FEAR & UNbalanced: Confessions of a 14-Year Fox News Hitman

FEAR & UNbalanced: Confessions of a 14-Year Fox News Hitman
Ok so this article/interview came out two months ago but (not surprisingly to me) no one posted it and discussed it here at ATS. The article is from a 14 year paid contributor to Fox News during the Ailes years where he tells all about how the network works behind the scenes. And it isn't pretty. Now this thread isn't in the mud pit for a reason, but if you insist on not reading any of the article the tldr of it all is that Fox News is fake. Professional wrestling fake. That means it is scripted. Yeah, you read that right. All the drama on Fox news is grade A fake.

Let's set the tone of this article with an exchange between from Ailes and Tobin when he started working at Fox News in 2000.

“Toby . . . I created a TV network for people 55 to dead,” Ailes said.

“What does our viewer look like?
“They look like me…white guys in mostly Red State counties who sit on their couch with the remote in their hand all day and night.”

“What do they want to see”
“They want to see YOU tear those smug condescending know-it-all East Coast liberals to pieces . . limb by limb . . . until they jump up out of their LaZ boy and scream “Way to go Toby…you KILLED that libtard!”

Of course the sexism is there and Tobin speaks at length about Ailes demanding that the women show more cleavage, wear tight dresses, water bras for women who were too flat, etc; but that is all known already. Let's skip ahead to the good stuff. This stuff:

The outcomes for Fox’s “panel debates” have ALWAYS been carefully fixed by the producers so that the home team (i.e, the conservative panelists like me) ALWAYS won.

MORE simply: The staged gladiatorial-like rhetorical fight to the death the Fox viewer loves to watch are ALWAYS fixed by the show producers for the conservative actor to win…always.

Just like pro-wrestling, the panel opinion programs are carefully staged and choreographed by Fox producers so the viewers home team (in WWE language the “Baby Face”) always wins over the “Heel” aka the poor pathetic “libtard.”

Tobin goes into detail on how this works, but it should be obvious to anyone following along:

The Fox News opinion panel scam works like this. More often than not, in my panel segments I was the protagonist or “designated hit man” aka the one called on by the host (as instructed by the producers in my ear or the ear of the host) to “kill ‘em.” You’d know I was the designated hit man when the panel show hosts tossed the final death blow 15–20 seconds to me when they say “Toby you have the final word.”

But before I delivered the final rhetorical death blow …understand the producer of the segment had given me my script 24 hours BEFORE the show started . I knew 24–48 hours in ADVANCE of taping how the designated liberal was going to argue his/her point…and more important how I was going to win the day with our partisan audience.

Oh and then we have big names like Bill O'Reilly who would literally speak into Tobin's ear piece to tell him what to talk about.

Bill O’Reilly was the only on-air talent that, when you were a guest expert on this show and on the Fox payroll, told you what he wanted you to say.

He would literally come into your earpiece before your “hit” aka appearance on a Factor segment and say “Smith…here’s how it goes down. You said last time oil prices were going higher…I said lower…well they are lower and I’m going to blame the oil companies. You bit is to support them, capiche?”

Well…he was dead wrong and I told him that and his answer was “Is this the Tobin Smith show? If it is, say what you want. But if this is the O’Reilly show you give what I want.”

OK Bill…and that was the last time I was on The Factor after 40+ appearances.

If you read the last line you'll notice he paid dearly for not playing along with the game here. Yeah. That's a thing too. Paid contributors who didn't play along got disciplined and non-paid contributors were just never called back.

Key Point: IF your role on Fox News is to be a conservative, you are expected to play that role IF you are getting paid as a contributor. IF you are a unpaid conservative and don’t act like one on the air, your number is lost and your Fox talking head career is over. Period.

At Fox ALL the actors are expected to play their roles according to their partisan political ideology in the 8-minute performance art act that was being staged for delight of >68 year old men in Small Town America.

"But what about the liberals in this debate?" You may be asking. Yeah about them. They were selected to be as nerdy and annoying as possible to drive home the worst stereotypes about liberals all to setup up Tobin to take them down with his (scripted) conservative talking points.

I can tell you (with very few exceptions) that a big part of the Fox News “fair and balanced” scam was also built from this reality: articulate, principled, worldly liberals — especially women — don’t exist in Roger’s Fox News world.

The designated liberals job was simple: make the viewer so enraged from their recitation of hated liberal/progressive ideology (theology that the Fox viewer of course had been taught to hate from decades of listening to thousands of hours of conservative talk radio) that the viewer literally felt like “throwing a brick through my TV screen.”

Tobin even remarks that this is propaganda that would make Joseph Goebbels impressed. EVERYTHING about this propaganda is planned out and applied to produce a desired result or further the agenda. There is a LOT of damning things he says about their tactics here, but I don't want to quote it all so I'll sum it up and you can read it in the article:
1) Hot women are more appealing to older men.
2) Liberal females are ALWAYS selected by their looks and not their expertise or arguing ability.
3) Dark sinned "Democratic Consultants" are highly desired to sell the liberal stereotypes.
4) Sometimes "Democratic Consultants" aren't. In other words they are invented out of thin air, fake resumes created, and Fox News just labels them as such just to create a bad guy for Tobin to take down.
5) Promote female-against-female scripted cat fights to appeal to dirty old men.
6) The "libtards" are selected to be as nerdy and smuggy looking as possible, and they only say scripted liberal talking points that are designed to rile the blood of older, angry, and white conservatives.
7) Don't overly insult each other. Ailes quote: “shred the libtards into pieces . . . but with a smile.”
8) The best contributors were all really performance artists. Real journalists washed out of the network quickly.
9) And finally. All the arguments were pre-written down and rehearsed by Tobin the night before so he knew EXACTLY how to take down his enemy the next day and no surprises were coming his way either.

I welcome everyone to read this article and deny some ignorance about the nation's worst Fake News distributor.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Congratulations you found out how the media all around the world operates. Seriously this is nothing new since the first newspaper was printed. Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same. Maybe now it's time for you to find out how babies are made. Good luck googling that. This is just sad and depressing.

originally posted by: Perfectenemy
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

Really? Then by all means, prove it.

When they asked for a license to establish themselves in Canada, it was refused because in Canada, there are laws that prevent news agencies from creating false news; they have to tell the truth...

Whether Canadian journalists are honest is for another thread, but there is that.

Surely someone in Canada knew something about Fox...

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: Perfectenemy
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

Really? Then by all means, prove it.

Why? It's all around you and you just refuse to see it. It's pretty much pointless to argue about it with someone who doesn't want to accept reality as it is. Welcome to the real world.

a reply to: Perfectenemy
Oh that...

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

You said it was on the record. That is YOUR claim. So where is this record that proves CNN does the same things as Fox News?

originally posted by: NowanKenubi
When they asked for a license to establish themselves in Canada, it was refused because in Canada, there are laws that prevent news agencies from creating false news; they have to tell the truth...

Whether Canadian journalists are honest is for another thread, but there is that.

Surely someone in Canada knew something about Fox...

Another one who believes in fairy tales. Here is the truth every newspaper or network lies.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: Perfectenemy
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

Really? Then by all means, prove it.

He's just kidding, CNN is the only real news out there. 100% factual and correct. Trust them with your life. Really.

originally posted by: NowanKenubi
When they asked for a license to establish themselves in Canada, it was refused because in Canada, there are laws that prevent news agencies from creating false news; they have to tell the truth...

Whether Canadian journalists are honest is for another thread, but there is that.

Surely someone in Canada knew something about Fox...

This article merely confirms many of my suspicious about the network all along. The way they spin reality is almost satirical in nature. It's just sad that it is designed to be targeted to the most vulnerable and gullible in the nation.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Perfectenemy
Oh that...

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

You said it was on the record. That is YOUR claim. So where is this record that proves CNN does the same things as Fox News?

Project Veritas? See that's what i meant with being pointless. I bet you think the recordings are fake because you're biased but if it's about a network you despise it must automatically be true. Btw i think the whole corporate owned media is corrupt and i wouldn't call Fox news trustworthy either.

a reply to: network dude

Are you trolling? I never disconfirmed his claim. I asked him to prove it. Why are you deflecting with nonsense? If it is true then produce this supposed "record". I'll be happy to read it like I read the article in the OP. Though I find it annoying that the first poster in the thread deflected my OP about Fox News to talk about CNN and you are carrying that torch for him.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: NowanKenubi
When they asked for a license to establish themselves in Canada, it was refused because in Canada, there are laws that prevent news agencies from creating false news; they have to tell the truth...

Whether Canadian journalists are honest is for another thread, but there is that.

Surely someone in Canada knew something about Fox...

This article merely confirms many of my suspicious about the network all along. The way they spin reality is almost satirical in nature. It's just sad that it is designed to be targeted to the most vulnerable and gullible in the nation.

Like CNN,MSNBC,NBC and all the others. They are all the same.

a reply to: Perfectenemy

Ok. So you are just trying to deflect away from the OP. Gotcha. There is no record. I'll discontinue this conversation until you produce one (which doesn't exist). Feel free to get back ontopic though.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Pretty much any news network associated with the 8 or so network owning families are going to be just like this. They're all infotainment and scripted to push a view that benefits the owners agendas. I will be the first to say left leaning right leaning...They're all playing the same game. Same thing with politicians past the local level...It's all theater for the plebs to gobble up. Specially designed to create sides to everything so we are lead into choosing a side. Once you choose a side like with most humans it becomes competitive and you start to look down on the other side. Next thing you know we are fighting each other while they eat cake.

I really am surprised more people here don't see this and we have such a huge portion of our membership ready to fall into the trap. All day long here I see threads on these topics they push that create sides...People who otherwise seem pretty smart, good people, get downright nasty and hateful over topics that don't benefit any of us to fight over. Sigh...The brave new world indeed...

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: Perfectenemy
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Btw CNN is on the record for doing just the same.

Really? Then by all means, prove it.

Denialist. You are deeply embedded with the "Media", demanding impossible proof is your call sign.

But do go ahead and prove the BS they spit all day is true...lol.

The news media is naught but one head of the hydra, carefully scripted to spin the false image the gubment wants everyone to see.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: network dude

Are you trolling? I never disconfirmed his claim. I asked him to prove it. Why are you deflecting with nonsense? If it is true then produce this supposed "record". I'll be happy to read it like I read the article in the OP. Though I find it annoying that the first poster in the thread deflected my OP about Fox News to talk about CNN and you are carrying that torch for him.

I'm not deflecting anything. I just pointed out that this is nothing new. I don't give a # what Fox news has to say. You're just another hypocrite.

a reply to: RickyD

I'm not going to deny there is a level of scripting in other networks, but this is down right insidious and the way the other news networks work doesn't appear to be NEARLY as bad as Fox News presents itself. And until someone can prove that other networks have engaged in similar activities as the OP, we shouldn't be talking about them anyways. You are just deflecting from the point in the OP.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Oh, I'm sorry OP. Apparently, you never got the memo.

News is bought and sold. Therefore, it follows an agenda.


I don't care if you are red or blue, there is no one source of truth. Truth is not the content, rather it is the filter that is applied to inbound stimuli.

originally posted by: Perfectenemy

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: network dude

Are you trolling? I never disconfirmed his claim. I asked him to prove it. Why are you deflecting with nonsense? If it is true then produce this supposed "record". I'll be happy to read it like I read the article in the OP. Though I find it annoying that the first poster in the thread deflected my OP about Fox News to talk about CNN and you are carrying that torch for him.

I'm not deflecting anything. I just pointed out that this is nothing new. I don't give a # what Fox news has to say. You're just another hypocrite.

And I nicely asked you to prove it and you got defensive and combatant with me instead. Case in point. You just ad hominemed me because I demanded you produce the record you claimed existed.

Oh, and I forgot to mention....


Truth, is fluid. It is also greatly effected by gravity. The gravity of a situation, and the gravity that influences how any given topic is ever illuminated.