The Murdoch empire, operating as the Fox News Channel, has mounted a crusade against DailyKos.com, the largest progressive political Web site, and YearlyKos, the site's annual blogger convention, which will take place in Chicago next month. On his nightly broadcast, Fox News sage Bill O'Reilly charged that the proprietors of Daily Kos are "hatemongers" like the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis--and targeted JetBlue for serving as a sponsor and the official airline of YearlyKos. Not surprisingly, Mr. O'Reilly's ranting and raving frightened the JetBlue suits into withdrawing their sponsorship, or at least asking Daily Kos to remove the airline's name from the YearlyKos promotion. Then came Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, another Murdoch minion, who tried to frighten the Democrats away from Daily Kos. "Every Democratic presidential nominee is going to the Daily Kos convention," he sniffed. "That's the left-wing blogger who was not respectable three or four years ago.... Now the whole party is going to pay court to him and to left-wing blogs." Clearly he meant to warn that the Democrats would suffer from their association with those disreputable leftists--and that the netroots are a fringe, extremist element. The most obvious answer to these reactions from Messrs. O'Reilly and Kristol is to urge them both to look in the mirror. To listen to the Fox News host--who has publicly urged the destruction of the entire city of San Francisco and the entire nation of Iran, among thousands of other equally charming remarks--is to hear corrosive hatred distilled into a nightly dose of poison. The occasional outburst on a liberal blog, almost always in the anonymous comments section, cannot compare with the daily outpouring of vitriol on Fox.
Then came Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, another Murdoch minion, who tried to frighten the Democrats away from Daily Kos. "Every Democratic presidential nominee is going to the Daily Kos convention," he sniffed. "That's the left-wing blogger who was not respectable three or four years ago.... Now the whole party is going to pay court to him and to left-wing blogs." Clearly he meant to warn that the Democrats would suffer from their association with those disreputable leftists--and that the netroots are a fringe, extremist element.
The most obvious answer to these reactions from Messrs. O'Reilly and Kristol is to urge them both to look in the mirror. To listen to the Fox News host--who has publicly urged the destruction of the entire city of San Francisco and the entire nation of Iran, among thousands of other equally charming remarks--is to hear corrosive hatred distilled into a nightly dose of poison. The occasional outburst on a liberal blog, almost always in the anonymous comments section, cannot compare with the daily outpouring of vitriol on Fox.
ah -- democracy, capitalism, and free speech. itps like one of those SAT tests for US students, "which one of these things does not fit in this list?" The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
But - as we were discussing yesterday - this proves dKos is A Playa on the scene.
Murdoch must be furious that someone else is trying to swing the next election.
The rhetoric about hate sites is of course spin and lies. Anyone who visits dKos - who isn't a knuckle-dragger or a shill - is going to see that instantly.
I think Murdoch may lose this one. I'd expect some legal challenges from him - probably about political donations or net neutrality or something equally specious. But he doesn't appear to have the leverage he needs to take down the site.
you are the media you consume.
