Former NY Times Columnist Claims Fox News Is 'Dead,' And Liberals Should Stop Protesting It

newsbusters ^ | Feb. 1, 2014 | Tim Graham

[PROCON]

Former New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote a long attack piece on Fox News for New York magazine theorizing that the Left pays too much attention to “waning” Fox News and gives them too much cachet by opposing them fiercely. It's called "Stop Beating a Dead Fox."

Fox never succeeds on its own. Liberals have the power to make it succeed:

In truth, Fox News has been defeated on the media battlefield—and on the political battlefield as well. Even the 73-year-old wizard of Fox, Roger Ailes, now in full Lear-raging-on-the-heath mode as -portrayed in my colleague Gabriel -Sherman’s definitive new biography, The Loudest Voice in the Room, seems to sense the waning of his power. The only people who seem not to know or accept Fox’s decline, besides its own audience, are -liberals, including Barack Obama, whose White House mounted a short-lived, pointless freeze-out of Fox News in 2009, and who convinced himself that the network has shaved five points off his approval rating.

[Rudder]

'Former NY Times Columnist, Claims Fox News, Is 'Dead...'

Punctuation fixed

[MacMattico]

I thought Frank Rich was dead!

[DB]

Frank’s always been such a genius... I hope his followers buy what he’s selling. They deserve the crushing disappointment that will surely follow...

[zencycler]

FoxNews isn't a perfect conservative outlet

And wouldn't that be a good thing, since I'm sure its high ratings come from the fact that most viewers are not buying the liberal like that Fox is a right-wing cheerleader pretending to be a news organization.

So if they didn't piss off the right from time to time, then the lefty's could point to that as proof that they are right, and the credibility Fox has about being "fair and balanced" would go down the toilet, along with its viewership.

[jocon307]

“She said she has a big heart for the diplomats....”

It is despicable, truly despicable how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have treated Stevens and the others who were killed. Chris Stevens was their guy, their FRIEND, and they done nothing but lie about his murder and ignore his murderers. Because it was embarrassing to them politically. And the MSM has aided and abetted them.

[AlexW]

“FoxNews isn’t a perfect conservative outlet, but I’m still glad it makes liberals heads explode!”
__________________________________________________
I agree. FOX is about as good as we can hope for, even though I do not like Bill Ororo, or Howdy Doody
I had FOX on my dish, but last month it was moved to a higher tier on the Satellite, requiring me to buy a new receiver. I told them to screw themselves.
Fortunately, cable came to town and I am the first on my street to get it. I now have 60 chs + FOX news.

[Gaffer]

They smell a fetid, rancid offal and assume it is Fox News. In reality it is their own reputation along with the rotting carcases of MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS, LAT et al.

[personalaccts]

11/7/12 I quit watching the news period.....It amazes me people watch the ass clown at 8 pm on that network

[Dave W]

Yes, I know your type...the very pristine and pure type of person that can't handle one word that you disagree with. I know people like you. They tend to be insecure and bullies (it has to be your way-always).

The type that keys inane stuff such as "has free speech been eliminated". Well, it may not be pretty, but the networks are not the government and they can broadcast or not broadcast what they want.

Actually, I rarely watch FOX News myself, but I at least recognize they need to program to attract viewers. The fact that FOX drives liberals crazy is sufficient for me.

I can only guess at what your programming would be. Please list what programs you would schedule and with whom. Remember, try to program to attract a wide audience so you can pay your bills and not go bankrupt. I will help you start by saying you will program most gun shows live during the day with hushed commentary as transactions are being handled. OK, I gave you a head start - please report back in 48 hours as to your programming line up - let's keep it just to prime time. I actually am serious about this...something you can think through so you can see how easy it can be to accomplish what FOX has done.

[RedStateGuyTrappedinCT]

Yup. Just like they refer to Boehner as a rightwing tea party speaker

[Bratch]

[oblomov]

This is what happens when you let the theater critic comment on media at large.

[nfldgirl]

Just wait until that ass clown does a puff-piece with potus before the super bowl. Talk about barfing. I can just see the dufus now, with his usual bombastic style, getting real chummy with the liar-in-chief. I’m like you...I too am amazed at the ratings the ass clown gets. Oh, he likes to act real tough - looking out for us, you know. But I guarantee, he’ll pussy-foot around the liar-in-chief, lob cotton balls at him. There’ll be chuckles, snickers, even a hand from time-to-time, reaching across to touch the knee of the other. We’ve seen all this before. Nothing new; same old puke!

[wintertime]

I agree. FOX is about as good as we can hope for,...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I hope Beck has success with The Blaze.

[SeminoleCounty]

You have to be pretty much a Communist to think Fox News is Conservative

Fox News supports Illegal Alien Amnesty, Open Borders, destructive anti American Free Trade deals...is anti Tea Party and attacked Obama Eligibility folks

[ronnie raygun]

Key word here is former, nudff sed. he is the former of the soon to be former! ha ha ha ha ha ha

[driftless2]

Here's the situation: Rich is right...although FOX News is the clear leader in its field, it still draws a very small audience compared to the alphabet networks. Which makes the liberal paroxysms over FOX semi-hilarious. They're basically getting their collective knickers in a twist over a news outlet that only a very small percentage of Americans watch.

Conversely, if the shoe were on the other foot and the only lib media outlet was MSLSD er MSNBC, does any conservative believe we'd be working ourselves into a lather about one tiny lib/leftist channel? Obviously not. The whole liberal outrage about FOX just proves what petty fascists and latent totalitarians are most libs. They can't stand any form of dissent. All dissent must be crushed.

[driftless2]

"Rich's head explodes"

I'm highly amused by the way lib media outlets get their "experts." Rich was the drama critic for the Slimes, and then all of a sudden he gets promoted to head lib pundit supposedly qualified to write about weighty subjects...well, alongside The Queen of Snark, Mo Dowd. Other media outlets have hired sportswriters like Keith Olbermann and Mike Lupica to wax liberal about politics. What sane media org. does those things?

[nhwingut]

Love the narrative of fox news viewers being in a bubble and surprised on election night. Go back and look at the polls. Gallup, National Journal, Politico, NBC etc (hardly right wingers) had the race a dead heat. Google archives. Every politico and talking head had the race too close to call. So the idea that conservatives were living in a cocoon is a joke.

[bert]

Every day, Neil Cavuto has a breastister segment

He does not feature the backward, old fashioned British Barristers, he has leggy all American Breastisters

It is fair and balanced argument

The objection to Fox is that it is not balanced, it has a conservative bias