Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

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  1

  fidelman

  07/29/08 | Report as spam

  I completely disagree

  You had me convinced the story was a legitimate one until you quote David Carr of the NYT. I find it interesting that the media is trying to ostracize aggressive Fox News journalism while not pointing out 60 Minutes, Dateline or 20/20. This is an obvious hit piece by a Newspaper and author that don't agree with the ideology of the Fox News Network. Why do you have to "honor" the NYT reporters? Who is holding them accountable for their bad stories?

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  2

  CRAIGZOS@...

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  I totally disagree. Why would anyone turn to the New York Times for any objective reporting or observations. They have NO crediblity. Mock and criticize your opponents on the air? The New York Times does exactly the same thing with their paper. Each uses their own media. The difference is that The New York Times wont report a story unless they agree with it and it's in alignment with their beliefs. So it's really not news that they are reporting, it's only stories and half stories that agree with their politics. And watch out if you dont agree with their politics! They dont want to debate it, they just want to shut up anyone who disagrees with them. So they make personal attacks instead of reporting the truth. Then, look what happens. Other orgs. like this one pick up the story and repeat it. Take this story for example. Look at the Headline! Does this story really deserve a headling like this? Is the story so powerful that it should even get this much attention? Go ahead and report it and repeat it over and over. And is this really true that it is " extraordinary recent piece by David Carr of the New York Times" What is so extraordinary about this? Oh, that's right, I forgot. You are too busy trying to prove that your politics are so right and should be force fed to everyone that disagrees. The truth of the matter is that the New York Times is a leader in closed thinking and intimdation of others who disagree, hence the spectacular headline for such a mediocre story, and no mention of the NYT's political disagreement with all things that are not far left.
  
  I've had my say.

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  3

  dooleymp

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Jon Greer sounds like he is letting his political views influence his article. If he thinks this "ass-kissing" is going to get him noticed at the New York Times, he is taking the wrong approach. Pucker up Jon. Fox news just doesn't put up with the far left wing mainstream media. They are a breath of fresh air after being given no alternative to NBC and the Communist News Network.

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  4

  JimBJimB

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Jon Greer if full of crap. Most of the negative PR hitting FNC is from the likes of the TIMES (which I never read) and others who just can't stand the thought that someone may find some good in our current time marker. As a successful ssles trainer who has helped many achieve their dreams, one of the first things I tell them to do is TURN OFF the morning news and don't read newspapers like the TIMES. By the way Jon, FNC IS increasing viewers AND ad revenues because most folks are simply tired of the politically motivated negative spearing of media like the TIMES (which is going down the tubes..readership and revenue-wise). But thanks for your imaginative engagement.

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  5

  RMMOORE

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  Think more. Talk Less.

  I agree that the media is biased. Some are left and some are right. There is no total left bias across the board. That is just propaganda. Hitler created a common enemy for constituents as well and look how his membership increased. To view FNC as fair and balanced is a joke. It just depends on the media outlet if they are, left, right or in the middle. In the end they are all, including FNC selling to a clientele. They will tell you whatever you want to hear. Think for yourself. Start by turning off the news and stop reading the paper. It's all propaganda.

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  6

  jbwolf

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  What Jon fails to realize, as do most, is that playing nice to journalists just keeps them more complacent and allows them to push whatever agenda they have instead of having both sides of the story debated. The article sounds like a typical election year article to bash a news network that doesn't conform to the days of yesteryear when when no one questioned the accuracy in journalism.

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  7

  franks@...

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Jon Greer may have all of the credentials and respect. But he's sounds like he's spending too much at the Kool-aid liberal biased media fountain that the NYT is well known for. Jon should instead be praising FNT for the fair and balanced reporting that continues to help this network grow, instead of stooping to citing NYT like they set some industry standard the media is suppose to use as a model. Isn't the NY Times the same organization that bore it's partisan colors by eagerly running an op-ed piece written by the presumed Democratic candidate, but refused to run one written by the presumed Republican candidate? So who's really setting a bad example for media relations here?

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  8

  Cranski

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  Pot calling the kettle black?

  Saying Fox sets a bad example for media relations is ridiculus in light of the network news and CNN's giant fall from relevancy. Every single day network and cable news sets the lowest example of how to run a business that meets customer priorities, by putting their priorities as how everyone should think. If Fox is indeed attacking other journalists then - hooray. Make a standard for journalists to compete and yes disagree, like the rest of the normal world. Journalists should not be exempt from the harshest critisms possible - it will only up their game. The customer/viewer would reap the benefits of accuracy, competitiveness and dare I say the lost integrity the media lacks.

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  9

  symurge@...

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Fox News and it's political agenda, gives them a lack of credibility and a bias image. For the uninformed watcher, they think this is real news.
  
  Let's educate our public about this, and these media giants will follow.
  
  But then again, is this what our itching ears want to hear?

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  10

  wendy@...

  07/30/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Faux News sets a bad example for human beings period. Their influence upon decent, upstanding conservatives with their one-sided and opinionated stance on today's issues is truly shameful. Their disdain and disprespect for any opinion outside of their own agenda is dispicable and teaches our younger generation to act hatefully towards their fellow citizens and dismiss efforts to enlighten them when they have been lead astray.
  
  In addition, they are homegrown terrorists with the likes of Bill O'Reilly talking of lynching Michelle Obama and many others who jokingly make inuendoes about killing liberals.
  
  I make it a point to subject myself to their ignorant propaganda once a week just to identify their advertisers who I will not consider doing business with.
  
  There are hundreds of thousands of like-minded professionals who feel the same. Just take a look at the numbers of petition signers of BraveNewFilms movements to stop Fox's hateful actions. All of these people are consumers who no longer do business with Faux advertisers.
  
  The numbers are growing every day as loyal viewers question the ever-increasingly outrageous views being shoved down their throats.
  
  I was a loyal Foxer until they started talking about war with Iraq after 9/11. There were no Iraqi's on those planes and the terrorist list held a majority of Saudi names. I just could not justify in my own mind how we were planning to avenge this most henious crime against our country by attacking a country with no involvement while holding hands with the Saudi's that killed our family members.
  
  First Faux wanted you to believe it was 9/11, then it became WMD, then it transformed into freeing a country of a despot, with continuous changes to the plot as needed to press on and justify the utter raping of a nation and grand oil theft while throwing trillions of dollars into the coffers of the war profiteers with close ties and even direct recipients to Washington and the Pentagon.
  
  Faux News covers Obama's campaign like vultures sitting on the wire just waiting for any little piece of red meat they can pick off and chew for days. They focus on diversionary topics such as lapel pins, race, religion, and any gaff made since the moment of birth to discredit the Democratic nominee. He's a black man, he's a muslim, he's got no foriegn experience. Then when he goes abroad and does what nominees have done throughout history, he's show boating.
  
  At the same time, while McCain complains of unequal air time, it's merely a symptom of their inability to discuss his actions which are rife with inept behavior. Did you hear one Faux News reporter talking about McCains reference to the Iraq / Pakistan border? Or the fact that he referred to President Putin as the President of Germany? Of course not! Heaven forbid we reveal the Republican nominee in a realistic portrayal!
  
  After all, McCain stands for Big Oil and Big Oil purchases a lot of commercial air time! Just have to love those Exxon commercials, don't you? As if this prompts us all to purchase more gasoline! We know how our oil monopoly is. Drop the commercials telling us how much you care Exxon and pass the savings on to us who really need it!
  
  Oh, and the big Pharma commercials are also another major spender of Faux News too. How many of you 'fair and balanced' fans have told your doctor what prescriptions you want to manage your health? How's that working out for you? Kind of like a chain reaction, huh? Need another 3 or 4 prescriptions to counter the side affects of the first poisen you were sold via commercial? It's a nice racket they have going indeed.
  
  The whole network needs a complete investigation by the FCC for using Pentagon-directed war propaganda and inciting acts of terrorism like what happened in Kentucky recently with hate-filled speech against targeted social classes. This is America, it's okay to like or not like an issue or group of people. It is not okay to encourage violence towards them - ever.

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  11

  jongreer

  07/31/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  To my critics above: Re-read the blog post. It was about PR, not media bias. I would have written the same basic post, and offered the same advice, if the bullies were the Times PR department.

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  12

  economaki@...

  08/01/08 | Report as spam

  Wow!

  Interesting comments. As a member of a niche media, bias can be found anywhere. PR has deteriorated to a deplorable practice (if one can call it that). Last year, someone pretty savvy said, "People don't watch/listen to/read the news to be informed, they do it to be affirmed."
  
  Unfortunately our public doesn't want to be informed, which produces news outlets across the board that provide what the folks want.
  
  I watch Fox News, read the NYTimes, and watch and read many other news outlets. It's the only way to find out what is really going on.

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  13

  MightyCaseyMedia

  08/14/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Whatever your politics - or your opinion of Fox News - the points Greer makes about the importance of PR not making itself the story are well taken. Defending your client is a good thing, using the equivalent of wrestling moves to do so is NOT a good thing.
  
  I suspect that the, um, aggressive approach Fox News takes toward its opinion-laden coverage is a through-and-through cultural norm.

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  LisaGreim

  08/18/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  The comments on this story are pretty terrifying.

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  15

  SamB'ham

  08/21/08 | Report as spam

  MSNBC, AND LEFT SLINGING NEWS PR.

  Here is something for you folks who think Fox is right leaning and the New York times is not. Oh, how about Olbermann on MSNBC, A man who has never had an opposing view on his show, now that's real American.
  
  
  Jack Wheeler is a brilliant man who was the author of Reagan's strategy to break the back of the Soviet Union
  with the star wars race and expose their inner weakness. For years he wrote a weekly intelligence update that was extremely interesting and well structured and informed. He consults(ed) with several mega
  corporations on global trends and the future, etc. I think he is in semi-retirement now. He is a true patriot with a no-nonsense approach to everything. He is also a somewhat well known mountain climber and adventurer.
  
  
  Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
  
  The O-man, Barack Hussein Obama, is an
  eloquently tailored empty suit. No resume, no accomplishments, no
  experience, no original ideas, no understanding of how the economy works,
  no understanding of how the world works, no balls, nothing but abstract
  empty rhetoric devoid of real substance.
  
  He has no real identity. He is half-white, which he rejects. The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he
  hides but is disclosed by his non-African Arabic surname and his Arabic
  first and middle names as a way to triply proclaim his Arabic parentage
  to people in Kenya . Only a small part of him is African Black from his
  Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is exclusively.
  
  What he isn't, not a genetic drop of, is 'African-American,' the descendant of enslaved Africans brought to
  America chained in slave ships. He hasn't a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead, his Arab ancestors were slave owners. Slave-trading was the main Arab business in East Africa for centuries until the British
  ended it.
  
  Let that sink in: Obama is not the descendant of slaves, he is the desc endant of slave owners. Thus he
  makes the perfect Liberal Messiah.
  
  It's something Hillary doesn't understand how some complete neophyte came out of the blue and stole the Dem
  nomination from her. Obamamania is beyond politics and reason. It is a true religious cult, whose adherents reject Christianity yet still believe in Original Sin, transferring it from the evil of being human to
  the evil of being white.
  
  Thus Obama has become the white liberals' Christ, offering
  absolution from the Sin of Being White.
  There is no reason or logic behind it, no fa ults or flaws of his can
  diminish it, no arguments Hillary could make of any kind
  can be effective against it. The absurdity of Hypocrisy Clothed In Human
  Flesh being their Savior is all the more cause for liberals to worship
  him: Credo quia absurdum, I believe it because it is absurd.
  
  Thank heavens that the voting majority of
  Americans remain Christian and are in no desperate need of
  a phony savior.
  
  His candidacy is ridiculous and should not be taken seriously by any thinking American.
  Pass this on to every thinking American you know!

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  16

  rvelarde

  08/22/08 | Report as spam

  MSNBC, AND LEFT SLINGING NEWS PR.

  "Here is something for you folks who think Fox is right leaning and the New York times is not. Oh, how about Olbermann on MSNBC, A man who has never had an opposing view on his show, now that's real American."
  
  Wow you are scary. Not to mention ignorant. You exemplify everything that is wrong with this country. Thanks for exposing yourself for the mindless piece of garbage you are.

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  17

  raoul27

  08/22/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  reading the above talkbacks again confirms what I see on most blogs, the majority of people aren't stupid.
  
  Fox News stands out as "right of center" because the mainstream media and CNN are so far left-biased that ANY competitor positioned to their right sticks out like a sore thumb.
  
  "fair and balanced" is right on!

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  18

  raoul27

  08/22/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  and BTW Jon Greer
  
  certainly you liberals in SF can put into play the Fairness Doctrine which you so love.
  
  How bout a piece on your boss (CBS) and their PR blunders regarding the Dan Rather fiasco!

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  19

  IMLaughlin

  09/10/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Sorry, I'm buying none of it. Carr gives away his NY Times bias with the sentiment: "Fox News found a huge runway and enormous success by setting aside the conventions of bloodless objectivity...." NYT talking about objectivity?
  I'm a channel flipping news & commentary hound. Concluded Fox has more balance than the traditional three plus CNN. My criteria: If one could view only one news organization, which would provide the most varied and balanced news. It would be Fox. I find that most people who repeat the Fox is Evil mantra don't even watch it. They can't see their own bias for the trees. Fox has forced other outlets to address new and issues that they previously were able to bury by benign neglect. For this, I nominate Fox as the best thing to help balance American journalism in 30 years.

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  20

  Red Pen

  09/12/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  >> Credo quia absurdum, I believe it because it is absurd
  
  That about sums you up, SamB'ham. Talk about drinking the Kool-aid....
  
  Back on topic: Judging by the comments here, I think the PR operation's focus on Fox's political agenda *is* supporting its business objectives (increased viewership and, as a result, advertising).
  
  Let's cut the "fair and balanced" bull -- because there aren't any news organizations that fit that tagline, including the one using it. People who think most media is left-leaning typically watch FNC. Fox has no competition, no other news channel that delivers news the way it does. It has cornered its market because of its branding as right-leaning.
  
  Although the bullying certainly has damaged FNC's reputation among professionals, I would argue that maintaining good relations with other news organizations is not part of its business objectives. Most Fox viewers don't care that their news channel of choice behaves this way; they continue to watch, Fox continues to make money. Business goals achieved.

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  21

  steven.wisz@...

  10/16/08 | Report as spam

  RE: Fox News Sets a Bad Example for Media Relations

  Thank God for FOX News. All the programs allow the other side to air their view of a topic, while NYT and MSNBC do not. Say what you want about FOX News, but all political sides pay attention to it because it is much more informative than any of the other networks and newspapers.