The Fox News Effect

According to James Carville there’d be 67 Democratic Senators if it weren’t for those ghastly chaps at Fox News. As with everything Carville says this must be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevetheless one need not look too hard to discover evidence of the impact Fox has had on American journalism* in precincts far from and not naturally disposed to take their orders from Roger Ailes’ command-bunker. Why, the very same edition of the New York Times contains an excellent example of how Fox’s “framing” of an issue has leached into the mainstream. In the paper’s Week in Review section Helene Cooper “examines” the burning issue of whether Barack Obama is a wimp or a warrior…

The answer is, of course, that like all Democrats Obama is a wimp. Or, if he’s not actually a wimp he is perceived as such. Now, sure, perception matters enormously in politics but perception is at least partly controlled or influenced by the press.