Fox News’ blood-lusty low...snuff films

Fox News’ blood-lusty low: Why it’s now promoting a jihadist snuff film

Most media didn't share ISIS's latest atrocity, but Rupert Murdoch's plaything used it for its own purposes instead

If you want to understand why Fox’s decision is so cynical, so irresponsible and so revealing, you should know that releasing the video wasn’t only a break from the policy followed by other media outlets. It was a break from Fox’s prior stance, too. When ISIS released video of American journalist James Foley’s murder, Fox didn’t act as a distributor for the paramilitary group. It kept the worst from the public, out of respect for Foley, his loved ones and a sense of common decency. But when ISIS’s victim was a Jordanian rather than an American — and despite the fact that his death may have been the most sadistic and gruesome ISIS has shared yet — suddenly, the calculus was different.

And while the humanity of someone like James Foley is too precious to sacrifice in the name of traumatizing Americans in order to induce calls for more war, Fox seems to be hoping the sickening murder of a Jordanian man will do the trick. This is the moral universe in which the people running Fox reside, and I shudder to think how many lives they’d be willing to commodify in order to drag the rest of us down with them.

I love good journalism. There are still good sources, and good journalists - but there has been a change out there, and I'm not sure we will ever be able to get back to where we were...

Apparently, Fox feels that imagining the worst horrors humanity has to offer is not enough anymore. I have to wonder why

What say you ATS - is this OK?

Republican TV =>
Warmongering interests =>
Raise fear and anger as much as you can

The lil baby public must be sheltered from reality in your view, that seems to be your message.
People need to get angry about things that deserve getting angry about.
Besides, people with your extreme point of view that hates anything not bowing at the liberal alter would never watch what Fox shows anyway so why you mad bro?

a reply to: TinfoilTP

The lil baby public must be sheltered from reality in your view, that seems to be your message.

We used to be able to bring the public the news with respect - for the dead and for the dying

People need to get angry about things that deserve getting angry about.

Some people are evidently not intelligent enough to be outraged without watching an entire film of a man's gruesome and inhumane death - every last second of it

Who are these people that can't understand the story without some torture porn to go with it?

I love good journalism. There are still good sources, and good journalists

And yet you yourself are engaging in the most sensationalistic, tabloid-like reporting imaginable.
Instead of logically pointing out why FOX engaged in bad journalism, you retort with a lurid "headline" as your thread title.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

Because it needs to be seen.

This isn't the scary monster in Doctor Who that can't harm you because you're hiding behind a pillow. This isn't the boogeyman under the bed who can't get you if you hide under the blankets.

These people will do this to him. They would do this to you. Not pretend, not playfighting, but for real, and simply because you are not them.

The ones who are doing you the greatest disservice are the ones who want to hide the risks that you face. Sure, they might not be immediate risks, there might not be jihadists wandering the streets of your city with a can of gas and a zippo... but they are more motivated to create that situation than you are to stop it. The sooner you understand that - and not in some abstract or theoretical way, but in a real, in-your-face, cant-avoid-the-truth way - then the more motivated you will be to prevent it ever happening.

Apologies, clicked reply instead of edit!

Here is where I could get confused.

Many members here say that FOX News is an unreliable source.

So, shouldn't we just chalk this up as being fake?

Why shouldn't FOX show a video of a faked execution? Hollywood does it all the time.

a reply to: ColeYounger

It's the headline from the article

Its also the truth. This is a snuff film

Most people don't seem to mind

If you can't understand why I would need to present this the way I did - then I guess you're missing the point. That being - Fox news has not just done something tasteless - this is outrageously crossing a line of decency

Did you think I shouldn't have used the word snuff? Not bolded the headline? Not posted the still?

:-)

You tell me - how should this story be covered?

Fox isisnt news its bad entertainment, and no i dont need to be a libtard to figure out that fox is a joke.

Flame away

a reply to: EvillerBob

Because it needs to be seen.

Why?

These people will do this to him. They would do this to you. Not pretend, not playfighting, but for real, and simply because you are not them.

Do you personally need to watch this man die in order to feel outraged?

Is the public really that simple - and that callous?

When ISIS released video of American journalist James Foley’s murder, Fox didn’t act as a distributor for the paramilitary group. It kept the worst from the public, out of respect for Foley, his loved ones and a sense of common decency.

So, what changed?

Think about it - how much more will it take to make us angry when we grow weary of these stories - what will they have to show us next in order for us to maintain the necessary level of anger to keep the ball moving forward?

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

Death happens, and 99% of the time it's not pretty. If you don't wanna watch then don't. It's a very disturbing thing to watch but hey, stuff like this happens all the time around the world and throughout history.

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

I read the story on the site. Ithink that Salon was once a decent media outlet with some decent writers and reporters,
but they've become one of the most sensationalistic outlets in existence.

I'm not a FOX fan, but I think most rational people would not agree with Salon's story that FOX 'has reached a new low with their snuff film promotion'. It's just bad journalism.... tabloid style writing embodied.

Still trying to figure out where people are being forced to watch Fox News.

If they aren't? Then caveat emptor.

Watch another network. Let the free market determine if it was too much to view. If it was, then Fox ratings will fall and they will pay the price.

If their ratings don't fall, then chalk it up to people wanting access to the ugly truth.

The same way I am about MSNBC and all the other networks. I would never criticize their programming model. They should be just as free to display anything they wish.

I'll use my remote to determine what news I want to view.

What I won't do, is let someone else make that determination for me.

a reply to: ColeYounger

It's just bad journalism.... tabloid style writing embodied.

The story at Salon is bad journalism?

:-)

I love Salon - it is a little drama queen in it's presentation. So goes the news these days - especially online

Did you read the story?

a reply to: beezzer

I understand that we don't have to watch it. This is kind of the point though beezzer - who is watching this - and why?

There used to be standards in journalism. There used to be respect for the dead and dying

I'm asking - is this now OK?

Are we, as a people, now in a place where watching a man die is OK?

It's a legitimate question

Not too worried about it. As the OP states, it was not a US citizen, and as such, I doubt many in his country read/watch FoxNews anyways.

If people don't want to watch then they don't have to. I really don't see anything wrong with them making the video available to the public though.....not too many years ago, public executions happened all over the world.

Even death row inmates are viewed by those related to the case when they are executed, though that is a much smaller subset. Those that are related are given the choice to watch or not.

Nobody is making anyone watch this, but having the option to is what freedom is all about....they are simply letting the people decide.

So people are upset that a news channel showed what happened without editing out the icky parts?
Maybe the news should not have shown the naked little girl running from the fire during their Vietnam coverage. Or that man on his knees taking a bullet to the back of the head. Those are icky to...they are also what really happened.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis
a reply to: beezzer

Are we, as a people, now in a place where watching a man die is OK?

It's a legitimate question

You mean have we evolved in the last few decades where it was publicly done everywhere? The last one in the US drew a crowd of 20,000 people. there never was a place where watching a man die was not ok.....it was done the world over and still is in many places.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis
a reply to: beezzer

I understand that we don't have to watch it. This is kind of the point though beezzer - who is watching this - and why?

There used to be standards in journalism. There used to be respect for the dead and dying

I'm asking - is this now OK?

Are we, as a people, now in a place where watching a man die is OK?

It's a legitimate question

People used to gather at public hangings.

This is nothing new. Death is a horrible thing to watch, but just because it is horrible, we should deny it?

There has never been respect for the dead and dying. Don't know where you live, but in my world, corpses used to be paraded down streets in some countries. Executions used to be public and still are in some societies.

You are more than welcome to question the moral and ethical levels of people who choose to watch such things.
That is your right.

But it is not your right to stop people who wish to view it.

This is nothing new, in my humble opinion.

People obviously are criticizing the airing and avaliability of viewing such acts.
But others would scream "COVER-UP" if it weren't shown or been made avaliable.

*meh*

Change the channel.