Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, September 27, 2010

Tail Waging The Dog?

Commentary By Ron Beasley




During the Bush/Cheney administration it was obvious that FOX news and the the talk radio clowns were tools, an extension, of the Republican Party.  Roger Aisles would deliver the days Republican talking points to the talking heads and snake oil salesmen each morning. When Bush and Cheney left office a vacuum of leadership was created and that was filled by FOX and talk radio.  How many times have we seen a Republican politician criticize Rush Limbaugh or one of the FOX personalities only to apologize a few hours latter?  The Tea Party movement was the creation of FOX and a few wealthy billionaires.  Republic politicians are required to support the Tea Party or face the end of their careers. FOX has taken the unofficial leadership position of the once Grand Old Party.  Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election the power of FOX become obvious as reported by POLITICO.



With Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee all making moves indicating they may run for president, their common employer is facing a question that hasn�t been asked before: How does a news organization cover White House hopefuls when so many are on the payroll?



The answer is a complicated one for Fox News.



As Fox�s popularity grows among conservatives, the presence of four potentially serious Republican candidates as paid contributors is beginning to frustrate competitors of the network, figures within its own news division and rivals of what some GOP insiders have begun calling �the Fox candidates.�



With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential Republican presidential candidate not currently in elected office.



The matter is of no small consequence, since it�s uncertain how other news organizations can cover the early stages of the presidential race when some of the main GOP contenders are contractually forbidden to appear on any TV network besides Fox.



At issue are basic matters of political and journalistic fairness and propriety. With Fox effectively becoming the flagship network of the right and, more specifically, the tea party movement, the four Republicans it employs enjoy an unparalleled platform from which to speak directly to primary voters who will determine the party�s next nominee.



Their Fox jobs allow these politicians an opportunity to send conservative activists a mostly unfiltered message in what is almost always a friendly environoment. Fox opinion hosts typically invite the Republicans simply to offer their views on issues of the day, rather than press them to defend their rhetoric or records as leaders of the party.





So what we have here is a new kind of payed political ad where the potential candidates are payed to do the ad.  The people who watch FOX are the ones who will determine which candidate gets the Republican nomination.



The tail waging the dog?  Is the Republican Party a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch and FOX news?




Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

  1. SRW1September 27, 2010 at 7:01 AM

    Fox is going to stage the Mother of All Reality Shows:
    Running for President - The Primary.
    The ratings are gonna be PHENOMENAL, baby. I tell ya, through the roof!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)