Friday, March 12, 2010

FOX News: Sharia and Balanced


For liberals who love to hate FOX News I'm afraid I have some bad news. It seems FOX is going to rob you of one of your hate-points. FOX is embracing Islam and will be shouting down anyone who disses the religion of peace... It won't be long now and all those skirt-wearing blondes running around the FOX studios will be covered from head to toe.

Surely I'm joking, right? Well... Considering that one of the largest shareholders in News Corp (the parent company of FOX) is none other than Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah. Yes, this is the same Prince bin Talal who tried to give Rudy Giuliani $10 million following the 9/11 attacks. The Mayor tore up the check and said no thanks to the cheers of 10 million Americans. Remember that seventeen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

What does it mean that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a large stake holder in News Corp and that Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp has bought a 9% share of The Rotana Group, a major media conglomerate in the Arab Middle East run by al Talal? Nothing good.

The FOX news division surely has autonomy and will report on Muslim, Middle East and Arab issues with its "fair and balanced" touch. Not so fast.

Dianna West reports on FOX's commentary of the Geert Wilders trial in The Netherlands. She writes:
I’ve grown used to Fox News and all other media ignoring not just the Wilders story but also the cultural story of the century, altogether – namely, the Islamization of Europe, something Wilders, a great admirer of Ronald Reagan and a committed supporter Israel, is dedicated to halt and reverse. The survival instinct of the Dutch, who, earlier this month gave unprecedented electoral victories to Wilders and his party, is a strong indicator that this civilizational transformation is not irreversible.

She Continues:
Regardless of cause or effect, the fact remains that in classifying Wilders as a fascist (Beck), denouncing his views as “extreme, radical and wrong” (Krauthammer), and slandering him as a “demagogue” (Kristol), Fox’s opinion-leaders expressed themselves in terms that surely thrilled not just Murdoch’s Islamic prince-cronies, but also the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). This is the organization driving the advance of sharia in the world...

This makes me sad on many levels - one, as a huge fan of Krauthammer I am dismayed that he doesn't see the danger Europe is in and that Wilders could very well be the Dutch Churchill. The Brits ignored Winston Churchill at their own peril. Secondly, I see this as another nail in the coffin of FOX's credibilty. The people on the center/right side of the political spectrum were buoyed by the introduction of FOX a decade ago as a safe habor in the sea of media leftism. But over the years FOX has slowly turned itself into a shoutfest network elevated by goofiness and lack of journalistic seriousness. It's hard to cut through the veneer of cultural liberal orthodoxy without a trusted and credible TV Network unafraid to present (and even defend) conservative views. Now this...

I used to consider the term FAUX News to be nothing but pure jealousy because FOX continues to beat the pants off CNN and MSNBC, but now I realize it was just a "descriptive" term.

Once again I am without a TV news organization that doesn't offend my sensibilities.



CW

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