In a set of Twitter posts, Deacon Greydanus does his best to convince readers that Fox News is somehow worse in its biases and faulty reporting than other news outlets. Here is the pertinent observation:
First thing I notice is that he deftly leaves MSNBC off the list. That's because if news outlets now wear their biases on their sleaves, MSNBC has its partisanship tattooed on its forehead. Of all television news outlets, it verges on tabloid parody.
Second, he misses the donkey in the living room. I'm not sure what the allusion to MSM is (typically mainstream media, not a specific outlet), but the problem isn't that they are all biased. As he correctly states, journalism has been biased since the dawn of journalism. It's that they all have the same bias. And that's the problem.
In fact, in a bit of irony that the good deacon seems to have missed, the reason we have Fox is precisely because by the mid 90s, a growing number of Americans - including Democrats I knew - were becoming uneasy with the glaring advocacy that the 'MSM' displayed. It was obvious that these news outlets were all defending the Clinton White House, advocating issues like gay marriage, and beginning to focus on post-American negativity regarding our history. Furthermore, they were doing so by making mountains out of the same molehills and making molehills out of the same mountains (or sometimes simply ignoring the mountains altogether). Again, all of them doing so to promote the same agendas.
Americans being more clever then than now realized that's a problem. If all but a few outlets (WSJ, National Review) were firmly in the same camp alongside only one political entity, it could spell trouble. Even if my friends and fellow students were democrats who reaped the rewards then, they understood down the road it could be a big issue.
Hence Fox News was born. And because it is one of the few openly biased outlets in opposition to the MSM's biases, it can come off as a bit rough. Same reason Rush Limbaugh seemed worse because he was surrounded by entire swaths of a media and pop culture that did the exact same things to conservatives and Republicans as he did to liberals and Democrats. If you lay down on one nail, it hurts worse than if you lay down on a bed of nails. If you only have one outlet being all the bias and advocacy for one whole side, while the other side enjoys a broad representation in bias and advocacy across multiple media spectrums, it can appear more crass than it really is.
That, Deacon Greydanus, is the only real difference.
What I can't wrap my head around, quite frankly, is how one gets so wrapped up in simple political positions that it is preferable to support Pravda to assuage your preferred bias then it is to stop and consider your positions. At the very least, have a little humility to reflect on why people see things differently than you. Or have the ability to see that the ONE news outlet vs. the rest might not be the problem you think it is. Such lack of ability to reflect makes me wonder at the depth of one's spiritual life. I feel like I've seen a lot of publican prayer on social media in recent years: "Thank you, Lord that I am not like those deplorables over there. I believe the right narratives and post the right things..."
ReplyDeleteI can't speak to his spiritual life, but his embrace of the left is bound to set him at odds with basic Christian values, if not common sense. I commented on a Catholic World Report piece he did for the latest Rocky installment (Creed that is). In it, he mentions the racism of the Rocky franchise in having white Rocky beat up on black opponents. I asked him what was Stallone to do? He wrote it for himself in an attempt to be a star, as actors often want. If he had made Creed white, the charge would be racism for not having a black fighter in the movie. Per Deacon Greydanus, Stallone's only possible chance for avoiding the charge of racism would be to know his place, let a black actor be the star, and content himself with being a bit actor in Hollywood. Which is, of course, racist. Nakedly so. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the mendacity, the bigotry, the ignorance and the general arrogance we see is not exclusive to the left by any means. But it is almost universal among the left. As these examples show.
DeleteWell now I'm annoyed at Steven even more. Because Rocky LOST the fight in the movie. And Stallone did allow CREED to be made, a sequel in the series staring a black actor.
DeleteOops. The above was me.
DeleteNate, with the modern left, even God isn't equal to the task. There is little mercy, less humility, and the right to absolutely refuse to forgive or concede anything. As I pointed out to the good deacon, if you take his approach, then Stallone was worthy of condemnation the minute he came out of the birth canal. His only out was stepping aside and accepting a life of bit parts so a black actor could be the hero. Such is the racism of today.
DeleteI know how he intends the line "trump/Biden both lie" but to me it does backfire since Biden has been WAY off on... well everything. I came across this post once and I swear Steven there as well as Shea prove it right every day.
ReplyDeleteMy son made an interesting point to me. We were talking about the 2016 vs. 2020 election responses. He said in his life, only the 2008 and 2012 elections were considered valid. All other elections have been called illegal, stolen, corrupted, or in some way invalid. I imagine what that does to young people today.
DeleteHe's right. Fox News is much reliable than any of those outlets. Tucker Carlson is especially good. And Joe Biden, proponent of child sacrifice that he is, will always be a bigger liar than Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Greydanus caters to a liberal audience on Twitter. I suspect he hopes to find employment at a respectable mainstream publication. That's probably why he spends so much time desperately trying to win the approval of a nonexistent liberal readership that's tolerant of cultural Christianity. Alas, he's written himself into a corner. The people who read his work at Catholic World Report are mostly conservatives. In fact, they're the same conservatives he spends much of his time attacking on Twitter. So, whether he likes it or not, he's reliant upon the very ideologues whom he disdains.
It's not the least bit surprising that he's still whining about Trump. If last year's abortion riots weren't enough to make him anti-Biden, then nothing will. Liberal Catholics are political submissives who enjoy being treated with scorn. Call them out on their masochism and they'll either deny it or resort to passive-aggressive word games (Greydanus' trademarked habit of calling his jousting partners on Twitter "friend").
Also, the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Greydanus can blanch at that suggestion all he wants, but he and his cohorts spent four years pushing Russiagate, so they can take a seat. And frankly, the abortion issue alone should make them sympathetic to anybody who wants to remove Biden from power.
"Much reliable" should be "much more reliable."
DeleteIt would take nothing for one of the MSM outlets to break from the pack and actually cover the news. I bet ratings would soar. As I said, it isn't that media outlets aren't biased. Sure they are. But the MSM is all on the same page, and that appears trying to push for a one party country. Which is never good.
DeleteI'm sure Greydanus will provide us with a lot more content in the weeks to come, especially with Tucker Carlson's coverage of the fake insurrection.
DeleteLiberal Catholics are political submissives who enjoy being treated with scorn.
Delete==
I think it's a reasonable inference they have a variety of motors about which they're not willing to be transparent.
Mr. Griffey, if anything is to be said in defense of MSNBC, it's that they actually believe the twaddle they're peddling. Fox's hosts, apparently, do not. They hold their viewership in far greater contempt then liberal elites do.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about that. I think you're right about Fox's general contempt for their viewers. I just don't think it's any more than the general contempt the other outlets have for theirs. Take the whole kerfuffle about Carlson's take on the Jan 6 riots. All he did was show footage that has been ignored by the MSM outlets. True, he ignores the violent clips to paint an almost serene sight seeing experience. But the rest of the outlets have focused 100% on only the violent scenes, as opposed to their coverage of the 2020 protests, which focused almost exclusively on the peaceful protests while downplaying or outright ignoring the violence. Obviously hoping their viewers aren't interested in the parts the MSM is not telling them. In much the same way as FOX.
DeleteI'm not aware of how you would conclude that Fox hosts 'hold their viewership in far greater contempt than liberal elites do'.
DeleteMr. Art Deco, if my news channel of choice decides that they are going to tell me things they themselves do not believe because they think I can't handle reality, even if they think they're doing me a favor, they hold me in contempt by treating me like a child.
DeleteMr. Art Deco, if my news channel of choice decides that they are going to tell me things they themselves do not believe because they think I can't handle reality, even if they think they're doing me a favor, they hold me in contempt by treating me like a child.
DeleteTo which 'they' are you referring? And how did you get the idea whichever they you have in mind is telling you things they do not believe?