The Fox Effect: How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine

by David Brock

  23. America’s Newsroom, Fox News Channel, April 15, 2009; “Fox News’ Tea Party Coverage Makes Mockery of Claim That Network Provides ‘Straight … News’ in Daytime,” MediaMatters.org, April 16, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200904160022.

  24. Happening Now, Fox News Channel, April 15, 2009; “Fox News’ Tea Party Coverage Makes Mockery.”

  25. New York Times/CBS National Survey of Tea Party Supporters, April 5–10, 2010, s3.amazonaws.com/nytdocs/docs/312/312.pdf#page=35.

  26. The Situation Room, CNN, April 13, 2009; “Kurtz: ’The Question Is Whether Rupert Murdoch’s Network Wants to Be So Closely Identified with What Has Become an Anti-Obama Protest Movement,” MediaMatters.org, April 13, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200904130027.

  27. James Rainey, “Fox News, MSNBC Prejudge ‘Tea Parties,’ ” Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2009, articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/15/entertainment/et-onthemedia15.

  28. Ari Rabin-Havt, “Rupert Murdoch Lied to Me (Personally),” Huffington Post, August 17, 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-rabin-havt/rupert-murdoch-lied-to-me_b_685180.html.

  29. Flyer for Cincinnati Tea Party Tax Day Tea Party 2010, www.cincinnatitea party.org/Media/CTP_TAX_DAY_RALLY_FLIER.pdf.

  30. Jane Prendergast, “Sean Hannity, Tax Day Rally Expected to Draw Thousands,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 13, 2010, news.cincinnati.com/article/20100413

  /NEWS0108/4140317/Sean-Hannity-Tax-Day-rally

  -expected-to-draw-thousands.

  31. Matea Gold, “Fox News Yanks Sean Hannity from Cincinnati Tea Party Rally He Was Set to Star in,” Show Tracker (blog), Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2010, latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/04/fox-news-cancels-hannity-taping-at-cincinnati-tea-party-rally-.html.

  32. Interview with Media Matters for America conducted by Joe Strupp, May 16, 2011.

  33. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, July 30, 2009; “Out of Touch: Conservative Media Argue Insured Don’t Need Health Care Reform,” MediaMatters.org, August 4, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908040021.

  34. Hannity, Fox News Channel, July 19, 2009; “Hannity Fear-Mongering on Health Care: Gov’t Rationing Body Will Tell Women with Breast Cancer, ‘You’re Dead,’ ” MediaMatters.org, June 19, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906190039.

  35. Hannity, Fox News Channel, July 29, 2009; “Rove’s Latest Distortion: Dems Plan $1T ‘Price Tag’ for Health Reform,” MediaMatters.org, July 30, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200907300005.

  36. Special Report, Fox News Channel, June 29, 2009; “Fox’s Baier Falsely Suggests Obama Has Cited Canada as Possible Health Reform Model,” MediaMatters.org, June 30, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200906300005.

  37. Hannity, Fox News Channel, June 16, 2009; “Conservative Media Run with False IBD Claim that Health Bill Outlaws Private Coverage,” MediaMatters.org, July 17, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200907170005.

  38. Interview with Media Matters for America conducted by Joe Strupp, May 17, 2011.

  39. Tom Wolfe, “Revolutionaries,” New York Post, June 30, 2003, www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_nypost-revolutionaries.htm.

  40. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tfu82e00/pdf?search=%22betsy%20 mccaughey%22.

  41. Andy Plattner, “Big Tobacco’s Toughest Road,” US News & World Report, April 17, 1989, available at Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/buq37b00/pdf.

  42. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/sqr86d00/pdf?search=%22cauti%20ailes %20communications%22.

  43. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/uhb03e00/pdf.

  44. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/mgs57c00/pdf.

  45. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kqq74e00/pdf?search=%22ailes%22.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ptk53e00/pdf.

  48. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco, legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/upq91a00/pdf.

  49. The Fred Thompson Show, July 16, 2009; “Media Echo Serial Misinformer McCaughey’s False End-of-Life Counseling Claim,” MediaMatters.org, July 31, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200907310051.

  50. “McCaughey Claims End-of-Life Counseling Will Be Required for Medicare Patients,” Politifact.com, July 16, 2009, politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/23/betsy-mccaughey/mccaughey-claims-end-life-counseling-will-be-requi/.

  51. “Statement on the Current Health Care Debate,” Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, August 7, 2009, www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=113851103434.

  52. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 10, 2009; “Echoing Palin, Kilmeade Said Health Care Bill Mandates Elderly Go ‘in Front of Death Panel,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 10, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908100002.

  53. Special Report, Fox News Channel, August 13, 2009; “Special Report Portrays ‘Death Panels’ Issue as He Said/She Said Issue,” MediaMatters.org, August 14, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908140026.

  54. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 19, 2009; “After Repeated Debunkings of ‘Death Panels,’ Conservative Media Backtrack to ‘De Facto Death Panels,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 19, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908190053.

  55. CNN/Opinion Research Poll, September 14, 2009, i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/14/rel14b2.pdf.

  56. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, January 3, 2011; “Napolitano Falsely Claims There Are Now Death Panels That Will ‘Tell Grandma and Grandpa … How and When to Die,’ ” MediaMatters.org, January 3, 2011, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201101030034.

  57. The Glenn Beck Program, Premiere Radio Networks, November 19, 2009, “Beck Insists Audience “Must Not Allow” Health Care Bill to Pass, Warns It Would Mean “the End of America as You Know It,” mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911190012.

  58. Hannity, Fox News Channel, March 21, 2010; “Hannity: Health Care Reform Is ‘the Most Irresponsible Piece of Domestic Legislation in Our Lifetime,’ ” MediaMatters.org, March 21, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003210024.

  59. Fox Nation, August 14, 2009: “ ‘Fox Nation Victory!’ Declared: ‘Senate Removes “End of Life” Provision,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 14, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908140001.

  60. FoxNation.com, August 17, 2009; “ ‘Fox Nation Victory!’ Declared: ‘Obama Backs Down from Gov’t-Run Health Care!’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 17, 2009, mediamatters.org/blog/200908170001.

  61. FoxNation.com, July 24, 2009; “Yet Another Fox Nation ‘Victory!’: ‘Congress Delays Health Care Rationing Bill,’ ” MediaMatters.org, July 24, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907240003.

  62. The Sean Hannity Show, Premiere Radio Networks, July 29, 2009; “CBS, Fox Reports on Town Hall Disruptions Ignore Conservative Strategy,” MediaMatters.org, August 5, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908050017.

  63. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 3, 2009; “Fair & Balanced: Fox & Friends Guest-Host Fearmongers over Euthanasia, Hosts Urge Listeners to Contact Congress,” MediaMatters.org, August 3, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908030014.

  64. Rachel Slajda, “Teabaggers Try to Shout Down Health Care Reform at Town Halls,” TPMDC (blog), Talking Points Memo, August 3, 2009, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/teabaggers-try-to-shout-down-health-care-reform-at-town-halls.php.

  65. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 3, 2009; “Fair & Balanced: Fox & Friends Guest-Host Fearmongers.”

  66. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 4, 2009; “Fox at It Again: Now Promoting Anti–Health Reform Disruptions of Town Halls,” MediaMatters.org, August 4, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908040054.

  67. Hannity, Fox News Channel, August 3, 2009; ibid.

 
68. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, “Drowning Out Opposing Views Is Simply Un-American,” USA Today, August 10, 2009.

  69. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 10, 2009; “Carlson, Doocy Falsely Claim Pelosi Called Health Reform Opponents ‘Un-American,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 10, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908100007.

  70. Ibid.

  71. Hannity, Fox News Channel, August 11, 2009; “Hannity Falsely Claims ‘We’ve Had Hard-Working Americans Called Nazis and Brownshirts and un-American by Pelosi,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 11, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908110054?lid=1058105&rid=33202694.

  72. “After Pelosi Noted that Protesters Had Swastika Signs, Media Claim She Called Them Nazis,” MediaMatters.org, August 11, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908110023.

  73. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 24, 2009; “Fox News Freak-Out: Guests Make Extreme Claims and Accusations About Health Care,” MediaMatters.org, August 24, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908240129.

  74. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 19, 2009; “Doocy Finds Fault with ‘Rude’ Frank, Not Protester Who Compared Obama to Hitler,” MediaMatters.org, August 19, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200908190020.

  75. “Rep. Frank Condemns Those Comparing Obama to Hitler,” NECN.com (New England Cable News), April 18, 2009, www.necn.com/Boston/NECN-Extra/2009/08/18/Rep-Frank-condemns-those/1250643022.html.

  76. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, August 31, 2009; “Will Fox & Friends Set Story Straight on NH Town Hall?” MediaMatters.org, September 3, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200909030055?lid=1062390&rid=34213490.

  77. John DiStaso, “John DiStaso’s Granite Status: Another National GOP Boost for Ayotte,” New Hampshire Union Leader, September 8, 2009, via “Will Fox & Friends Set Story Straight on NH Town Hall?” MediaMatters.org, September 3, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200909030055.

  78. Howard Kurtz, “Journalists, Left Out of the Debate,” Washington Post, August 24, 2009; www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/ 2009/08/23/AR2009082302173.html.

  79. “Report: Fox News’ Town Hall Coverage Amplifies Opponents of Health Care Reform, Ignores Supporters,” MediaMatters.org, September 8, 2009, mediamatters.org/research/200909080004.

  80. On the Record, Fox News Channel, August 25, 2009.

  81. America’s Newsroom, Fox News Channel, August 28, 2009.

  82. Ibid.

  83. “Report: Fox News’ Town Hall Coverage Amplifies Opponents.”

  84. CNN Newsroom, CNN, August 25, 2009, transcripts.cnn.com/transcripts/0908/25/cnr.07.html.

  85. Bachmann Healthcare Town Hall, August 27, 2009, Lake Elmo, MN, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ybA8aWPyEA.

  86. C-SPAN, August 25, 2009; Jamison Foser, “Hey, MSNBC/CNN: Let’s See You Play This Clip All Week,” County Fair (blog), MediaMatters.org, August 25, 2009, mediamatters.org/blog/200908250059.

  87. “Report: Fox News’ Town Hall Coverage Amplifies Opponents.”

  88. Ibid.

  89. Rosalind S. Helderman, “U.S. Rep. James P. Moran, Howard Dean Appear at Health-Care Town Hall in Reston,” Washington Post, August 26, 2009, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/25/AR2009082503413.html.

  90. “Report: Fox News’ Town Hall Coverage Amplifies Opponents.”

  91. Ibid.

  92. William Kristol, “Defeating President Clinton’s Health Care Proposal,” December 2, 1993, viewed at Brad DeLong’s Egregious Moderation (blog), delong.typepad.com/

  egregious_moderation/2009/03/william-kristol-defeating

  -president-clintons-health-care-proposal.html.

  93. The Rush Limbaugh Show, EIB Network, February 8, 2010, www.rush limbaugh.com/

  home/daily/site_020810/content/01125108.guest.html.

  94. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, February 11, 2010; “Fox’s Johnson Jr. Calls Health Care Summit a ‘Trap,’ Says Bill Must ‘Start from Scratch’ to Be Bipartisan,” MediaMatters.org, February 11, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002110009.

  95. Brian and the Judge, Fox News Radio, February 10, 2010; “Napolitano Agrees with Limbaugh: Health Care Summit ‘a Trap [Obama’s] Setting for the Republicans’ on Road to Socialism,” MediaMatters.org, February 10, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002100026.

  96. The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, February 24, 2010; “An O’Reilly Factor Hat Trick: Rove, Morris, and Schoen Repeat Falsehoods on the Eve of Health Care Summit,” MediaMatters.org, February 25, 2010, www.media mattersinstitute.org/research/201002250003.

  97. Ibid.

  98. The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, February 25, 2010; “Right-Wing Media ‘Bor[ed]’ by Health Care Summit,” MediaMatters.org, February 25, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201002250074.

  99. Glenn Beck e‑mail newsletter, February 25, 2010; “Right-Wing Media ‘Bor[ed]’ by Health Care Summit.”

  100. Special Report, Fox News Channel, February 25, 2010; “Conservatives Say Obama ‘Lowered Himself’ with Participation in Health Summit ‘Beneath’ His Office,” MediaMatters.org, February 25, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201002250073.

  101. The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, February 25, 2010; “Conservatives Say Obama ‘Lowered Himself’ with Participation in Health Summit ‘Beneath’ His Office.”

  102. Special Report, Fox News Channel, February 25, 2010; “Garrett Presents Obama’s Rebuttal of GOP Health Care Falsehoods as He-Said/He-Said,” MediaMatters.org, February 25, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201002250069.

  103. Ibid.

  104. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, March 11, 2010; “Doocy Baselessly Claims Slaughter Is Angling to Pass Health Care Reform Without a Vote,” MediaMatters.org, March 11, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201003110037.

  105. Special Report, Fox News Channel, February 24, 2010; “Baier Claims Reconciliation ‘Was Once Called the Nuclear Option’ to Falsely Suggest Dem Hypocrisy,” MediaMatters.org, February 24, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201002240062.

  106. Hannity, Fox News Channel, February 25, 2010; “Myths and Falsehoods on Budget Reconciliation,” MediaMatters.org, March 15, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201003150034#5.

  107. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, March 16, 2010; “Beck on Health Bill: ‘If This Passes, They Will Control Every Aspect of Your Life,’ Including Whether You Can Have Children,” MediaMatters.org, March 16, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003160046.

  108. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, March 19, 2010; “Beck: If Health Care Passes, ‘Don’t We Lose Really the Democratic Party to the Socialists?’ ” MediaMatters.org, March 19, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003190075.

  109. America’s Newsroom, Fox News Channel, March 19, 2010; “Hemmer Perpetuates Debunked Health Care Myth: ‘Could People Be Going to Jail for Not Owning Health Insurance?’ ” MediaMatters.org, March 19, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003190031.

  110. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, March 18, 2010; “Fox & Friends’ Chyron on Health Care Reform: ‘Don’t Do It!’ ” MediaMatters.org, March 18, 2010, mediamatters.org/blog/201003180005.

  111. Laura Ingraham, Twitter, March 19, 2010; “Kitchen Sink: Fox’s Last-Ditch Effort to Rally Opposition to Health Care Reform,” MediaMatters.org, March 19, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201003190058.

  112. Bill O’Reilly, “Obamacare: Truth vs. Propaganda,” FoxNews.com, March 5, 2010, www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588139,00.html.

  113. “Keep Calling Congress”: “ ‘Kill the Bill’: Fox’s Year-Long Open Activism Against Health Care Reform,” MediaMatters.org, March 22, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201003220077.

  114. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, March 17, 2010; “ ‘Kill the Bill’: Fox’s Year-Long Open Activism Against Health Care Reform,” MediaMatters.org, March 22, 2010, mediamatters.org/research/201003220077.

  115. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, March 18, 2010; “ ‘Kill the Bill’: Fox’s Year-Long Open Activism Against Health Care Reform.”

  116. Interview with Media Matters for America conducted by Joe Strupp, May 16, 2011.

/>   Chapter 6: Violent Rhetoric

  1. Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, July 28, 2009; “Beck: Obama Has ‘Exposed Himself as a Guy’ with ‘a Deep-Seated Hatred for White People,’ ” MediaMatters.org, July 28, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Glenn Beck, CNN Headline News, November 14, 2006; “CNN’s Beck to First-Ever Muslim Congressman: ‘[W]hat I Feel Like Saying Is, “Sir, Prove to Me that You Are Not Working with Our Enemies,” ’ ” MediaMatters.org, November 15, 2006, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200611150004.

  4. Tom Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2,” The Politics Blog, Esquire, January 27, 2011, www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/roger-ailes-quotes-5072437.

  5. “Nixon’s Roger Ailes,” Washington Post, February 13, 1972, www.scribd.com/doc/53543922/Roger-Ailes-I-Dont-Try-to-Fool-Voters.

  6. David Axelrod at First Draft of History Conference, video at link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid42953000001?bctid=44135339001 (thirty-four-minute mark).

  7. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, August 27, 2009; “Beck Crops Obama to Fearmonger About ‘Crazy Things’ Like ‘Civilian National Security Force,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 27, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908270033.

  8. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel, August 27, 2009; “Beck Claims Obama’s ‘Civilian National Security Force’ Is ‘What Hitler Did with the SS,’ ‘What Saddam Hussein Did,’ ” MediaMatters.org, August 27, 2009, mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908270036.

  9. Simon Greer, “Government Is Essential to Quest for Social Justice,” On Faith (blog) Washington Post, April 14, 2010, newsweek.washingtonpost.com/

  onfaith/guestvoices/2010/04/mr_beck_-_you_are.html.

  10. The Glenn Beck Program, Premiere Radio Networks, May 28, 2010; “Beck Attacks Jewish Funds for Justice’s Simon Greer; Says Putting ‘the Common Good’ First ‘Leads to Death Camps,’ ” MediaMatters.org, May 28, 2010, mediamatters.org/mmtv/201005280022.

  11. Letter from Jewish leaders to Rupert Murdoch, obtained by Media Matters, July 1, 2010.

  12. Letter from Roger Ailes to Jewish leaders, obtained by Media Matters, July 9, 2010.