Fox News Needs to Be Shut Down

[Dystopia]

I'm torn on this issue.

On one hand, I'd really hate to revoke the freedom of speech from someone. Usually, if it's someone as stupid as Glen Beck or Bill O'Reilly, the best way to counter their hate is by letting them speak. Then, when they get crazy enough, the rest of the world will realize how crazy they are. The old line about giving them enough rope and they'll hang themselves. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be working here. They have fringe, extremist, bizarro crazy guys like Alex Jones coming along and, suddenly, compared to that, Glen Beck seems downright moderate and even reasonable.

Perhaps it would be nice if news stations had to meet a certain criteria with fact checking. Say, at least 80% of what they say has to be proven correct by a fact checker or they don't get to call themselves a news source or something along those lines. I mean, I don't mind they saying stupid shit, but it scares me when people hear their stupid shit and take it seriously.

I live in Europe and most former fascist states sacrifice freedom of speech when it comes to promoting dictatorship regimes or fascist ideologies (including nazism and potentially racism) - I accept that and it hasn't affected us negatively. I don't watch Fox News and I don't even know if I have the channel so I cannot comment on them, however the government shouldn't censor them just because they hold a very conservative view on political and social issues - As long as they don't come with extremely descriptive hate speech, such as promoting a self-financed campaign to murder all gay people or murder all poor people, there's no reason to censor anything.

I think if any information transmitted by the media is proven false, an apology (public) is the least they had to do, otherwise being sued is an option

[thesummerqueen]

Fox news has a very large and old support base that has begun to die out and will continue to die out in the near future. Give it time.

[Minimalist]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

This is not worth throwing away because of those FOX Fucks. Although, oddly the one which has been most seriously attacked is the right of the people to peaceably assemble. The propertied classes have allowed all sorts of restrictions on that one. FOX will never champion the right of people to peaceably assemble...unless they are wearing sheets or waving automatic weapons around.

[simplemoss]

Didn't Canada ban fux news already? Something about inciting false panic or something like that?

The fact is, fox commits libel and slander on a daily basis. The last lawsuit against (by al franken I believe) fox was thrown out of court, why?

Because to be guilty of libel means you "know" you're lying and you spread the lies anyway. An actual USA judge states fox lies so much that its impossible too determine that they knew they were lying in any individual case.

Fox isn't left winger or rightwinger they're 1%' er they look out for the rich. Many Republicans demand spending cuts yet if you ask the average voting Republican or even the average tri- corner hat wearing teabagger what we should cut they usually always list things that equal to less than 1% of the total budget.

They don't why they need to cut the budget, they just do, they trust that they're senators and news hosts know what they're talking about

but what happens when the senators themselves are influenced by fox news?

Bill Maher puts it perfectly





or here

[robvalue]

I don't like the idea of censorship, but I do think news reporters should be held accountable for reporting things that are untrue.

[TaraJo]

Fox news has a very large and old support base that has begun to die out and will continue to die out in the near future. Give it time.

I'm watching them influence the next generation, though. I'm watching my in-laws turn their kids into major faux news fans. They even got all of us a Glen Beck book for Christmas a few years ago (our copy has never been opened, in spite of the fact that we both love to read). Even the Republican party seems to be catering to a younger generation, with their shift away from evangelism towards libertarianism, yet they retain the same horrible stupidity.

[thesummerqueen]

I agree the the libertarian trend is troubling, but I'm also watching just as many college libertarians get over themselves once they have rent to pay.

[Brian37]

In America, six large media corporations have near-total control of all news that Americans receive. All of these corporations suck and give biased and at times false reporting, but there are certain media outlets that are worse than others.
This spectrum goes from the least bad, CNN, to what is the most terrible and tasteless excuse for journalism out there, Fox News, or as I like to call it, Fux "News."
Whenever a hateful, bigoted right-wing view is expressed on American television it is almost always from Fux. Fux News is out there to deceive the people into supporting bullshit neoliberal policies that end up making the rich even richer at the expense of America's poor, supporting America's international imperialist agenda, spewing hate speech against gays, blacks, immigrants and other minorities, and and dismissing issues like police brutality and the ineffectiveness of the War of Drugs.
This is why I think it'd be necessary to revoke Fux "News"' broadcasting license for good. Some may say that it is a violation of freedom of the press. I call bullshit. If anything, fucking corporate media is too blame for violations of press freedom due to its self-censorship and absolute reliance on the US gov't as a source. These US "news" outlets are nothing more than de-facto state media. They hinder reporting that is actually accurate.
Shutting down a state-owned Soviet radio station would be no more of a violation of press freedom than shutting down Fux "News" or any other of the big six corporate media outlets.

I am no fan of outright censorship, but I certainly am for better regulation. I think far too much of what media does is damaging to society. It isn't a matter of disagreeing but going after the buck without regards of facts. I think these guys should be sued for deliberately damaging society by ignoring facts, distorting them and flat out lying in many cases.

I have been sing a rise of crappy twitter and FB pages that compete with the Onion, but they do a horrible job making the distinction between satire and "news".

Fox is a political party machine and very little of it is actual neutrally reported news. Our freedom depends on responsible reporting much moreso than making a buck. It isn't the private sector that bothers me, it is the lack of responsibility that does. Selling fear may be good for the profit margins and shareholders, but that is short term and the long term damage to facts hurts everyone.

[Nope]

I am not for censoring Fox in anyway but would it be censorship if our country had rules for describing content as News or titling yourself a news network? It could call itself Fox Entertainment or Fox Editorial. I am not certain what the requirements would be but blatant lying should be a reason to lose the right to use the word, News in your title.

[Brian37]

I agree the the libertarian trend is troubling, but I'm also watching just as many college libertarians get over themselves once they have rent to pay.

,
I have a friend from OK whom was living there back when I met him online. He used to be a Christian growing up, but socially became liberal with time but when I met him he was economically libertarian. He informed me that he was moving to Denver and was getting a job ad Dish hellwork. I knew right at that moment he would learn his lesson. It didn't take but a few weeks for him to understand big businesses can be bullies. He is now a flaming economic liberal as well and wants Bernie Saunders to run for President. He loves Warren as well.