This is a very current analysis of the pathological relationship between the Trump administration and the Fox News empire of Rupert Murdock by the CNN media reporter and host of it’s weekend show Reliable Sources. It covers the period from before Trump’s election up to August of this year.
The revolving door between the Trump inner circle of appointments and the sycophantic talking heads at Fox News is hardly news, but the extent to which individuals are willing to lie and deceive to further the relationship is alarming. The backstabbing and intrigue within the Fox News empire makes most office politics look like child’s play. The few true reporters who maintain some integrity and sense of a need to stick to facts, such as Shep Smith are all gradually abandoning Fox, where the journalistic firewall between news and opinion has ceased to exist.
Both Fox News bosses and Trump are dedicated to maximizing ratings and earnings without regard to any adherence to facts and the two-way mutual admiration society makes a mockery of any suggestion that there is such a thing as objective truth in modern reporting. Stelter documents that Trump has been a guest on Fox News shows on average at least once every two weeks and calls Fox anchors even more often. It is a two way street with Trump obsessively watching Fox and Fox News people obsessively checking to see if Trump is watching their shows and approving of their rants. All the while, both are checking to see what tweets, outrageous comments, and lies most appeal to the dedicated Fox viewers who constitute the Trump base. Stelter shows that more of the Tump policy decisions are made by Fox News personnel or former Fox personnel than by his few expert cabinet members whom he largely ignores. Who wants a country run by Fox News?
The pervasive hypocrisy and misogyny at Fox while under the control of the late disgraced Roger Ailes is described in detail, with female on-camera personnel instructed to show “tits up, hair back” at desks that were designed with glass tops to show off their legs while wardrobe and makeup artists dictated the length of their skirts.
There is one area where Stelter falters. In a book about U.S. politics and journalism, it may be appropriate to ignore the rest of the world. But Stelter quotes Jay Rosen, the professor and chair of the Department of Journalism at New York University, (who it seems is not a Reliable Source), when he calls the U.S, ”….the country that is known for having the freest press in the world.” According to the Reporters Without Borders’ Index of Press Freedom, an allegedly objective web analysis site, the United States ranks #25 in press freedom, below such countries as Canada (#16) Costa Rica (#7) and Norway (#1). Although the journalism professor should stick to facts, a member of the press who is writing a book about truth in the media, should also be on to this lie and correct it. Such ingrained Yankee boosterism is an annoying common feature of American writers of all stripes.
This is an insider’s analysis of a phenomenon that deserves our attention. Entering into and understanding the alternate fantasy world that Trump and his fans live in is frightening and sobering.
The Passionate Reader 