The Myth of “Fair and Balanced”
How corporate media is secretly brainwashing the American public.
Aaron Nytes, July 3, 2023

... It is no question that the media we consume has a profound effect on our individual beliefs and our shared values as a society. One might think that, with such a keen influence on the social psyche, the content of the news and entertainment that we consume should be closely studied and carefully scrutinized. However, the major news companies, even more shrouded by the advent of social media, proves that the opposite is the case. While corporate media, especially the right-wing variety, package addicting content to the masses, they use their power to normalize their status-quo agenda and obfuscate their true influence.

Although most media organizations, right and left, package their product through addictive means, perhaps no liberal organization is more potent and emblematic of the dangers of this trend than Fox News.

It is not entirely clear which comes first, the chicken or its racist tendencies. Would the highly polarized viewpoints of Fox News’s consumers be just as warped if they were without it entirely? Perhaps Fox News is responding to a demand already inherent in the American public. This theory, however, does not explain the “large decreases in knowledge of

information covered on Fox News” compared to alternative networks. Reducing one’s consumption of Fox News and viewing different news content also “moderated [viewers] attitudes and bolstered knowledge they need to hold elected officials accountable.”

Far more likely, given these realities, is that Fox News tries to sell an addictive product that makes its customers’ symptoms worse, thereby drawing them in further. By focusing on “sensationalism and identity politics,” the network’s founding established itself as a catalyst for conservative cultural values. Since then, by pushing the ‘revenge-button’ in their viewers’ brains, the network has enabled addictive tendencies in its huge audience by scaremongering and broadcasting “tribal hate porn.”

Fox News’s practices have allowed them to dominate consumers on the right better than any of similarly situated networks on the left. The network has risen to fame as the most popular news channel on cable TV.

Since then, by pushing the ‘revenge-button’ in their viewers’ brains, the network has enabled addictive tendencies in its huge audience by scaremongering and pushing “tribal hate porn.”

But what specific tactics make Fox News most successful? A Yale study attempted to describe the process by which most American news entities—but Fox News especially—cultivates their cult-like following. By setting a broad agenda, filtering content to fit that agenda, and then filtering coverage of an issue, a network can strategically create a consumer-dependency on their content.

Let’s look at a prime example of this process—the 2020 presidential election. The network began by setting an agenda. Immediately after the election, Fox News began relentlessly questioning the results, thereby setting the agenda of election integrity (or the supposed lack thereof). Once the topic was sufficiently known to its viewers, it framed the issue as substantially similar to actions of the Democrats. Disregarding the obvious distinction between voicing disapproval for an electoral process that would crown a less popular candidate the winner and airing debunked voter fraud claims (which later forced the network into legal damage-control), Fox News framed it as a partisan, instead of an anti-democracy, issue. Finally, in the post-carnage cleanup stage of the insurrection, Fox news filtered out any coverage of the hearings held to investigate prominent Republicans’ involvement in the insurrection itself.

And there is actually a neurological reason these tactics are so successful. As journalist Linda Rodriguez McRobbie has described, “any perceived threat — physical, metaphysical, ideological, or imagined — causes the amygdalae to alert the brain to prepare for a fight.” This response triggers a release of dopamine, which is accompanied by various physical responses like increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Beyond dopamine’s addictive effect, our emotional response to this triggered anger can have similar effects. “The more we use anger to dominate or control others (or to protect ourselves),”  ...

Yadda has over 20,000 post all of them racist and bigoted

And there is actually a neurological reason these tactics are so successful. As journalist Linda Rodriguez McRobbie has described, “any perceived threat — physical, metaphysical, ideological, or imagined — causes the amygdalae to alert the brain to prepare for a fight.” This response triggers a release of dopamine, which is accompanied by various physical responses like increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Beyond dopamine’s addictive effect, our emotional response to this triggered anger can have similar effects. “The more we use anger to dominate or control others (or to protect ourselves),”  ...

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