More like Pravda.


Former president Bill Clinton has turned media critic - dubbing MSNBC “our version of Fox.”


Clinton told Esquire magazine MSNBC has become just like Fox News — and he blames the insatiable demand for cable news to have constant content as one of the reasons politics has become so caustic and divisive.


The existence of so many news channels and media outlets, Clinton said, “has contributed to less actual reporting and a louder, more contentious, more divisive public discourse, highlighting conflict, sometimes falsely.”


“I also think that the diffusion of the media has complicated things. For example, I was just watching — I don’t know if you heard what I said in the other room — I was just watching MSNBC, and they had a woman that used to work for me and a couple of other people on there, and they were talking about the Republican primary. And I was laughing. I said, ‘Boy, it really has become our version of Fox,’” he said in the piece in the February issue, which culls from interviews done on November 30 and December 16, 2011.


To make a profit in today’s media world, news organizations have to push so much content, and punditry trumps reporting in terms of attracting viewership, Clinton noted.


“And I say that because think of the economics of running cable channels,” he said. “Suppose you and I bought a cable channel, and he [pointing] bought another. You know that to make a living out of it, you’ve got to get about eight hundred thousand viewers for all your major programs. So you can get eight hundred thousand, and you won’t be as wealthy as Fox, but you’ll do okay.”


Back when there were just the Big Three television networks, “there was enough competition that everybody could keep each other honest,” he told Esquire.


“And now if you get a slice that’s that small and still viable — and you know it’s not like when we just had NBC, CBS, and ABC. That’s all there was. Everybody had enough market share that they knew would guarantee some comfortable level of profit,” he said. “And yet there was enough competition that everybody could keep each other honest, and when the Vietnam War came along, they could send fifty-five-year-old reporters to Vietnam for extended stays. They could afford to have correspondents in Europe to report. Correspondents in Asia.”


“All that’s changed now,” he added. “And so the good news is you can get a lot of information off the Internet for free and in a hurry. But I think the breaking up of the media, which is otherwise kind of healthy, has contributed to less actual reporting and a louder, more contentious, more divisive public discourse, highlighting conflict, sometimes falsely.”


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71601.html#ixzz1jr0qQsSG

 

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I agree with him 100%

 

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So you agree Fox News isn't fair and balanced?

I mean, we all know MSNBC is a lib rag...

 

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well he's right.

As well as EVERY single other "news" media out there other than FOX

I still find it funny to see the hard on the left gets over Fox... such hypocrites

FACT

 

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When have I EVER said Fox was fair and balanced?

 

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He is correct, but his point was only that they've become similar in being contentious and encouraging conflict. Most of the political pundits on MSNBC are left-leaning (Rachel Maddow, Laurence O'Donnel, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton). The only real exception is Morning Joe. The daytime shows are more neutral, a bit left-leaning. But those shows have constant conservative guests and viewpoints. Heck, even Maddow will let ANY conservative go on her show, and gives them genuine time to say their piece.

The difference in FOX is they not only just offer right-wing opinions, they make a concerted effort in all respects to support a specific mentality/world-view. Left-leaning view points are quite rare. Their regular news reportings are also given a partisan slant(unlike MSNBC), and this often involves complete omitting of facts.


Anyone with a brain would realize Clinton was making a general remark that they had adopted similar strategies (appeal to one side, profit off of conflict). He was not saying there were identical in how, and to what extent they actually do so.

You can't expect most FOX News viewers to understand anything more nuanced. Many of them stop thinking immediately after they've reached a conclusion that supports their world view.

 

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Fixed

 

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Fact is that all the so-called left wing media of the USA is far to the right of European mainstream media.

Then again Ronald Reagan and Nixon by how Republicans define themselves today are left wing liberals.

That is so out of touch the Party of Stupid has become, that the current candidates have to act like pious dumbasses to win the Republican primaries.

I almost feel sorry for the candidates having to catch grief when they don't act stupid enough.

 

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Actually, I know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't use TV as my source of news (I watch some shows for entertainment/gossip) so I don't have an emotional investment. Unlike FOX viewers who have had the network manipulate their world view... they justify the horrible quality of FOX, because they are defending themselves.

 

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there should never exist a "network" of news

news should come from independent source.

 

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