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No, probably not. But if there’s any justice in the world, Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Fox News will force media to realize they can no longer get in front of a camera and brazenly lie to the American people without consequence.
I think Fox got drunk on the idea that they could say pretty much anything they wanted, and no one in their viewership would care none of it was true. That part they got right. That's been right for 20 years.
But it was in this drunken state that Fox made up a story —demonstrably false by anyone with Google—this time not about Hillary or Obama or Biden, but about a software company whose business dried up as a direct result of the false story. All because Fox wanted to craft a narrative where people who wanted to believe that Trump's election was stolen now had some talking points to support it. Only problem was...they weren't true. And they knew it. And because of that, Smartmatic is suing Fox News for defamation for $2.7 billion. Lou Dobbs and several others were also named in the suit.
From the Smartmatic lawsuit:
“The Earth is round, Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable. Defendants have always known these facts. But they also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump’s popularity by inventing a story.”
Lou Dobbs highest rated show on Fox Business was canceled the day after this suit was filed.
Those lawsuits do have bite in them, it's not just theatre.
Speaking of news....I find it almost impossible to get facts cited to me without commentary anywhere anymore.
Many years ago I listened to Dobbs and liked him. But that was in a galaxy far, far and away now.
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
I read CNN, but with a grain of salt as they are about as slanted as Fox. I'm pretty lib, and have one hell of a conservative streak on some issues, but wont listen to Cuomo or Lemon. Fox isnt even programmed on my satellite guide.
Maybe USA today?
My 20 something kid would tell me to only listen to Democracy Now lol!
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
You can get news anywhere. Just know the bias.
![[Image: AllSidesMediaBiasChart-Version2.jpg]](https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/AllSidesMediaBiasChart-Version2.jpg)
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
Those lawsuits do have bite in them, it's not just theatre.
Speaking of news....I find it almost impossible to get facts cited to me without commentary anywhere anymore.
Many years ago I listened to Dobbs and liked him. But that was in a galaxy far, far and away now.
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
I read CNN, but with a grain of salt as they are about as slanted as Fox. I'm pretty lib, and have one hell of a conservative streak on some issues, but wont listen to Cuomo or Lemon. Fox isnt even programmed on my satellite guide.
Maybe USA today?
My 20 something kid would tell me to only listen to Democracy Now lol!
I feel ya, its sad that I have to fact check stories from sources that have press credentials to the Whitehouse and Captial buildings.
I think the feds should mandate a zero spin rule for any reporter covering our govt. If they want to write editorials that's fine, but they will lose their access. This isn't about censorship or whatever bullshit the media would spin, this is about restoring confidence in our information sources...otherwise just publish the press briefings and skip Q&A all together.
Trump was a buffoon and was led down paths he should have never been on, and now Biden's team is screening the questions ahead of time so he doesn't fall into the same traps, either way we aren't going to get the truth, at least the whole unvarnished truth.
we the people shouldn't be forced to sort through all the fiction for the shred of fact that its woven from so they can claim its news.
Quote: @savannahskol said:
@ purplefaithful said:
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
You can get news anywhere. Just know the bias.
This is mostly accurate. And they're right to separate the news and opinion groups on some of these. WSJ and NYT opinion writers are much further right and left than their news teams.
But there needs to be another column on the far left and right. Putting Newsweek and CNN opinion in the same column with Mother Jones and Democracy Now is just wrong. Same for National Review. I think Willam F. Buckley would roll over in his grave to see his magazine in the same loony bin column with CBN and OAN.
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
Those lawsuits do have bite in them, it's not just theatre.
Speaking of news....I find it almost impossible to get facts cited to me without commentary anywhere anymore.
Many years ago I listened to Dobbs and liked him. But that was in a galaxy far, far and away now.
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
I read CNN, but with a grain of salt as they are about as slanted as Fox. I'm pretty lib, and have one hell of a conservative streak on some issues, but wont listen to Cuomo or Lemon. Fox isnt even programmed on my satellite guide.
Maybe USA today?
My 20 something kid would tell me to only listen to Democracy Now lol!
I don't go to any site or channel. i just read Google News. I like that it's just a clearinghouse for all news of every bent. Plus they have a factcheck sidebar which has become important in post-truth America.
Yes, it's hard to find news without opinion. That's the direction its taken in the last 10 years. Because it's hugely profitable. And i would say it's not a terrible thing as long as you know what you're getting.
I remember back in the early 2000s, actually writing a letter to MSNBC encouraging them to become the Fox News of the left. Now i know it wasn't my letter that did it, because you could tell they were sort of "wanting" to go in that direction, and they were clearly testing it a little. But they hadn't fully committed. Then one day, suddenly, like overnight, they became who they are now. It was good because we needed something to balance out Fox. Conservatives railed against CNN's liberal bias but that was mostly a myth. At least it was back then. Now, not so much. They've gone heavy into opinion since Trump was elected.
But here's the thing. Where does the truth fit in? I used to make a joke out of Colbert's "reality has a well known liberal bias." But I'm not so sure it's a joke anymore. If a journalist says, for example, that Trump lied about the election being stolen, I'm sure a lot of Trumpists would think, hey, that's a liberal take. No. It's not. It's the truth.
Like the lawsuit says, "it's demonstrable and irrefutable." And yet so many choose to not believe it. These same people stopped watching Fox News because they told them the truth: Biden won the election. These same people made death threats to Shep Smith years earlier when he was on Fox. Why? Because he told them the truth. They don't WANT the truth. And that's a dangerous thing...
In his book "Post Truth," Lee McIntyre writes "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced ideologue, it’s the person for whom true and false and right and wrong don’t matter."
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ purplefaithful said:
Those lawsuits do have bite in them, it's not just theatre.
Speaking of news....I find it almost impossible to get facts cited to me without commentary anywhere anymore.
Many years ago I listened to Dobbs and liked him. But that was in a galaxy far, far and away now.
Seriously, where do people get their news anymore?
I read CNN, but with a grain of salt as they are about as slanted as Fox. I'm pretty lib, and have one hell of a conservative streak on some issues, but wont listen to Cuomo or Lemon. Fox isnt even programmed on my satellite guide.
Maybe USA today?
My 20 something kid would tell me to only listen to Democracy Now lol!
I don't go to any site or channel. i just read Google News. I like that it's just a clearinghouse for all news of every bent. Plus they have a factcheck sidebar which has become important in post-truth America.
Yes, it's hard to find news without opinion. That's the direction its taken in the last 10 years. Because it's hugely profitable. And i would say it's not a terrible thing as long as you know what you're getting.
I remember back in the early 2000s, actually writing a letter to MSNBC encouraging them to become the Fox News of the left. Now i know it wasn't my letter that did it, because you could tell they were sort of "wanting" to go in that direction, and they were clearly testing it a little. But they hadn't fully committed. Then one day, suddenly, like overnight, they became who they are now. It was good because we needed something to balance out Fox. Conservatives railed against CNN's liberal bias but that was mostly a myth. At least it was back then. Now, not so much. They've gone heavy into opinion since Trump was elected.
But here's the thing. Where does the truth fit in? I used to make a joke out of Colbert's "reality has a well known liberal bias." But I'm not so sure it's a joke anymore. If a journalist says, for example, that Trump lied about the election being stolen, I'm sure a lot of Trumpists would think, hey, that's a liberal take. No. It's not. It's the truth.
Like the lawsuit says, "it's demonstrable and irrefutable." And yet so many choose to not believe it. These same people stopped watching Fox News because they told them the truth: Biden won the election. These same people made death threats to Shep Smith years earlier when he was on Fox. Why? Because he told them the truth. They don't WANT the truth. And that's a dangerous thing...
In his book "Post Truth," Lee McIntyre writes "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced ideologue, it’s the person for whom true and false and right and wrong don’t matter."
Likewise I use an a couple of news aggregators, google,RCP, yahoo..., Then follow a story, see if there is common facts and what is biased editorial. Fun one I am following right now is the Supreme Court agenda for Feb. 19th. there are 2020 election challenge cases. It goes from deep state conspiracy and now the election will be overturned to this is the procedural slow walk to the SC waste basket.
And the McIntyre quote is good.
It's going to be interesting to see how the people in this country continues to evolve (or de-volve) depending on how you want to look at it I suppose.
There's always been those that want to hear what they believe vs something else, it's different now though. More dangerous.
My own personal comfort space of moderation seems to be gone or at least the volume is highest at the ends of the political spectrum vs the middle.
Don't know if you get "Pearls Before Swine" in your comics, it's good this morning. Can't do "Cut and Pasta " anymore. Guy gets wish from Genie, say's " a world where people of all races, creeds and nationalities can share idea's and communicate" well you can guess where it goes from there.
I feel lucky, I have writers in my immediate family and no slack is given for confirmation bias, mixed blessing. So I am always aware what I put out there, never want to get over my skis, particularly if beer is involved.
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