Maybe FOX is more successful in part by not offending people.How does Fox maintain editorial animosity toward immigrants without alienating the important voter group?
Fox News Latino Shameless - Salon.com
June 15, 2012: In response to President Obama’s announcement of a policy shift wherein certain young immigrants would be granted work permits rather than be deported, the Fox News Latino website posted a story headlined,“Obama Administration Halts Deportations for Young Immigrants.” That’s a factually accurate description that treats the news in a neutral manner. The headline was accompanied by a sympathetic photo of a young Latina child draped with an American flag.
However, on Fox Nation they went with the headline “Obama Administration Bypasses Congress to Give Immunity, Stop Deporting Younger Illegals.” In that short sentence they managed to imply impropriety on the part of the administration, suggest the controversial subject of amnesty, and insult Latinos by employing the dehumanizing label of “illegals” (even though the people affected by this initiative did not break any law). The photo accompanying this article was of adult Latinos sitting up against a wall in handcuffs.
They don't have a Martin Bashir demanding someone defecate in Sarah Palin’s mouth, or an Ed Shultz calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut or saying, "The Republicans lie! They want to see you dead! They'd rather make money off your dead corpse! They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don't have anything for her!"
Or a Chris Matthews who says among other dumb shit: "Rush Limbaugh is beginning to look more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet, but we'll be there to watch."
They don't let guests like Harry Belafonte get by with saying, "The only thing left for barack obama to do is to work like a Third-World dictator and put all these guys [Republicans who disagree with obama on entitlement reform, taxation, and balancing the budget] in jail." without an argument.
You're making my case. This is exactly what I'm talking about -- emotion sells. Fearmongering and conflict and conspiracy-feeding and outrageous content, sells. How many more people now know who Martin Bashir is than before he came out with that atrocious metaphor? There you go -- attention again. If there's a difference between that and going on the radio for three days foaming "slut slut slut", it's naught but semantics. The goal is the same. Here again, Martin Bashir and Lush Rimjob are far more like each other than they are different.
But yeah, sure FOX is evil because they give a platform for ideals you disagree with. They are racist because they have guests and hosts armed with facts and statistics you'd rather were well hidden. They are homophobic because they think marriage is a legal and spiritual bond between one man and one woman. They are misogynistic because they employ attractive women.
-- And that too sells. I don't know about the "misogynist" bit but I think if you look around you'll find that sex does sell. Here again, Rupert Murdoch knows this from experience. Ever heard of the "page three girl"? That's his baby. It worked at The Sun, so he put it on TV.
All of these examples you've noted -- for both outlets -- represent emotion. Base human instincts. That's the whole point right there. When that's your objective -- and in commercial TV it always has been-- "offending people" is virtually required. You don't have to do it but if you don't somebody else will, and you're left behind.
Ideology is just window dressing. It ain't about ideology --- it's about the psychology of manipulation. Which is in the final analysis no different from a TV show presenting fake wrestling, surprise paternity tests or naked strangers purportedly left to survive in the jungle with no resources even though there's a camera crew with an expense account filming them the entire time. It's all illusion designed to melt your mind into a moronic mush so that you're vulnerable for the commercial. That's where it's at baby.
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