Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Faux News as Usual

After we watched a "House" rerun tonight, we accidentally left the TV on and Fox News started. Being lazy, we didn't bother to turn the channel but, captive audience that we were, we mindlessly started watching.

The lead story was all about the death of actor Heath Ledger; with as many lurid details as they could find, plenty of pictures of his lifeless body being carried out of his building, and promises of more to come.

The second story was about the Super Bowl and the fact that the Patriots' quarterback, Tom Brady, has a sprained ankle.

The crashing stock market didn't come up until the third story, about 12 minutes into the newscast. And then they didn't even have their facts straight! They said that Bernanke stepped in to lower the interest rates after the market opened down >400 points. In actuality, Bernanke had taken the step BEFORE the market opened.

Not only does Fox ignore the real news, but when they get to the real news, they get it wrong. No wonder many members of the American public are not well-versed in current affairs...

Just to be clear, I am sorry to hear about Ledger. But should it have been the #1 story? And should they have continued coverage of this throughout the newscast? With teasers before the commercial to let the viewer know that more on this story will follow? I think not.

I think I'll end with some haikus to cover some other subjects!

Tuesday Haikus:

Obama is fighting back
Hillary is slinging mud
Edwards keeps his cool.

Stock market crashes
401k is tanking
When can I retire?

Thompson's dropping out
Was he ever really in?
It was hard to tell.

Diva is barking
She wants to go to bed now
Thus ends my blogging.

15 comments:

Mary Ellen said...

Every once in awhile I'll watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh. I don't know why...I think it gives me a sense of comfort watching them make fools of themselves.

Mary Ellen said...

Ooops...forgot to tell you. I put up a post about John Edwards that you might get a kick out of.

Mauigirl said...

Thanks, Mary Ellen, I'll check it out!

Christopher said...

Hey Maui Girl.

Yeah, Hillary is getting nastier and more vile by the day. Her use of Bill to attack Obama, is some kind of sick shit.

A Clintonian example of good cop, bad cop. It's gotten so bad that execs from the DNC, along with Sen. Ted Kennedy have asked Bill to back off his attacks.

About FOX Noise, CNN isn't much better. When we got home last night around 6:15pm, we put CNN Headline News and the anchor kept repeating over and over how Heath's recent role in Batman was "so dark, so disturbing that it led to his demise." Finally, a shrink came on to tell her she had her head up her ass.

Aw, the media.

FreakyNick said...

Fox News is to News what Britney Spears is to entertainment.

Words that come to mind: Cheap, Fake, Junk, superficial, immature, gutter, dirty.

A shiny plastic bobble used to distract the simple-minded masses from the "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" of our leaders.

The current economic problems is a symptom of a much larger problem. We can't just keep treating the symptoms, we have to solve the problems, or this ecomony will continue to show it's illness.

I wonder if our executive leader and his evil underling realize the best thing they can do to revitilize the economy is resign?

pissed off patricia said...

Yeah, but I bet the talking head chick on Fox had her hair and makeup perfect. Facts? They haven't needed them yet.

s. douglas said...

Unfortunately, the majority of the media outlets focus on these trivial stories.

Yeah, some famous dude died, I'm sure a lot of people died yesterday.

It sucks, but what I really want to know is whether or not Tom Brady is playing in the Super Bowl!

America.

PunditMom said...

You'll be publishing a collection soon, right! ;)

Mauigirl said...

Christopher, you're right, CNN isn't much better. My mother watches it all day and complains that they focus on the same inane stories all day long - I tell her "So don't watch it!"

Nick, totally agree. And I love your solution to the economic crisis - Bush and Cheney resigning!

PoP, you're right, the hair looked great.

Fairlane, supposedly Brady's ankle should recover in time. Unless they're trying to hide the depths of his disability! We shall see...

PunditMom, a haiku collection - good idea, hadn't thought of it! You've given me food for thought!

Larry said...

Their audience is made up of 65 snd older, many who are limited to being in the real world and think everything Fox will protect them from harm.

Tom Harper said...

Damn, Fox News didn't even scratch the surface. Didn't they mention ANYTHING about American Idol or baseball players using steroids or fourteen ways to tone your abs?

Good haiku about Fred Thompson. That's just too poetic, the way Republicans were drooling all over Fred Thompson as This Year's Ronald Reagan, and he turned out to be a dud.

Who Hijacked Our Country

Mauigirl said...

Larry, I'm sure that is part of the problem; my mom watches the cable Fox News as well as CNN and MSNBC. To her credit, though, she also watches her news directly as it happens - on C-Span - and is a lifelong Democrat! (I keep asking her - "why on earth do you watch Fox???").

Tom, they very well may have gone into some of the other popular subjects...I couldn't stand watching it any further at that point! Glad you liked the Thompson haiku! I never understood why anyone thought this man should be president, least of all himself.

two crows said...

hi Mauigirl--
maybe your mom watches FOX for the same reason I read NewsMax -- to see what the opposition is up to???

and Larry: oh, don't say that! I'm retired and closing in on 65 -- PLEASE don't condemn me to FOX News! anything but that!!!

acourse, the more I see of Washington Post and the NY Times, the more they're starting to resemble the rest of the mindless rags. sad.

Distributorcap said...

in NY, Fox local news (Channel 5) always leads with American Idol --- even Heath took a back seat to Idol.

i cannot watch anything Fox---

Mauigirl said...

Two Crows, maybe so...but sometimes she gets sucked into one of their stories and believes it!

Regarding NYT and Wash. Post, I know what you mean - they are getting too 'entertainment' focused. Even my CBS Newsradio that I listen to hear in the metro NY area has "lead stories" that are really not newsworthy. It used to be much more focused on nationwide and international news.

DCap, I must have missed the very first story then - they may have had an American Idol blurb before the Heath story!