There is a thread on reddit-The Donald that you might want to read. A former high-level Fox executive of 18 years Ken LaCorte is planning to start a news media outlet called LaCorte News. We’ve written about that before. The reddit thread is a conversation between Mr. LaCorte and the users. It’s interesting.
This is Mr. LaCorte’s intro:
I was an 18-year executive at the Fox News Channel, heading editorial for FoxNews.com since 2006. They zapped me after the election and since then I’ve been working to start a news organization — LaCorte News — that I think you’ll love.
We’re beta-testing the content here on Reddit at /r/lacortenews which I hope you’ll check out. In-depth info is at our Reddit wiki and you can sign up to our daily email here.In the past few weeks, I’ve gone public with my thoughts on the recent Fox News drama, writing about the firing of Bill O’Reilly and Fox President Bill Shine, which I believe are telling.
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Some of the questions and responses follow.
Mr. LaCorte was asked if people in the media believe what they are saying.
RESPONSE: I believe in their hearts, the vast majority of the MSM believe in what they’re doing.
Some of them truly think they’re the last thing standing between Democracy and dictorship. They don’t even believe their biased, which is how Fox could occupy that “kinda right” space for so long with no one challenging it by doing the same thing.
Most MSM reporters think they’re centrist and Fox is right-wing. And that you people are nutters, of course.
One user said he didn’t believe they believe the crap they spew.
RESPONSE:Â Actually, the opinion people who succeed believe what they say. They’re the main writers, whether it’s O’Reilly or Maddow, and they’re the ones guiding the editorial, with a little oversight from above.
One asked: How pro-Trump exactly is Fox News? Will Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and some of the others who have been supportive of Trump stay at Fox any longer?
RESPONSE:Â I think what you see on tv answers that question. Hannity hugely so, but the rest support him to varying degrees.
I don’t think at all that they’ll purge people for being pro-Trump, but they probably don’t dig the more extreme, in their view, people like O’Reilly. They’d be nuts to lose Hannity and I think they like Tucker.
A lot of people questioned how O’Reilly could be considered more extreme than Tucker or Hannity but LaCorte said to liberals he is, but it’s probably a combination of O’Reilly’s attitude, his harassment issues and his views.
Another user asked about the fake news on MSM and if Fox was biased.
RESPONSE:Â We had two separate divisions at Fox, news and opinion. The former was me and reporters and what not. The later was[sic] the hosts who gave their insight and opinions.
I was always proud of the news division and believe it did a great job being unbiased and accurate. The opinion people are supposed to be biased, to an extent of course.
Over time, those divisions got a little too close for my comfort, but I still think even overall, Fox is less to the “right” than most of the MSM is to the “left.”
Next question: How is it possible every “journalist” has the same questions and same talking points? Are they even permitted to ask what they want, think what they want, say what they want? Seems like they are forced to repeat some lines for someone else’s agenda instead of real investigative reporting.
RESPONSE:Â It’s a good question.
Mainly, because they read the same newspapers, watch the same news show, live in NY, and hang out with each other and like-minded individuals.
Occasionally, though, it’s because they share talking points.
Here’s an interesting question:Â Why do they bother giving any air time to lunatic liberals like Juan Williams? Beckel? Geraldo?
RESPONSE:Â I’d argue they aren’t lunatics, but liberal. If you equate the two, that’s your right to do so.
They aren’t trying to be hardcore conservative, but right enough to attract conservatives, but moderate enough to keep ad $ coming in, as well as a centrist audience.
It’s not the worst strategy, especially in a 3-way cable news competition.
LaCorte wrote that the news became distorted when the 24/7 news cycle began and the lines between journalism and opinion became blurred to fill up the time.
LaCorte is in the process of raising funds to get his service off the ground. It’s only going to present straight-down-the-middle facts. When asked how far he has gotten, he wrote:
RESPONSE: We’ve raised enough funds to get things going, but will need another round before we hire a big stable of reporters, but that’s the plan.
Little if any analyis, at least with political stories. There needs to be a place where you can get your facts and the “opinion” content hurts that credibility. Plus, it’s everywhere else.
The users asked LaCorte who his favorite is at Fox and he said Ainsley. She does seem pretty cool.
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