Fox News Got a Bargain: Putin and Xi Did, Too

History matters including sage words that help illuminate current events Rupert Murdoch may have had Samuel Johnsonamp8217s famous line in mind last week when he agreed to fork over 7875 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle its defamation suit against Fox News out of court quotWhen a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight it concentrates the mind wonderfullyquot the 18th Century English poet and essayist said Who knows For Murdoch the prospect of testimony under oath in a Delaware court just might have had the same effectInstead Fox ran a full page ad in the mainstream media on the day the company settled up George Orwell would have smiled Fox News the headline proclaimed quotTrusted Now More Than Everquot Ralph Waldo Emerson the 19th Century New England philosopher wasnamp8217t in the news business but he knew hypocrisy when he saw it quotThe louder he talked of his honorquot Emerson wrote of an encounter 150 years ago quotthe faster we counted our spoonsquotThe postsettlement analysis has produced the usual group think among the experts The legal commentariat is proclaiming new mile markers at the intersection of First Amendment freedoms and the media39s license to market mendacity Green eyeshade types are fussing over the nearbilliondollar hit on Fox39s cash hoard And attorneys and accountants alike are calling the award unprecedented But is it After raking it in as the Trump administration39s ministry of truth Foxamp8217s 7875 million spanking pales beside the payoff from its nonstop prevarication since Trump first threw his hat in the presidential ringFrom 20172022 the Fox networkamp8217s annual revenues added up to some 70 billion leading the competition handsdown As a share of that total over Foxamp8217s six years of broadcasting as Trumpamp8217s favored prime time propagandist the Dominion penalty represents a miniscule one percent Or consider the fiveyear period of Trumpamp8217s 2016 presidential campaign and White House term Even as a giveback from Fox Newsamp8217 81 billion in profits from 20162020 at 10 percent of its total profits the price for dissing Dominion is a modest hitBut the relative size of the media giantamp8217s penalty isnamp8217t the only story In avoiding any admission of guilt the settlementamp8217s anodyne apology all but Teflon coats Foxamp8217s image in the eyes of its faithful audience as well as protects its business model to prevaricate in order to keep its viewers happy and profits rolling in The financial payment to Dominion notwithstanding the real cost of Foxamp8217s actions also wonamp8217t come out of its pockets That damage to democracy and the countryamp8217s security only shows up on the nationamp8217s booksA Rand Corporation study released a few days before Fox and Dominion settled makes the point Truth Decay and National Security is the latest product from the think tankamp8217s multiyear effort to examine the eroding role of facts and analysis in public discourse The Rand research examines Truth Decayamp8217s effects on public opinion politics and policymaking Because Randamp8217s work casts a wide net nothing could be a more relevant guide for exploring the damage done by Foxamp8217s role via its knowing broadcast of liesThe Rand study isnamp8217t a treatise for foreign policy wonks It puts national security in a wider context quotTruth Decayquot the analysis asserts quotaffects the United States on individual institutional societal and normative levelsquot Specifically the Rand authors explore the interaction of foreign and defense affairs with quottrends such as polarized or partisan policymaking the paralysis that partisanship can bring to the policymaking process and the virulent spread of misinformation pervasive conspiracy theories and extremism at both ends of the political spectrumquotNational security policy faces quota growing volume of opinionating blurred borders between opinion and fact declining trust in expertise as well as disputes about facts themselvesquot The resulting problem isnamp8217t just nastier or more nonsensical debates quotPolarization is the primary driver of Truth Decayquot the Rand authors write The consequences erode civil discourse and produce political paralysis potentially impacting quotAmericaamp8217s ability to use national powerquot including quotnational security resources and resilience to homeland security threatsquotThat the countryamp8217s adversaries no less than Fox News producers have been paying attention to the lies corrupting the current political climate and how to use them goes without saying The effects of Tucker Carlson Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram bannering their knowingly mendacious commentary on a stolen election or for that matter Ukrainian Nazis Deep State operatives or January 6th as an FBI plot to frame that dayamp8217s innocent Capitol Hill visitors hasnamp8217t been lost on the likes of Vladimir Putin and Xi JinpingRussia and China are hard at work in exploiting mis and disinformation of all sorts Only last week for example the Justice Department announced the indictment of four US citizens and three Russian nationals for conspiring to sow racial discord and for election meddling For Moscow and Beijing Foxamp8217s willingness to push prevarications in prime time has been a big help In 2019 the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a multivolume study of Russiaamp8217s clandestine political warfare during the 2016 election They put its scope this wayquotRussia is waging an information warfare campaign amp8230 that didnamp8217t start and didnamp8217t end with the 2016 election Their goal is broader to sow societal discord and erode public confidence in amp8230 government By flooding social media with false reports conspiracy theories and trolls and by exploiting existing divisions Russia is trying to breed distrust of our democratic institutions and our fellow Americans amp8230 Other adversaries including China North Korea and Iran are following suitquotRand of course isnamp8217t the only one spotlighting the dangers that Fox Newsamp8217 actions represent Reflecting on the FoxDominion settlement Britainamp8217s Financial Times put the onus for the damage done squarely on the Murdoch empireamp8217s crown jewel quotFox News played a key role in perpetuating the most dangerous instance of fake news to date in a democracy amp8230 Fox pandered to its conservative viewership but the alternative reality it created fed their tribalism and paranoia When the Trump narrative parted ways with reality viewers preferred hearing the lie Fox continued to give them what they wantedquotDo the headlines recounting the settlement including the voluminous evidence that Fox knowingly broadcast stolen election lies about Dominion Voting Systems matter Unfortunately when it comes to its viewers opinion surveys suggest not As the Dominion trial approached this month Fox remained the most watched cable news network Among Fox News viewers polled for Variety last month 50 percent said revelations the network propagated lies had no effect on their belief that the 2020 election was stolen As for any penalty a Quinnipiac University poll in March found only 41 percent of Republicans believed the network should be held accountableTo be sure when it comes to Foxamp8217s legal travails the Dominion case isnamp8217t the end of the line Smartmatic another election services provider similarly smeared by Foxamp8217s guests and hosts is pursuing a 27 billion claim A disgruntled investor is suing Murdoch and Fox Corporation board members for violating their fiduciary duties And news reports suggest more stockholder firms appear grouchy enough to join the litigious queueWill Fox News change its business model or onair acts much less address the moral and ethical vacuum at their core Donamp8217t hold your breath After all just look at the ratings And those numbers donamp8217t even include viewers in Moscow and Beijing where Fox is a mustwatch Putin and Xi have their troll armies on the clock taking notes No question theyamp8217ll be tuning inPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Fox News Got a Bargain: Putin and Xi Did, Too

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Kent M. Harrington

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