In an interview with Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes unleashes on those who challenge the rightward partisanship of the cable news channel and provocative rhetoric of Bill O'Reilly, who recently joked about beheading Washington Post political columnist Dana Milbank. Ailes blasts Jon Stewart of The Daily Show for bashing conservatives, but takes his criticism to another level when the subject turns to NPR's dismissal of news analyst Juan Williams.
"They are, of course, Nazis," Ailes said, referring to NPR's leadership. "They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view. They don't feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive."
Ailes jokes about O'Reilly's remark on beheading Dana Milbank before acknowledging, "Bill knows he probably shouldn’t have said it. He just shot off his mouth.” Milbank responded to O'Reilly's threat in his Nov. 10 column.
I listen to NPR and watch PBS, pretty much exclusively, primarily to avoid the propaganda and hyperbole that passes for News and Analysis (and to a lesser degree, Entertainment) on commercial media. I read Current and this blog to monitor news and developments that might affect my preferred media sources.
ReplyDeleteSo I was dismayed to see that you chose to cover Roger Ailes unfortunate interview with Howard Kurtz on the Daily Beast. This is not “News,” it is Bombast! Please don’t afford this man more of a stage; his mentor Mr. Murdock has already bought him his own bull-horn. Ailes, Murdock and their followers/sycophants pose something of a threat to Public Media, and that threat is worth covering. But, IMHO, simply regurgitating their blather only serves to reinforce it.