Fox Is a Shithole Country

Bette Dangerous - Where Propaganda Goes To Die

Those of you who read my Byline Supplement memoir, Confessions of a Fox Blonde, know that in the before times, the local affiliates had some autonomy from the national beast - which as I wrote is now a fully engaged weapon of mass democratic destruction. 

That’s not just one girl’s opinion. The Dominion lawsuit court documents are dropping bombs all over the network and no one who works in the belly of the beast can avoid being hit.

If you still work for Fox ‘News’ in 2023, I’m sorry, but you are part of the problem. I have had a decade to recover from Rupert scurvy, and it’s still not enough time.

On Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s Lucid meeting today, I briefly explained that Rupert Murdoch only looks at the right side of ledgers. That’s it.

They should have removed the word “News” from the title many years ago, and instead replaced it with the word “Propaganda.”

“Fox Propaganda - Unfair, Unbalanced, Fascist Friendly”

A thread I wrote on December 4, 2019, examining Fox ties to Russia is shocking even today. All the links between Fox anchors and Russia, Rupert Murdoch and Russia, are really quite astonishing.

In addition, just like with the Kremlin - where there’s no use asking binary questions - same goes for Fox. It’s like an asylum where the power brokers trying to please daddy are sociopaths.

That does not mean there are not smart people there - smart people with hearts of larceny.

I certainly wasn’t shocked to find the most ardent Koch-Kremlin cadre propagandists didn’t believe the lies they were telling.

The court documents filed in Delaware by Dominion Voting Systems as part of the company’s lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corporation and Fox Broadcasting contains text messages, emails and testimony from Fox anchor hacks and execs that they did not believe the Big Lie promoted in the days after the 2020 election.

Dominion is suing Fox for defamation, seeking $1.6 billion in damages, alleging the network knowingly aired false information.

Among the purported Big Reveals…

• Koch-Kremlin enforcer Tucker Carlson wrote that Sidney Powell was lying. “It’s insane.”

• Fash extremist Laura Ingraham responded: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy.”

• The filing alleges Carlson and Hannity mulled getting a White House reporter fired after she fact-checked a tweet from Trump

• The filing says Carlson told Hannity, “Please get her fired. Seriously….What the fuck? I’m actually shocked…It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.” 

In one of the more grotesque moments in the filing - but not surprising - Dominion alleges the network was worried it was getting crushed by Kremlin-propaganda station Newsmax, which perpetuated the Big Lie.

In a momentary flirtation with sanity, filings allege that Murdoch thought about being truthful - putting his three top henchmen on camera to admit Biden won. That didn’t happen.

While Dominion is out to prove malice, Fox denies all, explaining it was their duty to promote Trump’s lying flunkies’ propaganda.

If I sound jaundiced, it is because I am. You might recall the phone hacks scandal in the UK surrounding News of the World - which should have taken down Rupert and his brood entirely. Amy Winehouse - whose privacy was hacked and who was so distraught by it - did not survive.

Money changes everything. Creeps covering for creeps is the status quo, until it gets too costly as it did with Bill O’Reilly.

In Confessions, I tell a cute story about O’Reilly, who might have molested me in a hotel room if I wasn’t already a real journalist.

I had the displeasure of meeting O’Reilly when I was 24. I was working as the associate editor of Hollywood Magazine, when I was tasked with interviewing the anchorman as he made the jump from ABC to Inside Edition. 

We met in a cramped hotel room, and I recall our chairs being so close together that his manspreading created no room for my knees. I had to tuck my legs under my chair. As he swung his long legs back and forth during the interview, knocking directly into mine, he had a lecherous twinkle in his eye. I did the only sensible thing a girl could do in that situation.

I lobbed him three softballs and then went for the jugular. 

“How does it feel going from a real newsman to infotainment?” I asked.

I obliterated that lecherous twinkle with a hardball, and he turned into a viper. He was no longer interested in this young chippie in a pink sweater twinset, and the interview abruptly ended.

The point is these guys have been getting away with being horrible people for years. Fox has been getting away with the murder of democracy for ratings and greed and whatever kompromat or business dealings the Kremlin has on or with Rupert and his oily anchors for years.

Fox is a shithole country and if our leaders have any moxy, they will kick it out of America like they did RT. Why allow the continuation of something that has harmed millions of people - addicting them to outrage and othering as the world burns.

I’m not the only daughter who lost a parent to Fox.

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine and Substack bestseller. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you, as well, to those who support my work with coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was recently published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, I’ve been called “The punk rock Anaïs Nin” and author Greg Olear called it “The Big Sleep 2.0” except with “not so much sleep happening.”

Fox Undercover can be purchased here. 25% Discount Code: Undercover

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.