pumping out the sunshine. How does that not reveal their true colors moreso than anything? They barely fucking cover anything that might be construed as negative towards Bush. There is a difference between not piling on and not even clueing in. Yet, something like Jeremiah Wright brings out the sensationalist stripe in FOX. CNN, MSNBC covered that as well, in hoardes. And that is the difference.
