Dave, I haven't read your full article yet, but I have been saying for awhile and louder lately, Fox News is killing this country. When you hear things from the mouths of your "good" neighbors that you know come straight from Fox News or WHO radio, you just cringe. We are so much better than that!
I still can't wrap my mind around the beliefs of some Republicans. Some of them are otherwise intelligent people, but they can't see the nonsense in what they believe. I've let this occupy my mind for way too long. There is no figuring it out. I could never be a psychiatrist. The human mind is ineffable.
IMO, Iowa’s swirl downward politically began with the introduction of the Rush Limbaugh show on radio WHO back in the late 1980s. Many who had previously listened for fair and accurate news, farm markets and uplifting stories about good Iowans soon became subjected to a daily barrage of dark “humor,” racial and sexual attacks and simple arrogance. Of course, he liked to frame his comments as “entertainment.” That makes me sad.
Who knew? (Or maybe Julie Gammack knew) that the Iowa Writers Collaborative may become a developing, significant, and soon an essential source of factual information for Iowans?
BTW, I have found the Iowa Capital Dispatch to be one of my favorite places to read factual and important Iowa news.
Dave -- Is there anything the FCC can do to regulate the amount of misinformation spread by Fox News? That might be a naive question, but I truly wonder how Fox News gets away with what they broadcast.
When I see your column in my inbox it is always one of the first things I open. So glad you are writing it! About banning Fox News: I've also fanaticized about its demise and the good it would do America and the world but we understand we don't work that way. I think "we are what we eat" and removing propaganda from the low-information class would reduce some of the craziness. However, I suspect the opposite is also true...if you took away MSNBC, The New Yorker, The New York Times and maybe The Atlantic from my information diet, I would probably have a different outlook, too.
Dave, I don't watch any of the cable news networks but you could just as easily substitute Democrat for every time you wrote Republican or GOP. You could also substitute CNN and MSNBC for every time you mentioned FOX. Every one of these media is ideologically biased so none is better nor worse than the other. A senior producer for the NBC Nightly News told me how outraged the majority of the network's news operation's staff was about the Ronna McDaniel hire. I'm always surprised when corporate decisions are made without consulting those most affected. NBC executives could have simply asked, "If we hire Ronna McDaniel, can you work with her?" That answer would have saved the network lots of embarrassment. Or ask interns. They have no job insecurities and will tell you the truth quickly.
Former Nixon White House counsel, Watergate figure, convicted felon and disbarred attorney John Dean spoke at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls in March 1975, just seven months after President' Nixon's resignation, as part of the university's Controversial Speakers program. His appearance was picketed bu students and others. Protestors said he was profiting off his crime on the speaking circuit. As I recall, they laid protest placards at the base of the podium from which he spoke. Fifty years later, Mr. Dean is a frequent guest contributor on infotainment shows on CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere. He also authored a bestselling book about it all "Blind Ambition," which was made in to a TV movie starring Martin Sheen as Mr. Dean. As part of a plea deal in exchange for his testimony in the Watergate affair, Mr. Dean pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and was sentenced by Judge John Sirica to one to four years in prison -- later commuted to time served, four months. What's the difference between John Dean and Ronna McDaniel? He has a felony conviction on her record. She doesn't. Of course I understand why some at MSNBC objected to her hiring, But aren't some folks being selective in their indignation, when they afford Mr. Dean celebrity status now? Or were those college kids who picketed his appearance at UNI in '75 just being young, idealistic and silly?
And a footnote to Gannett dropping AP: the Gazette in Cedar Rapids dropped AP for a time a decade or so ago, but apparently have since resumed its affiliation, since I see AP stories on its webpage
Thanks, Dave. Fox news is dangerous. I think Rupert Murdoch has done more than anyone to destroy democracy in our country. There was a study done in 2012 by Farleigh Dickinson University that found people who got their news from Fox knew less about what was happening in our country than people who never watched the news. I would think that would be even more true today. Those viewers are fed little more than outright lies. The people who anchor their evening “news” are not journalists. In my opinion, they are all mouthpieces for the MAGA wing of the republican party. They are dangerous.
Dave, I haven't read your full article yet, but I have been saying for awhile and louder lately, Fox News is killing this country. When you hear things from the mouths of your "good" neighbors that you know come straight from Fox News or WHO radio, you just cringe. We are so much better than that!
I still can't wrap my mind around the beliefs of some Republicans. Some of them are otherwise intelligent people, but they can't see the nonsense in what they believe. I've let this occupy my mind for way too long. There is no figuring it out. I could never be a psychiatrist. The human mind is ineffable.
Thanks for another insightful article, Dave!
IMO, Iowa’s swirl downward politically began with the introduction of the Rush Limbaugh show on radio WHO back in the late 1980s. Many who had previously listened for fair and accurate news, farm markets and uplifting stories about good Iowans soon became subjected to a daily barrage of dark “humor,” racial and sexual attacks and simple arrogance. Of course, he liked to frame his comments as “entertainment.” That makes me sad.
Who knew? (Or maybe Julie Gammack knew) that the Iowa Writers Collaborative may become a developing, significant, and soon an essential source of factual information for Iowans?
BTW, I have found the Iowa Capital Dispatch to be one of my favorite places to read factual and important Iowa news.
Dave -- Is there anything the FCC can do to regulate the amount of misinformation spread by Fox News? That might be a naive question, but I truly wonder how Fox News gets away with what they broadcast.
When I see your column in my inbox it is always one of the first things I open. So glad you are writing it! About banning Fox News: I've also fanaticized about its demise and the good it would do America and the world but we understand we don't work that way. I think "we are what we eat" and removing propaganda from the low-information class would reduce some of the craziness. However, I suspect the opposite is also true...if you took away MSNBC, The New Yorker, The New York Times and maybe The Atlantic from my information diet, I would probably have a different outlook, too.
Dave, I don't watch any of the cable news networks but you could just as easily substitute Democrat for every time you wrote Republican or GOP. You could also substitute CNN and MSNBC for every time you mentioned FOX. Every one of these media is ideologically biased so none is better nor worse than the other. A senior producer for the NBC Nightly News told me how outraged the majority of the network's news operation's staff was about the Ronna McDaniel hire. I'm always surprised when corporate decisions are made without consulting those most affected. NBC executives could have simply asked, "If we hire Ronna McDaniel, can you work with her?" That answer would have saved the network lots of embarrassment. Or ask interns. They have no job insecurities and will tell you the truth quickly.
Former Nixon White House counsel, Watergate figure, convicted felon and disbarred attorney John Dean spoke at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls in March 1975, just seven months after President' Nixon's resignation, as part of the university's Controversial Speakers program. His appearance was picketed bu students and others. Protestors said he was profiting off his crime on the speaking circuit. As I recall, they laid protest placards at the base of the podium from which he spoke. Fifty years later, Mr. Dean is a frequent guest contributor on infotainment shows on CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere. He also authored a bestselling book about it all "Blind Ambition," which was made in to a TV movie starring Martin Sheen as Mr. Dean. As part of a plea deal in exchange for his testimony in the Watergate affair, Mr. Dean pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and was sentenced by Judge John Sirica to one to four years in prison -- later commuted to time served, four months. What's the difference between John Dean and Ronna McDaniel? He has a felony conviction on her record. She doesn't. Of course I understand why some at MSNBC objected to her hiring, But aren't some folks being selective in their indignation, when they afford Mr. Dean celebrity status now? Or were those college kids who picketed his appearance at UNI in '75 just being young, idealistic and silly?
And a footnote to Gannett dropping AP: the Gazette in Cedar Rapids dropped AP for a time a decade or so ago, but apparently have since resumed its affiliation, since I see AP stories on its webpage
Thanks, Dave. Fox news is dangerous. I think Rupert Murdoch has done more than anyone to destroy democracy in our country. There was a study done in 2012 by Farleigh Dickinson University that found people who got their news from Fox knew less about what was happening in our country than people who never watched the news. I would think that would be even more true today. Those viewers are fed little more than outright lies. The people who anchor their evening “news” are not journalists. In my opinion, they are all mouthpieces for the MAGA wing of the republican party. They are dangerous.