Eh. I won't say it's never happened in the history of the world, but Fox doesn't so much manufacture news as slant it. But is that really breaking news? So does NYT, CNN, NBC, and even (gasp!) Slog.

This perfectly describes my 79 year old dad's relationship with FOX. It's remarkable to see how their slanted delivery of the news fosters a sense of fear and discontent that's reinforced by the background noise of Rush Limbaugh and similar broadcasts.

@1: Well, they manufacture news sometimes, like when they create controversy over issues nobody knew/cared about before, and then cover the controversy as though their fear-mongering represents the perspective of a major segment of the country (which, arguably, it does, but only after FOX has at it). Take the Muslim cultural center and mosque in New York. Nobody gave a flying fuck initially - they had no reason to do so, as it didn't represent any sort of threat and there was already another mosque closer to World Trade Plaza (or whatever it is now: Freedom Plaza? Memorial Plaza? War On Terror Plaza?). I mean, the guy funding the thing that they were casting as a villain was one of their major stockholders.

Sure, FOX's favorite tactic is disingenuous or misleading framing (Vader killed Anakin from a certain point of view), but they fabricate 'facts' all the time and blatantly lie, too. When you're creating an alternate-reality meta-narrative, you sometimes just have to make shit up to support it.

And exactly how is that different from the things like "Right-Wing Nut Shoots Democrat Arizona Congresswoman" I've seen here?

If you have a relative with dementia who's watching Fox, change the channel to Nickelodeon. As their brains become ever more childlike, it'll make them happier and happier.

This is another case where sedatives are invaluable.

Fox News is in fact not news. It's pure propaganda for the GOP. That's not news. "Nickelodeon for the demented" is a great slogan. If some enterprising soul would put that on a t-shirt, I'd buy it and wear it.

An elderly in-law of a relative who was believed to have early stage dementia, used to watch FoxNews non-stop, angrily parroting the points of the day. Finally a doctor removed a brain tumor and put in a stent to relieve water pressure in the brain. This man is now lucid, watches reasonable hours of sports, and votes D.

@8 Agree

@4 Apart from the fact that "Right-Wing Nut Shoots Democrat Arizona Congresswoman" actually fucking happened?

@2, are you me? I swear that's the same situation with my 79-year-old father...

@10, no, it did not. And if you think it did, you clearly are too stupid to carry on a rational conversation.

@13 So you're claiming that Rep. Giffords shot herself? Or that the shooting was just a giant left-wing conspiracy?

@11: I watch the BBC when I can.
@13: fullretard.jpg

I never said they were "exactly the same" or "equally biased" - nor would I - those are your words. But there's plenty of bias to go around on all sides.

Maybe you could use that mirror also.

This reminds me of a story a friend told me about his mother (who does have early-stage dementia). They were watching television together, and she watched in increasing befuddlement as he flipped from one cable news channel to another (looking for a particular news story that was breaking), each one of which seemed to have more flashing graphics, bottom crawls, bright colors, plastic anchors, until she turned to him and asked, "Why is it (television) all cartoons now?"

...From the mouths of (born-again) babes...

@13: Fine, so what part of "Right-Wing Nut Shoots Democrat Arizona Congresswoman" do you dispute, exactly?

That Loughner is Right-wing?
That he is crazy?
That he shot anybody?
Or that Giffords is D-Arizona and has two X chromosomes?

The fact that you said "No" rather than "No, because..." is, I think, very telling: You have no counter-argument.

Seems 5280 hasn't caught on yet to the giant right-wing conspiracy.

Maybe when Rick Perry gets elected and we take another step towards Soylent Green he will.

Silvio Levy