https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/media/fox-news-uk-ofcom/index.html The insurrection at the US Capitol has sparked a political firestorm and unnerved millions of Americans. It has also unleashed a wave of criticism over the role played by pro-Trump media outlets such as Fox News, which fed lies and conspiracy theories about the election to angry supporters of the president for weeks. "The mob that stormed and desecrated the Capitol ... could not have existed in a country that hadn't been radicalized by the likes of [Fox News hosts] Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, and swayed by biased news coverage," wrote Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan. But are the airwaves of any democracy free of this kind of harmful propaganda and downright fiction? The United Kingdom, for one, comes pretty close. Though the UK media scene is defined in part by a freewheeling and often partisan tabloid press with its own share of conspiracy theories, its TV newschannels largely frame their coverage down the middle, with broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV maintaining high levels of public trust. Rupert Murdoch's Fox News is no longer on air in the country after failing to generate a significant viewer base. A big factor in this is media regulator Ofcom, which enforces rules on impartiality and accuracy for all news broadcasters. Those who breach the rules can be censured or fined — putting pressure on TV channels to play stories fairly straight. Russian state-funded news channel RT, for example, was slapped with a £200,000 ($272,000) penalty for repeatedly breaking impartiality rules in its 2018 coverage of the poisonings of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, as well as the conflict in Syria. It has not been fined since. "What the impartiality rules do is ensure you cannot have the kind of shock jock culture — [a] far right, or indeed far left, one-sided interpretation of events," said Steven Barnett, a professor of media and communication at the University of Westminster. The UK system isn't perfect. A review of BBC coverage ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum found that its main news program was more negative on the European Union than Russian President Vladimir Putin. And two new media ventures expected to launch shortly could again push the limits of what's allowed. But according to experts, the framework has protected against the kind of disinformation peddled by Fox News in the United States. No Fox News Ofcom, which was established in 2003, has two important standards that the news broadcasters it licenses must abide by — "due impartiality" and "due accuracy." This does not mean that equal time needs to be given on television and radio to both sides of an issue. But broadcasters do have a responsibility at least to acknowledge opposing viewpoints, and to quickly correct "significant mistakes." When Fox News was on the air in the United Kingdom, its top stars were found to have violated the regulator's rules. Ofcom said that a Hannity program about President Donald Trump's executive order restricting travel from seven majority-Muslim countries didn't do enough to surface the viewpoints of those who opposed the order. Ofcom also said that a separate Carlson broadcast following the 2017 Manchester terror attack — which included claims that UK authorities had done nothing to stop terrorism or to protect "thousands of underage girls" from rape and abuse — did not adequately reflect alternate perspectives. Fox News was pulled off air in the United Kingdom later in 2017 when Murdoch, the billionaire chairman of News Corp and Fox News' parent company, was seeking government approval to purchase the shares he didn't own of European pay TV network Sky.(He ended up selling his Sky holdings to Comcast.) 21st Century Fox, the network's parent company at the time, said it made the decision because Fox News had attracted "only a few thousand viewers across the day" in the United Kingdom, and it didn't make commercial sense to continue broadcasting. But the move alsocame amid scrutiny from Ofcom, which had previously slammed Fox's handling of sexual harassment allegations against former network boss Roger Ailes and former star host Bill O'Reilly, calling their alleged conduct "deeply disturbing." Such warnings hint at the trouble Fox News could have faced had it stuck it out during the Trump era. Hefty penalties awarded to other channels, such as RT, have effectively communicated the consequences of slipping up to media executives, said Trevor Barnes, a TV and radio compliance consultant and former Ofcom official. "They're aware that if they misbehave, they'll be hit with a fine," he said. The United States, meanwhile, doesn't have these kinds of rules — and hasn't since the Reagan era, when the Federal Communications Commission stopped enforcing the so-called Fairness Doctrine for TV and radio stations. Historians believe the demise of this rule, which required broadcasters to present a variety of views on issues of public importance, paved the way for the explosion of conservative talk radio in the late 1980s and 1990s, which later served as a model for Fox. Those talk radio shows continue to be popular today. As a cable network, Fox News wouldn't have been bound by the doctrine, which only applied to broadcast channels. But Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University and CNN contributor, said its removal changed the rules of the game. "It served as a kind of check," Zelizer said. "It was always on the mind of everyone who was in the news business." Now, even members of the Murdoch family are reckoning with the role Fox News has played. James Murdoch, who made a dramatic break from his family last year when he resigned from the board of News Corp, said in a statement on Friday that "spreading disinformation" has "real world consequences." While he did not mention Fox News by name, it was clear his focus was on the network controlled by his father and brother. "Many media property owners have as much responsibility for this as the elected officials who know the truth but choose instead to propagate lies. We hope the awful scenes we have all been seeing will finally convince those enablers to repudiate the toxic politics they have promoted once and forever," James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn Murdoch, said in a joint statement to the Financial Times. New networks may test the system The United Kingdom has largely watched the Capitol riot and its aftermath in horror. "The events ... have been the ultimate demonstration of what can happen when those fundamental pillars of democracy break down: accurate information [and] fair information," Barnett said. But two outlets expected to debut shortly in the United Kingdom could test the bounds of the regulatory system, including Ofcom's appetite for enforcement. Murdoch's UK operation, which still controls three big British newspapers — The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times — is working on a new video venture, having recently received a license under the name News UK TV. Details haven't been announced. Meanwhile, upstart competitor GB News, which recently secured £60 million ($81 million) from investors, is hiring journalists as it prepares to launch a 24-hour news channel. "Many British people are crying out for a news service that is more diverse and more representative of their values and concerns," former BBC host Andrew Neil, who will serve as the chairman of GB News, said in a statement last week. Neil was previously the editor of Murdoch's Sunday Times and executive chairman of Sky TV. Critics fear the News UK TV venture and GB News could move to take on the BBC and fill a perceived gap in right-wing broadcasting, sparking concerns about whether UK regulators are up to the task of maintaining due impartiality, or whether Britain could soon have its own Fox News-type problem. Both outlets may play things fairly safe at first, and Barnes noted that the rules will give them some latitude. "There's no requirement under due impartiality for a channel not to have a bias," he said. "All it requires is you reflect, to a pretty small degree, what the opposing viewpoint is." But Barnett is worried that over time, there could be a slow erosion of norms — combined with an anti-Ofcom push from Murdoch's powerful papers, who may level criticisms of a "nanny state regulator telling us what we can and can't say." News Corp declined to comment. "I will make a prediction that within a year we will see a concerted attack within the Murdoch press on Ofcom," he said. And if support for the regulator fades, all bets will be off.
Fox news is getting crushed in the ratings. Newsmax and OAN are taking a lot of share, T and VZ need to step up and not include those two in their packages. I am for freedom of the press, but those two networks are nothing but lies and should not be considered news. If this doesn't happen Fox will have no choice but to go further right to compete which will make our country a far worse place. The cable companies need to give Fox their viewers back, it is by far the lesser evil.
Yes, Fox News had only 6 of the top 7 cable shows last year. https://deadline.com/2020/12/ratings-cable-news-networks-2020-1234660751/
You do realized that that's because it's the only major news outlet broadcasting conspiracy theories as facts. So they get all of the clown viewership. Whereas normal viewers are divided up among the other major non-conspiracy-pushing networks.
Since I haven't subscribed to cable TV for about 30 years, I didn't know that. And I would have thought one particular network would be a favorite of clowns.
Do you guys ever tell the truth? Ever? Fact check: Democrats have condemned violence linked to BLM, anti-fascist protests Camille Caldera USA TODAY meme posted to Facebook claims that Democrats have turned a blind eye on violent protests. “Not a single Democrat has condemned nor called for an end of the BLM and ANTIFA caused violence,” the post reads. “They are aiding and abetting mass violence across the country.” The text is accompanied by a photo of Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The image was taken by J. Scott Applewhite of the Associated Press June 20, 2018, when Democrats called for an end to family separations at the border with Mexico. The user who posted the meme did not respond to a request from USA TODAY for comment. Fact check:Video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi altered, selectively edited Top Democrats told Black Lives Matter activists to steer clear of violence Multiple high-profile Democrats have spoken out against violence at Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer in May. On May 31, the fifth night of demonstrations, former Vice President Joe Biden, the party’s presumptive nominee, wrote in a statement that protesting police brutality is “right and necessary” and the “American response." “But burning down communities and needless destruction is not,” Biden wrote. “Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.” On June 3, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the majority whip of the House of Representatives, told The Washington Post that the movement for racial justice suffers when it is “hijacked” by violence. "We have to make sure we do not allow ourselves to play the other person’s game,” Clyburn said. “Peaceful protest is our game. Violence is their game. Purposeful protest is our game. This looting and rioting, that's their game. We cannot allow ourselves to play their game." Clyburn said he encourages young activists to remember the “purpose” of their efforts: “to make a better country, a better world, for those who must come after us.” “Breaking out a window will not contribute to that. Setting a fire, throwing stones at police officers, that’s destructive behavior, which will not contribute to anything that will make this a better country and make a better future for our children and our grandchildren,” he said. Black leaders in many communities have echoed these calls, urging protesters not to shift their focus from "justice" to "violence." Some also blamed the violence on "white fringe elements" infiltrating the demonstrations. And after clashes between protesters and police turned violent in Chicago last weekend, Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot said there is "no justification for criminal behavior," according to The New York Times. "There cannot be any excuse for it, period. This was not legitimate First Amendment protected speech," she said. "To those who engaged in this criminal behavior, let's be clear: We are coming for you." Fact check:Viral post claiming Dems didn't wear masks at John Lewis' funeral uses photo from 2015 Democrats have condemned antifa violence It's unclear if anti-fascist activists are responsible for violence committed at protests this summer. fact-check from The Washington Post in June found that there was no link between violent protests and antifa. That's in part because "antifa is a moniker, not a single group," so it's difficult to attribute any violence directly to that movement, which is focused on opposition to fascism and racism. After recent protests in Portland, Oregon, for example, federal prosecutors produced no evidence to link the people arrested to the antifa or anarchist movements, according to Reuters. Regardless of whether that violence is attributable to anti-fascist activists, the city's Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler recently condemned the actions of some protesters, including attempts to set fire to police union headquarters. "When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people who you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder," he said, according to The Washington Post. In addition, when there have been clear instances of violence attributed to anti-fascist activists, some Democrats have spoken out against it. In 2017, Pelosi condemned “the violent actions of people calling themselves antifa" after a protest in Berkley, California, according to The Washington Post. “Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts,” Pelosi said at the time. Fact check:Federal agents in Portland are not mercenaries provided by Erik Prince Our rating: False Based on our research, the claim that "not a single" Democrat has condemned violence at Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist protests is FALSE. Top Democrats including Joe Biden and James Clyburn have spoken out against violence at Black Lives Matter demonstrations, as have some leaders of the movement itself. Our fact-check sources: Medium Statement from Joe Biden, May 31, We are a nation furious at injustice. Washington Post, June 3, Race in America: A Conversation with House Majority Whip James Clyburn Des Moines Register, May 31, 'We're losing the message about justice': Des Moines community leaders fear attention now focused on violence Associated Press, July 3, Violence mars Portland protests, frustrates Black community New York Times, Aug. 10, Chicago Police Arrest More Than 100 People After Looting Batters Downtown Washington Post, June 22, "Who caused the violence at protests? It wasn’t antifa." Reuters, Aug. 4, "U.S. prosecutors do not charge Portland protesters with antifa ties" Washington Post, Aug. 9, "‘You can’t control people’s anger’: Portland protesters set fire to police union headquarters as tensions rise again" Washington Post, Aug. 30, 2017, "Pelosi condemns ‘violent actions’ of antifa protesters" Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.