John Edwards Campaigns Against Fox News
The Dow Jones / News Corp. deal has entered the 2008 Democratic primary, with Fox News as the new Willie Horton. In an e-mail to supporters, John Edwards called on Democrats to speak out against the merger and "take the necessary steps" to stop it.
Regular readers know that I'm pretty libertarian on media-and-government issues. (Though I'm not so naive as to believe that the government should just allow out-and-out monopolies.) That's not my issue with Edwards here, though. It's the rhetoric of his argument: that the sale should be stopped because it's Murdoch. It's true that Edwards' e-mail calls for stopping "this merger and other forms of media consolidation." But it also says that "the basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media—all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp." Whether that's true or not, if the deal is bad, the dealmaker is irrelevant. The last thing any of us need is the precedent of the government trying harder to scuttle the deals of media institutions it doesn't like.
I'm guessing, anyway, that Edwards' rhetoric has mostly to do with the politics of News Corp., since he's campaigning for the votes of a Democratic base who are not known for punishing anyone for bashing Fox News. (It also, the New York Times' DealBook blog notes, lets him contrast himself with Hillary Clinton, Murdoch's strange-bedfellow beneficiary.)
Edwards, incidentally, was also the first of the Democratic candidates to refuse to take part in debates on Fox News. If we have any Swamplanders here, a serious question: what good does that do? Why not have the debate, use your response time to knock Murdoch and Bill O'Reilly all you like and maybe have your arguments reach a few people who don't ordinarily listen to you? Does refusing to take part in a Fox News debate really delegitimize the channel in the minds of anyone, except those who never thought it was legitimate in the first place?
Update: By the way, it's kind of unfair for me to bring this last point up without mentioning the Republicans who have considered squirming out of the YouTube debate. (In fact, why hasn't anyone nailed me for that in the comments yet? What, they don't have wifi at YearlyKos?) Anyway, yes, the Reps are total wusses if they skip out on it. So there.
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James: "It's the rhetoric of his argument: that the sale should be stopped because it's Murdoch."
I don't know, but it seems like there are a number of Murdoch's employees who constantly argue that anything Soros has touched should be stopped too or at least considered suspect.
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@Keith: Oh, yeah, I would never argue that conservatives don't have useful demons too. It's not like they went any easier on Ted Turner back in the day.
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I think John Edwards refused the Fox debate because he feared the questions posed to him and the other democratic candidates would be chosen and asked to make them look bad-- "demonize" the party to fit Fox News' stereotypes--and would hurt the candidates more in the long run than help them. I would argue that those watching Fox News wouldn't be likely to vote for a democrat anyway, although I am not sure how conservative the demographics of Fox News watchers actual are. However—I think it would be an especially interesting debate to watch—to see how the candidates respond to biased questions.
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Any debate on Fox News would be a biased fiasco, I don't blame anybody for refusing to participate Democrats and leftists, from what I can tell, often recognize that Fox News should not be taken seriously as a neutral source of political news. I understand and respect the view that Fox News doesn't need to be dignified by their participation. On the other hand, it could easily be twisted and construed as weak or scared, so it is giving the right-wing some ammunition as well - can be taken as the dems running from a fight. I don't care whether anyone attends, the debates in general seem like mostly fluff and soundbytes to me, nobody really has a chance to get into many details during their short/timed answers so it is just a chance to send some well-spun messages without deep discussion.
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I came here from a link from Tim Goodman. Needless to say, this a disheartening post, and one that does nothing to dispel the overall image of TIme as a Republican shill. Defending Murdoch taking over WSJ in any way is horrific. I'm not an Edwards supporter -- only someone who is very sad to see all the media turn into the NY Post... and Time magazine.
Breaking News: FNC is not a legitimate news channel - your criticism is the equivalent of chastenizing Dems for not attending a Rush Limbaugh debate. The next time the Repubs agree to debate Air America or The Nation, let me know. Of course, since they can't even face real people with questions on YouTube, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Thanks, Tim, but I won't be back.
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@cms: "I'm not an Edwards supporter..."
Ironically, I am--or, anyway, I voted for him in '04, not just as VP but in the New York primary. (I don't know who I'm going to support in '08 yet.) That doesn't mean I feel I shouldn't say when I think he's wrong.
As for Murdoch, while I hope he won't change the WSJ too radically, I think the paper would be better off without him. But I don't believe that, just because I disapprove something, it should be legislated or regulated against. Unfortunately, that position probably puts me at odds with major presidential candidates in both parties nowadays.
Anyway, sorry you won't be sticking around, but give my regards to Tim.
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Fox News is entertainment, not journalism. There is no place for a debate on this network, just as there would be no place for a debate on Comedy Central or HBO.
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@tennisball: Actually, not that it would ever happen, but I'd sooner watch a debate moderated by Jon Stewart or Bill Maher than a good chunk of cable anchors out there.
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"Breaking News: FNC is not a legitimate news channel - your criticism is the equivalent of chastenizing Dems for not attending a Rush Limbaugh debate."
Says the Kos attendees.
Listen, we're getting ridiculous. The rants against FNC come from bandwagoneers that have never really tuned in to the channel. Bill O'Reilly and Hannity are commentators. They are not reporters or anchors. FNC's straight news is very good. What does CNN run for the evening news? Lou Dobbs for an hour. The guy is very opinionated and often vitriolic. Not to mention he hammers the same tired themes night after night. CNN's "Situation Room" is perhaps the closest they get to straight news in the evenings, but it's peppered with Cafferty's blog-esque rantings about Republicans every other segment. Even Wolf Blitzer lets it rip once in a while.
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Let us have a debate on Fox News and One on Air America.One for the right and one for left.Fox is opinion masquerading as news.Why should the Democrats be led to slaughter on Fox News when the Republicans refuse to do Air America.Anybody who thinks that Fox News is neutral is part of the of the 28% who still think Geroge Bush is doing a great job.People who watch Fox News put down "The Pet Goat" change the channel and find out what is really going on in our country.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 3 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 4 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 5 hours ago
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