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FOX News Is Finding Out: Flush Them When They're Down [1]

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Date: 2023-05-14

Thanks, NNNE, for loading this image!

Sorry I didn’t post in this series last Sunday; I was visiting family. Anyway, we have two weeks of developments to cover.

We need honesty in the media. It’s tough, with not just Fox, but the chaos at Twitter and the disturbing developments at CNN. We’re focusing here on Fox, but some of the ideas can be applied to other outlets too.

Don’t surrender in advance. Instead, do something. Ideas are down below, after some reminders of some of the recent developments.

OTHER CHAMPIONS IN THE FIGHT

Fox has been spreading its bs for many years now, and others have been against them too.

Media Matters has been monitoring right-wing lies for years, which often means FOX. They warn about how FOX will try to recoup its losses through an increase in carriage fees. From this article by Madeline Peltz and John Knefel:

Following Fox News’ massive defamation settlement paid out to Dominion Election Systems, the network is now pursuing an even more aggressive strategy to raise revenue by increasing the fee paid by cable and satellite providers to $3 per subscriber, according to a new report from Vanity Fair. Fox News executives insist that sponsors have not been spooked by the Big Lie scandal, nor have the cable and satellite providers that carry the network. In the negotiations that are taking place this spring between Fox and the likes of Comcast, Fox wants to break past the three-buck mark—meaning three dollars per cable household per month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Even though the American cable universe is shrinking, Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch are still extracting billions of dollars. These fees are the majority of revenue for Fox, more even than advertising, and they are significantly higher than those charged by the network’s competitors. Fox has been able to raise prices and charge disproportionately high rates due to its history of deceptive and aggressive negotiating tactics during contract renewal talks with providers. During a February 2022 earnings call, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced that 70% of the network’s cable and satellite contracts will be up for renewal during fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Murdoch has signaled to investors that Fox aims to continue to increase affiliate revenue even as the cord-cutting trend continues to accelerate, shrinking the consumer base.

You can help defeat this by complaining to your cable company, if you have one, and taking steps below. Why should we pay for them to lie to others?

One reason Fox depends on carriage fees from cable companies is because of the success of organizations such as Check My Ads and what they have done to Fox.

From their website:

HERE'S THE PROBLEM Advertisers don't place ads on the internet themselves. They use ad exchanges — technology companies that run ads for them. Ad exchanges don't work with just anyone. They choose which websites to work with and which ones to drop. They have standards to protect advertisers from funding violence. This is so important to advertisers that they have it written into their contracts. When Fox News promoted the January 6th insurrection, it was violent. We all saw it — but ad exchange executives pretended it didn't happen. Since then, Fox News has just gotten worse. So here's the plan: we need to tell ad exchanges to block their ads from FoxNews.com now.

This stuff works. According to Check My Ads, “The Defund the Insurrectionists campaign has already cut millions of advertising dollars from Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, Glenn Beck, Steve Bannon, and Tim Pool.”

Visit the website and sign up for their emails and see what more you can do!

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

It’s raining lawsuits!

We can’t forget Abby Grossberg, who has given recordings to Jack Smith.

The following is from a tweet that I’m having trouble embedding, including a conversation between Ari Melber and Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit:

BREAKING: Gerry Fillippatos, the attorney for the former Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg, has just told MSNBC's Ari Melber that Special Counsel Jack Smith is pursing Fox News evidence that Grossberg has. Details:- Grossberg says she has 90 recordings that she made during her time at Fox News. - Grossberg also has been subpoenaed by Smartmatic, the other company suing Fox News. - Grossberg says that she “had been asked to spy on [Maria Bartiromo] by the Fox bosses and report back on what she was doing." - Grossberg claims that Tucker Carlson "would call and tell [Republicans] that if you don't participate or come on the show, we'll destroy you." "Tucker and his executive producer... really were responsible for breaking me and making my life a living hell" - Abby Grossberg x BREAKING: Gerry Fillippatos, the attorney for the former Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg, has just told MSNBC's Ari Melber that Special Counsel Jack Smith is pursing Fox News evidence that Grossberg has. Details:



- Grossberg says she has 90 recordings that she made during her… pic.twitter.com/BPe4grEfgr — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) April 25, 2023

An article in The New York Times (Katie Robertson) says she’s withdrawing one of her lawsuits in order to file in a more favorable venue.

A former Fox News producer who has accused the network of coercing her into providing misleading testimony has dismissed one of her lawsuits against the company, at least for now. ✂️ Parisis G. Filippatos, a lawyer for Ms. Grossberg, said that his client intended to refile the case in another jurisdiction “in the coming weeks.” “Fox would be mistaken in viewing our client’s voluntary dismissal of her civil conspiracy claims,” he said, “as a retreat from those claims.” ✂️ Ms. Grossberg still has a pending lawsuit against Fox that was filed in the Southern District of New York that claims Tucker Carlson’s show had a toxic and misogynistic workplace. Mr. Carlson, one of the network’s highest ratings hosts, was abruptly fired on April 24.

Something like honest journalism! For some reason, Fox decided not to go along with a recent Republican smear campaign. Is it because they like Biden, or because they recognize that life under President Biden is a hell of a lot better than life would be for an autocrat? Or the lawsuits have scared them? Anyway, the Rs have been holding “investigations” in the House in order to smear President Biden, but they have come up with nada.

x Fox New’s Steve Doocy just called out the Republican Chairman of the Oversight Committee, James Comer, for spreading a narrative that Joe Biden is corrupt when there is absolutely no evidence that he did anything illegal.



This is my very point. Anyone can try and fabricate… pic.twitter.com/HJaln74q6C — Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 11, 2023

What Steve Doocy said: "The curious part is apparently there is no proof...that Joe Biden, personally, did anything illegal, and the Republicans have been looking. They just can't find it...They've got a narrative, but they've got no evidence."

Also in the tweet:

Fox New’s Steve Doocy just called out the Republican Chairman of the Oversight Committee, James Comer, for spreading a narrative that Joe Biden is corrupt when there is absolutely no evidence that he did anything illegal. This is my very point. Anyone can try and fabricate accusations against another person by taking facts and twisting them around to fit a desired narrative. So far, this is all that Republicans in Congress have been able to do.Just like the Trump family made billions of dollars while in or out of office, the Biden family also has a right to make millions. You don’t have to like it, but there is nothing illegal about making money overseas. You may argue that the fact that they made money from foreign governments is evidence of corruption, but that would simply be an assumption without facts to back it up. We all have a right to know the facts, but to call Joe Biden corrupt just because his family made money like other Presidents’ families did overseas, that’s unfair.

In the meantime, we should use the advantage the Dominion settlement gives us. Because, no one pays three quarters of a billion dollars when they believe they’re innocent. We can also use the firing of Tucker to point out that you don’t want your cable fees to go to a place which is being sued by everyone.

If you are contacting the FCC, or your cable provider, or any politician, whether local or national, you can use phrases such as: “I don’t want to fund FOX’s lies.” or, more generally, “I don’t want to fund FOX’s lawsuits.”

Repeat, and Repeat Some More

Repetition is good. Repetition is good. The other side knows this. They know that if they repeat things, even false things, people start to believe them. Even when they don’t believe them, they sink in, to the point that they feel true, even when people know they’re bullsh*t. Think of all the things you know are false but also know are accepted arguments, because they’ve been repeated so often (trickle-down economics, only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun, etc).

The left is different. We don’t like to repeat things, because it seems rude. And it can seem redundant to repeat truths, because they are self-evident. This puts truth at a disadvantage.

Anyway, I’m repeating truths here. And I’m asking you again to take a few steps to take down FOX News.

Have you already taken some steps? Tell us about them in the comments.

Have you already taken some steps? Maybe you can do them again. No reason not to contact the FCC more than once. Or your representatives, local, state, federal.

Have you not taken any steps? See if there’s anything you can do.

Have you encouraged others to take steps? Do that some more.

Do the same things again (as long as it makes sense). Because repetition is good.

Although many viewers are addicted to FOX and the right-wing lies, once it is stopped, they do recover. At least some of them.

WHAT WE CAN DO

➡️Visit this website, Unfoxmycablebox. From their website:

Pay for cable or satellite TV? You’re subsidizing Fox News whether you watch it or not. Your cable or satellite TV provider pays a subscriber fee to carry Fox News. That cost is passed directly on to YOU. Every network charges cable and satellite providers a small fee per subscriber; the one for Fox News is extraordinarily high. A typical household pays Fox News almost $2 per month—about $20 per year— via their cable or satellite provider, regardless of whether they actually watch the channel. In 2023, a wave of big contracts between Fox News and TV providers for subscriber fees are set to expire. These contracts make up a major source of Fox News’ subscriber fee revenue. If we want to stop paying the "Fox fee," now is the time to act.

From Progressive Muse: “AntennaWeb can tell you what channels you can pick up over the air with an antenna. I have an amplified antenna which helps with more distant channels. No subscription required.”

From tallen387: “Even if you don’t subscribe to cable, you can still tell your local cable company that one of the reasons you don’t subscribe to cable at all is because you don’t want your money going to Fox News or any of the other somewhat odious channels you find in the so-called ‘basic package’ (I was against televangelists — another species of pig that has been feasting at that particular trough for a long time — long before Fox News was even on my personal radar). And of course, now that your money is basically helping Fox News pay off an almost certainly onerous judgment against it, you're basically in the position of bailing out the people who should be paying the judgement: Fox News management and the stockholders. The same message should be sent to advertisers: why should consumers buy your product when part of the money they spend is helping to bail out Fox News and insulate Fox News management and stockholders from the consequences of their actions?”

➡️Complain to your cable company. If you have a cable subscription that makes you pay for FOX News, then complain to them now. Tell them you don’t want to pay for a media outlet that lies all the time. Here’s some suggested text:

I’m writing to you to let you know I don’t want to have any of the money I pay you go to FOX News, which is lying to the American public, as determined by Judge Eric Davis. I expect you to reduce my bill by $X.

Even if you don’t have cable for your TV pleasure, but you use a cable company for your internet, you can let them know you’re not pleased if they’re supporting FOX.

➡️ Contact government. If you feel as if that’s not enough, then contact those who have influence on the contract. Contact your governor, contact your mayor, contact your senators and your representatives.

The House, with the Rs in charge, will not help, but the Senate could. Demand hearings, especially the lies exposed by Dominion. Also, some R senators are not pleased by those lies these days. They hate tRump with a passion.

Suggested text:

Dear Senator:

FOX News is pumping poisonous propaganda into the public. Lies should not be tolerated. Judge Eric Davis even found that they are full of lies.

➡️ Write letters to the editor talking about how we’re being forced to subsidize lies that hurt us. Let other people know. Tell them on FB, Twitter, Instagram.

➡️ Afraid no one reads your stuff? Then freewayblog (thanks, freewayblogger)

➡️ Complain to the FCC (thanks, dadadata)

You should contact the FCC if you have complaints or questions about the following issues: Cable Consumer Complaints . File complaints at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

Suggested text:

Dear FCC:

I strongly object to being forced to subsidize FOX News via my cable subscription. They are pumping propaganda for the Republican party. Judge Eric Davis has even found that they are lying. I want my bill to be reduced by these fees.

Also, if you could get them off the airwaves altogether, that would be great.

➡️Do you have connections in the military?

The Pentagon should pull the plug on FOX news. (Mike Lofgren, Jen Senko) At least as recently as a year ago, FOX News was the most popular cable news on the military. From the article:

There is a whole library of information about how Fox News influences mom and dad to become rabid right wingers. This is hardly surprising, because Republican operative Roger Ailes teamed up with media baron Rupert Murdoch for the specific purpose of a purported "news" channel to hype Republicans and malign Democrats. Less is known about how the network propagates incitement to sedition and refusal to follow lawful orders to members of the military, the very persons charged with upholding the Constitution and national security. And the Pentagon is abetting it. As to the seriousness of the problem, a former Marine has told the authors: "Right-wing society has captured the military . . . If you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox." Another source told us that at their Air Force facility, Fox News is always blaring in common spaces during duty hours. Far from always being a service member's choice, the situation is often as at an airport lounge, where everyone is subjected to it like it or not. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken of the need to prevent political extremism in the military. Indeed, the high percentage of service members and veterans among the Capitol rioters is alarming.

How do we get it out of the military? VoteVets has tried, without success, but there seems to be more opportunity now.

It may not be easy. There is the first amendment. Many of the people in the military really like FOX News.

On the other hand, people do recover, at least somewhat, when no longer exposed to the toxic propaganda.

➡️ Go after advertisers (thanks for the reminder, Progressive Muse)

Fox News gets way too much money from cable fees, but it also gets bucks from advertisers. Boycott their advertisers.

Sometimes advertisers are unaware of where their ads are going, as they work through third parties who place their commercials. But one place is tracking this: “The group is called Check My Ads and they have been profiled by media like NPR and Fast Company” (Progressive Muse). You may find helpful information there.

Note I featured them in this diary.

➡️ Turn off the station (thanks Wolvie)

Apparently, there’s something called “TVBGone” — a sort of remote that allows you to turn off the station in public places. I have never used this, and it does seem kind of rude. Maybe some military personnel should get this...

➡️Use the divisions between FOX and tRUmp. This is attacking FOX from the right, or rather from the crazy, but it is one way to weaken them. If you are speaking to tRump lovers who love FOX, let them know that the hosts all hate him.

Even if your FOX-loving acquaintances refuse to believe you, the message sinks in.

👢 Let’s kick FOX “News” when it’s down, so it stops being an existential threat.

➡️ Do you have other ideas? Please post them down below.

➡️ Have you already done something? Please, tell us your story!

🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and sequels, Scavengers of Mind and the brand-new Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’rereally cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also availableon Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.

And, finally, because you deserve to see some sweet foxes, here’s a pretty image for the finale:

[END]
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