Conventional wisdom holds that Fox News is, for all intents and purposes, a Republican propaganda network, and that this is a bad thing. I suppose one could come up with some counterintuitive argument that Fox News--whatever it is--is a good thing. But one would be stupid for doing that. Conventional wisdom in this case is correct. So it's a little bit peculiar to read the Times' interpretation of the whole Fox News/Democratic debate dustup:
Four years ago, the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus began looking for a television outlet to co-sponsor and broadcast a presidential debate to address the concerns of minority voters.
Only one news channel made an acceptable proposal, and an unlikely channel at that: Fox News, in what some Democrats viewed as an effort to associate itself with a group that could help it make good on its claim of presenting “fair and balanced” news coverage....
While the withdrawal by the candidates frustrated members of the black caucus, it mollified liberals who had objected to the involvement of Fox News, whose programming includes some of the most conservative and pro-Republican commentary on the air....
The caucus is bent on salvaging what remains of the debate, and of a relationship that has produced other benefits. Not only has Fox given over precious air time for the debate, but an examination shows that its parent company, News Corporation, has also taken other steps to reach out to the group’s constituency, including making campaign donations to the caucus and its members and creating internship programs at predominantly black colleges.
One ought to ask why Fox News is suddenly interested in partnerships with liberal minority groups and political caucuses. If Fox's goal is to serve as a spin machine for the GOP, then its motivations have to be analyzed through precisely that lens, and the only reasonable conclusion one can draw is that the network predicted--perhaps correctly--that an alliance with the Congressional Black Caucus would cause a rift within enemy party and have the beneficial side-effect of making Fox appear welcoming to opposition and minority points of view.
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