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Was there a "Fox News" back in the day?

Atticus Finch

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If that's the case, then we are not going to deny that the same applies to CNN...only in reverse!

Is it not CNN a liberal network? Founded by him - most liberal of liberals - Mr Ted Turner?

So lets be fair here. What good for the goose is good for the gander.



Please carry on with back in the era. :)

HadleyH, I may be wrong, but I think Lizzie was discussing the origin of Fox News and its intended mission because the question posed in this thread asks "Was there a Fox News back in the day?" The OP didn't ask whether there was a Golden Age version of CNN.

AF
 

LizzieMaine

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HadleyH, I may be wrong, but I think Lizzie was discussing the origin of Fox News and its intended mission because the question posed in this thread asks "Was there a Fox News back in the day?" The OP didn't ask whether there was a Golden Age version of CNN.

AF

There *was* a very short-lived "Progressive Broadcasting System" in the early fifties -- which was, without doubt, one of the worst-timed ventures in the history of broadcasting.
 
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Rick Blaine

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All seriousness aside tho', if you want real news the BBC, the CBC & in print The Independent UK & The Christian Science Monitor are still somewhat to be relied upon, imo.
 

31 Model A

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Donald Warren talked about that in his book "Radio Priest" back in 1999 -- I don't have my copy right handy, but I believe he was able to document a link directly back to Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda. If I'm remembering correctly, another priest was being used as an intermediary/bagman. Coughlin was also using materials originating with the Ministry of Propaganda in preparing his broadcasts during 1939 -- which becomes quite obvious when you listen to them, especially the one in which he justifies the German takeover of Czechoslovakia.

I would think all the talk and investigation surrounding the Vatican during the Hitler Days and then after (ODESSA), Coughlin wasn't doing anything different, although it's been reported the Vatican didn't want to have anything to do with him but, what is expressed on the outside isn't always what's being thought on the inside. I've come across many many hypocrites in my life.
 

LizzieMaine

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I would think all the talk and investigation surrounding the Vatican during the Hitler Days and then after (ODESSA), Coughlin wasn't doing anything different, although it's been reported the Vatican didn't want to have anything to do with him but, what is expressed on the outside isn't always what's being thought on the inside. I've come across many many hypocrites in my life.

Another aspect of this that doesn't often get discussed is that there was a substantial kernel of support for Nazi Germany in Irish-American communities during 1939-40 -- largely growing out of Irish opposition to England. Coughlin's base was heavily urban Irish-American, and he knew how to get them riled up -- especially in New York, where street vendors for Coughlin's paper, "Social Justice," harassed and frequently got into fistfights with Jewish passers-by.
 

31 Model A

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Another aspect of this that doesn't often get discussed is that there was a substantial kernel of support for Nazi Germany in Irish-American communities during 1939-40 -- largely growing out of Irish opposition to England. Coughlin's base was heavily urban Irish-American, and he knew how to get them riled up -- especially in New York, where street vendors for Coughlin's paper, "Social Justice," harassed and frequently got into fistfights with Jewish passers-by.

I concur and having lived in Ireland, Republic of, it's well known and taugh in schools of how German spies operated freely in Ireland during the war with one German staying on in Ireland and opening up a pub for years after. The only agreement between de Valera and London was the air path through Donegal to get to the NI bases.
 

31 Model A

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Another aspect of this that doesn't often get discussed is that there was a substantial kernel of support for Nazi Germany in Irish-American communities during 1939-40 -- largely growing out of Irish opposition to England. Coughlin's base was heavily urban Irish-American, and he knew how to get them riled up -- especially in New York, where street vendors for Coughlin's paper, "Social Justice," harassed and frequently got into fistfights with Jewish passers-by.

I concur and having lived in Ireland, Republic of, it's well known and taught in schools of how German spies operated freely in Ireland during the war with one German staying on in Ireland and opening up a pub for years after. The only agreement between de Valera and London was the air path through Donegal to get to the NI bases.
 

HadleyH

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Okey Dokey.

Are we allowed to talk openly about politics here? Yes or no!



Because if we talk lets talk like real men and women and stop pussy footing around the issues.


So


What's going to be! :)
 

Fastuni

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HadleyH said:
what's so funny

If you seriously want to suggest that FOX News is the "true channel for the truth" I can only heartily laugh.

I'd do so if anyone claims the same for almost any other media venue - I'm very even-handed about this. ;)

Each of them has a political agenda of some sort... the critical mind recognizes this and digests the information on that basis.

But case in point FOX News is one of the least subtle about it's blatant political bias.
 
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Okey Dokey.

Are we allowed to talk openly about politics here? Yes or no!



Because if we talk lets talk like real men and women and stop pussy footing around the issues.


So


What's going to be! :)

Simmer down now, please.....I think we all are well aware that your CNN points as much to the left as FOX does to the right...the gist of the conversation, and the original question, is/was that is this some product of the era that we live in or did it go on as well back in the day. This thread has been chock full o' good history of media in the U.S., both printed and broadcast, and it's attempted influence on politics. I think we have well established a historical precedent here for all of today's **** stirrers, and I for one would hate to see all this worthwhile information go down the drain because this turned into a political free for all. I don't care which side of your stride your ****s hang to, history is history, and those not wise enough to learn something from it are damned to go through it again.
 

Stanley Doble

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It was taken for granted that every newspaper had its agenda. They all supported a certain political, religious or social viewpoint and you could pick the one that suited your taste.

Every city had at least 2 newspapers, morning and evening. The morning paper was for the middle class, the evening paper for the working class. People bought the paper as much to have their world view reinforced as to find out what was going on. Same way people watch the news on TV or listen to it on the radio today.
 

LizzieMaine

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As far as radio commentators in the Era go, you could probably group them this way. Note that listing only includes *commentators,* those who gave their opinions on the news, and not straight reporters like Lowell Thomas.

CONSERVATIVE:

Boake Carter
George Sokolsky
Fulton Lewis, Jr.
William S. Hard
David Lawrence
Quincy Howe
Upton Close
John T. Flynn
Morgan Beatty
Edwin C. Hill


MODERATE
H. V. Kaltenborn
H. R. Baukhage
Gabriel Heatter
Dorothy Thompson
Edward R. Murrow

LIBERAL
Elmer Davis
Drew Pearson
William L. Shirer
Raymond Gram Swing
Walter Winchell

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it's sufficient to give you an idea of how the winds blew. Even at the height of the New Deal era, conservative commentators outnumbered liberals on the air -- which less reflects the mood of the times than it does the preference and influence of corporate sponsors. Of the outspokenly liberal broadcasters on the air, only Walter Winchell managed to hold a sponsor for any length of time -- he was presented by the Andrew Jergens Company for sixteen years, even though Mr. Jergens himself was a staunch Republican who disagreed with practically everything Winchell said on the air. But, as Winchell himself stated in his farewell broadcast, the sponsor never once attempted to interfere with the content of the program. Jergens' attitude was the exception in radio, and very far from the rule.
 
As far as radio commentators in the Era go, you could probably group them this way. Note that listing only includes *commentators,* those who gave their opinions on the news, and not straight reporters like Lowell Thomas.

CONSERVATIVE:

Boake Carter
George Sokolsky
Fulton Lewis, Jr.
William S. Hard
David Lawrence
Quincy Howe
Upton Close
John T. Flynn
Morgan Beatty
Edwin C. Hill


MODERATE
H. V. Kaltenborn
H. R. Baukhage
Gabriel Heatter
Dorothy Thompson
Edward R. Murrow

LIBERAL
Elmer Davis
Drew Pearson
William L. Shirer
Raymond Gram Swing
Walter Winchell

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it's sufficient to give you an idea of how the winds blew. Even at the height of the New Deal era, conservative commentators outnumbered liberals on the air -- which less reflects the mood of the times than it does the preference and influence of corporate sponsors. Of the outspokenly liberal broadcasters on the air, only Walter Winchell managed to hold a sponsor for any length of time -- he was presented by the Andrew Jergens Company for sixteen years, even though Mr. Jergens himself was a staunch Republican who disagreed with practically everything Winchell said on the air. But, as Winchell himself stated in his farewell broadcast, the sponsor never once attempted to interfere with the content of the program. Jergens' attitude was the exception in radio, and very far from the rule.

If you add Morrow to the Moderate then you REALLY have to add Cronkite to the Lliberal. lol lol We all know they were opposites. :p
 

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