Posted on Apr 9, 2014
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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<div>***Update***</div><div><br></div><div>I have realized that I have made a fatal flaw in this discussion. &nbsp;I should have only brought up the Opinion News Shows. &nbsp;Fox thrives on them--Fox &amp; Friends, The Five, Hannity, McKelly, O'Reilly, etc. &nbsp;If you have seen opinion shows on Fox and other networks, what do you find appealing about them? &nbsp;Why do you watch them? &nbsp;They aren't strictly news programs--if that even exists anymore on cable--so what's the draw? &nbsp;Can you make a comparison between one of the Fox shows and any on the other networks? &nbsp;Admittedly, I cannot. &nbsp;I don't watch this stuff anymore and most of my viewing was on Fox. &nbsp;I don't read opinion pieces or anything like them for the most part. &nbsp;I don't care what other people think about the news, I just want to know what the news is. &nbsp;I do care what everyone here thinks though so let's continue the discussion! &nbsp;I am interested to see how this goes.....</div><div><br></div><div><div>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div></div><div>This discussion has evolved quite nicely. &nbsp;We have gone around and around and here's what I find to be the main takeaways: No news organization can be trusted, they are all sensationalists, they have political agendas (Fox=conservative while MSNBC=liberal), they are looking to make ratings, and the easiest being that liberals hate Fox and conservatives like it. &nbsp;<br></div><div><br></div><div>So, let's take the discussion forward. &nbsp;Given the conclusions I just stated, do you think that any news organization, Fox or otherwise, doesn't tell the truth? &nbsp;Can you provide some examples of a news anchor telling a lie, or perhaps stretching the truth. &nbsp;I have already posted a few about Fox, but I would like to see what my comrades who are on the political right have to say on the subject. &nbsp;Also, do you trust a particular newscaster or news channel? &nbsp;Do you watch local news instead of cable?</div><div><br></div><div>This thread has been pretty active and I want to keep it going so please, discuss!!!</div><div>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div>I imagine I may get some flack for this discussion, but I would like to have it anyways.&nbsp; First off, I do not like Fox News.&nbsp; I have a lot of reasons for this and can go into specifics, but the main reasons are: They lie, they distort facts, they make stuff up, and they are a platform for Conservatives specifically and in no way support other ideologies.&nbsp; They say they are fair and balanced, but to me, that sounds like the North Koreans calling their country the People's Republic of North Korea.&nbsp; Clearly, I am a liberal.<br></div><div><br>Why I think this is important: Many of our young Troops are impressionable and the station of choice for every office I have worked in has been Fox News.&nbsp; I have seen blind support from our Troops on important issues that require, in my opinion, individual scrutiny.&nbsp; Most people who watch the channel tend to repeat what is said without opinion.&nbsp; I find this to be dangerous.<br><br>Regarding other news organizations, comparing one with another doesn't take the discussion very far.&nbsp; I am specifically interested in discussing Fox.&nbsp; <br><br>I don't watch the news at all.&nbsp; I have removed myself from that sort of influence.&nbsp; I get all of my news from two sources: objective media outlets online and from the two news organizations that really matter: The Daily Show With John Stewart and The Colbert Report.&nbsp; It is from those shows that I see anything of Fox News.&nbsp; <br><br>Liberals: Do you agree with me?&nbsp; Why or why not?<br>Conservatives: Same question<br>Independents: Same question<br><br>I am very interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this type of media manipulation.<br></div>
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LTJG Robert M.
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Don Henley said it best in his 80's song "Dirty Laundry"  All of today's "News" Outlets spin The news to their political bent to grab viewers.
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LCpl Mark Lefler
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fox news isnt dangerous, its pathetic and laughable. It would only be dangerous if people took it seriously and while I'm sure some people do, the majority of people see fox news as so over the top and so blatantly lying they just can't take it seriously.
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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I agree with you on a liberal standpoint, but let's not forget that Fox has its base.  Granted, that base is comprised almost completely of senior citizens/baby boomers.  I wonder if they are so out of touch with the voting electorate that younger viewers see it as you see it.
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LCpl Mark Lefler
LCpl Mark Lefler
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They make stuff up as they go along, they have no issues with out and out lying. 
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SFC Lamont Womack
SFC Lamont Womack
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LCpl Lefler I couldn't agree with you more. 
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CW3 Maintenance Technician
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Chief,

I am a card carrying Liberal myself, but with that said we can say the same thing about MSNBC to a certain extent. I dont think they distort the facts as FOX does but they clearly present things in a left leaning way. Rachael Maddox went on about bridgegate for weeks and I couldnt take it anymore. I like CNN(Clinton News Network haha) myself. To me the best Liberal is my guy Bill Maher I watch it religiously and thinks he nails it on religion and politics. As you already know your going to get a lot of blow back from Conservatives, us Liberals are vastly outnumber in the military!

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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
>1 y
You are certainly right about that!  Still, I have always found the Army to be a safe place for everyone to discuss this sort of thing... even being in the minority.

I agree that MSNBC has an agenda, it's pretty transparent.  The beef I have with Fox is that they just outright lie and make stuff up.  MSNBC doesn't do that, or if they do, they issue a retraction.  I'm not saying they are 100% honest, but they are close.  Fox honesty is at about 19% as far as I'm concerned.
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PO1 Brian Woods
PO1 Brian Woods
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Your post is wonderful.  I am a conservative.  But you simply stated your beliefs and did not join the gutter talk that is common on these types of threads.  But you would benefit from becoming a conservative. 
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LTC Operations Officer (Opso)
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I used to just watch the Daily Show in order to get news.

 

I do agree with you though that everyone needs to form their own opinion after reviewing all the facts available. I read newspapers and watch different channel news to get the facts then form my own opinion. I think as a nation, not just junior Soldiers, a lot of people just regurgitate what they are being told without thinking it out.

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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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I agree.  I really don't want to hear the opinions of other people secondhand, I want to know the opinion of the person I am speaking with.  They may base their opinion on poorly presented data on a media outlet, which is fine, but I would rather speak to that person than a parrot.
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CPT Jack Durish
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All news is opinion. Always has been. Always will be.

Once upon a time every city had more than one newspaper and each had its own following. The followers were pretty much divided along the same lines as the ideology of their favorite newspaper.

Most small towns had only one newspaper and the editor was well-advised to promulgate opinions that were in the majority.

Why then does anyone expect media news to be any different?

Once upon another time reporters rose from the ranks: copy boys, printers devils and apprentices begged to write news. The lucky ones cut their teeth on obits. The good ones rose to cover beats. The best rose even further.

Today's reporters are bred on campuses where, with few exceptions, they are indoctrinated with progressive ideology, and that is the ideology that slants their reporting. Yes, even on Fox News on occasion.

Fox is reviled because it doesn't follow the progressive ideology as slavishly as most others, and progressives are intolerant of divergent points of view. Okay, that's an opinion. However it's an opinion based on the fact that I rarely find a conservative who is unwilling to debate while I rarely find a liberal or progressive who is willing to do anything but tell me to shut up or join their chorus. Fox often finds itself in this same position.

Ultimately, I chose to gather my "news" from multiple sources of differing ideological slants and attempt to cull the "truth" from comparing notes between them.

Remember the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? As the "chosen" sought to climb Devils Tower where they would meet the alien space ship, one led the way to a path that the others had not seen in their visions. The reason was that whereas the others had seen Devils Tower in one dimension, he had seen and sculpted it in three dimensions. That's the way you have to look at the news. Walk around a story. Look at it from all sides. Understand and accept that everyone is looking at it from their chosen "point of view". Recognize that one ideology predominates in the news media. Then, think for yourself.
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SSG Gerhard S.
SSG Gerhard S.
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Well Said Cpt. Durish. Hearing the opinions surrounding an issue or event does not enslave one to one of those opinions, but rather allows one to sift through the dimensions of an issue to come to some conclusions. Clearly stifling debate with phrases like "the science is settled" and by labeling people as crazy "deniers" does nothing to foster honest debate, or a quest for the facts.
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Sgt Matthew O'Donnell
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Mainstream media is dangerous. It's not just FOX, MSNBC, CNN and CBS. No matter where you get your news from you need to take it with a grain of salt. Conservative, liberal, independent it doesn't matter. You want a "fair and balanced" view of whats going on, look at several sources on the same issue. You might just see through the propaganda right, left wing agenda. 
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MSG Jose Colon
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Sharyl Attkisson: "When I’d Begin Getting Under Surface of an Obama Scandal, CBS Would Pull Me Off."
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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In order to take part in any discussion, you **should** be willing to objectively look at all of the evidence and not discount it completely because it is liberal (Paraphrasing another's comments).  If you only ever listen to one side of an argument, you will never learn what the other has to say and are willingly following someone who wants nothing more than to lead you to where they want you to be.  Listen to both, and you make your own decisions.  And no decision is wrong when it is based entirely on one's opinions.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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You asked and I will answer. FOX is Horsehockey. I started out during they Heyday of the Cold War as a Spook I had more Radio's than Carter had little blue pills. We Used to listen to Radio Moscow and Voice of America and just bust a gut at the Ignorant Propaganda. Just downright Stupid both theirs and ours. I vew FOX in the same light Pure Unadulterated Propaganda aimed at Dumbing Down Americans. My field of Specialty was Electronic and Information Warfare and yes the Propaganda folks are considered part of my Community but the least respected.
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SFC Lamont Womack
SFC Lamont Womack
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PO1 I completely agree. I can't see how anybody can watch that channel and take anything they say seriously. 
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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I completely agree, but the problem (As I see it) is that millions of people do believe it.  The danger of opinionated news is that people take it as fact.
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LTC Joseph Gross
LTC Joseph Gross
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This is what we call a choir. Preach on but ignore the propaganda and don't try to prove a point. And PO1, I was doing the same thing. Don't think what you are saying here carries any weight with those of us who were also "listening", in my case long before there was a Fox News, and understanding what was going on. There is a reason Fox News has a viewership MSNBC can only dream of. There are actually more democrats watching Fox than all of the MSNBC viewership....
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SSgt Shawn Cotton
SSgt Shawn Cotton
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All media outlets mainstream are State Run Media, if you have not figured this out by now, you are not paying attention! 
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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Yet another downvote without comment.  The whole point of this is to have a discussion, not to fling poo at one another.  If you don't like what I have written, go ahead and downvote it, but have the courage to speak out for what you believe in.
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LCpl Mark Lefler
LCpl Mark Lefler
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yeah I got one of those also.
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CW2 Jonathan Kantor
CW2 Jonathan Kantor
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'Tis cowardly, in my opinion.
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MSG Jose Colon
MSG Jose Colon
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I agree. If I am going to down-vote you, I will tell you why.
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