Fox News opinion programs are the biggest source of disinformation. DDAD
Defenders of Democracy Against Disinfo is a grassroots, nonprofit group. They have analyzed how Fox manages to evade restrictions and profit from spreading disinformation that polarizes Americans and destroying our democracy. They have five practical things you can do to help counter Fox spreading propaganda.
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Fox poses a unique danger
Fox disinformation campaigns are much more than just journalistic bias or simply bad journalism; their scope and power pose an existential threat to our democracy. Attempts to equate extremist media, such as Fox, with mainstream media result in false equivalencies. In terms of intentional or inadvertent promotion of misinformation, Fox is in a league of its own reports DDAD:
- The time dedicated to communicating misinformation and avoiding reality-based information
- The intensity of audience outrage deliberately generated
- The degree to which the misinformation communicated is demonstrably false
The plausible, evidenced argument has been made that America's current high level of angry political polarization can be attributed to Fox News.
What Fox does
Fox is not “fair and balanced,” despite that claim being its historic slogan. Even considering its daytime programming -- which is increasingly infected with segments from evening opinion programming -- it is not a source of actual news from a conservative perspective. DDAD reports that how some or all Fox opinion program hosts:
- Deny facts
- Skirt inconvenient information that undermines their arguments
- Histrionically repeat questionable information or outright misrepresentations
- Impugn the motives and integrity of those who offer alternative viewpoints
- Make viewers less knowledgeable than even those who watch no news at all
- Are relentlessly partisan -- supporting one party, no matter the facts, and delegitimizing any American not sharing the host's political views
- Overtly support white nationalism and use rhetoric designed to inflame their audiences
DDAD campaigns to counter FOX "News"
Support local news reporting - SEE RECOMMENDED LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS HERE. Experts across many fields endorse local news reporting as an essential bulwark against disinformation media. We can fight back against Fox by supporting high-quality local reporting.
Avoid paying Fox “News” $2/month by choosing one of the four Fox-News-free options - Years of appeals to cable providers to allow subscribers to avoid paying for Fox “News” have gotten very little in the way of results. See the FOX-NEWS-FREE TV CAMPAIGN for the options available that DDAD recommends you subscribe to if possible.
Pressure TV providers to offer more packages that allow subscribers to deselect Fox “News” DDAD has posted an OPEN LETTER FROM MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS TO TV PROVIDERS stating that COVID-19 disinformation has made it imperative that all TV providers offer a basic package that allows subscribers to deselect Fox “News.”
Learn more about these campaigns and why other approaches have not worked here.
Resources
The images used in this Fight FOX 'News' Propaganda Power Map are available in this folder.
TakeAway: Support Defenders of Democracy Against Disinformation.
Deepak
DemLabs
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