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(this post was reblogged from nybooks)
What explains the reticence of most journalists toward Fox News? Fear is no doubt a factor. No one wants to be ambushed by one of its camera crews or mugged on one of its shows. Some journalists worry that, if they investigate Fox, they’ll be accused of liberal bias. Others are dismissive of Fox’s influence. But Fox’s influence seems to be growing, as has been disturbingly apparent during the current debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. The intransigence and extremism shown by so many Republicans in Congress has to a degree been enabled and enforced by Fox and its supporting cast on talk radio and the Internet. The cone of silence Fox has been accorded by other news organizations has helped it advance its agenda. It’s time to break it.
