Fox watchers attack Canada at Bene Diction Blogs On

Fox watchers attack Canada

On September 5th Heather Mallick wrote an unflattering opinion piece on Sarah Palin for the CBC: A Mightly Wind blows through the Republican convention followed by a similar one (a bit more restrained) at the Guardian UK.

It’s Mallick doing her job; take it or leave her, same as you’d evaluated any opinion piece.
Mallick has no use for Palin, didn’t spare the hyperbole and the people who vote for her. Things were quiet until a Fox news person named Greta Van Susteren picked up on the Malik piece and had Canadian columnist David Warren try sputter through this clip. Hard, Van Suteren couldn’t shut up.

Red Tory 3.0 picks up the faux outrage in Canada and the faux outrage by Americans generated by the Fox attention demanding the CBC be disbanded, etc etc.
The Canadian bloggers shouting their anger the loudest. Jonathan Kay of The National Post points out the obvious to outraged Canadians:

..this is merely the opinion of a single writer and in no way at all should it be necessarily be construed as being the “official” position of the broadcaster. Sure, it’s a controversial opinion, but what’s wrong with that? Indeed, as the CBC executive notes, it’s part of their mandate and obligation under the federal Broadcasting,

Van Susteren has made no bones about the fact she is a scientologist. Attacking, dead agenting, all part of her ‘religion.’ It appears the Fox segment ran last week. No one is going to point anything out to her viewers, they deluged her blog and the comments are something else.

What is David Warren doing on Fox? He stumbled through his brief appearance, but then again he wasn’t given much of a chance to speak. Van Susteren had no trouble calling Mallick a pig and going on and on.
Warren, not heard, wrote a love/hate column about Mallick’s work, the CBC, capitalizing on the US outrage.

Yesterday we learned how much outrage there has been. CBC is not taking Mallick’s column down, nor are they blocking people from either side of the border who wish to comment.

Mallick has been overwhelmed by hate mail from the US, amazingly some commenters on Van Susteren’s blog go on about Mallick being un-American. Did they even watch the clip or do they jump into faux and genuine outrage and hate by some cue choosing to hear Mallick is Canadian? What are the ’start’ words for these viewers, and do they have ’stop words?”

She’s been called a “pig” by Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, has been branded an insane Pakistani Muslim by commentators on Fox message boards and has received violent and threatening email, some of which include anti-Semitic slurs - despite the fact that she’s neither Jewish nor Muslim.

“I’d love to punch you right in your chops and knock every tooth out of your head. Come see me bitch, I have something for you!” someone named Dave Jones wrote in an email to Mallick.

Messages left on the Fox News website also contain a lot of anti-Canadian sentiment.

“Canada is made up of small towns and many if not most trace their ancestry back to their ‘redneck cousin’ and they still have relatives here in the U.S.,” one wrote.

Wrote another, “Those morons up north just can’t keep their ignorant mouths shut when it’s really none of their socialist business … the People’s Republic of Canada is no friend of the USA!”

The Toronto-based Mallick admits she’s been shaken by the violence suggested in hundreds of emails similar in tone to Jones’, but adds the messages have simply served to underscore her point about the bigotry and small-mindedness of some Republican supporters.

“The responses to my column proved me correct about the extreme right in the United States: they have a great misogynist rage in them,” Mallick said in an interview from Toronto on Saturday.

“The violent and obscene threats against me were one thing - it’s easy to filter those - but the anti-Semitic hate mail was very troubling. I am not Jewish but I am honoured to be taken for one. I consider it a great compliment.”

Is US corporate media running out of ‘outrage’ stories? This past week we saw an unprecedented crisis on Wall Street, a trillion dollar bailout, Chinese babies ill and dying from ingredients added to their formula to save money; the US Air Force make unauthorized incursions into Pakistan, bombings, another Canadian death (infant) from listeria.
And Heather Mallick’s opinion dominates the news in the US?

It’s Canadian bloggers priorities mentioned by Red Tory who jumped on the anger bandwagon who boggle the mind.

Published 3 months, 2 weeks ago

4 Responses to “Fox watchers attack Canada”

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1 Torontonian on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 am

First some corrections:

Heather Mallick

Jonathan Kay

Get the spellings right at least.

The rest is all about a circle.

Fox news interviewed an Ottawa Citizen columnist
and the Citizen is owned by CanWest global which
employs Jonathan Kay.

CanWest Global is the Canadian licencee for Fox
channels in Canada.

So, it Fox interviewing an employee of a Fox licencee
about an article written in that licencee’s media.

It’s all the same circle. No outsiders allowed.

Heather Mallick’s article was clearly marked as a
viewpoint. What is the problem with a viewpoint?
Lots, if you’re a Republican or Christian Conservative
or Values Voter and what is being said goes against
your beliefs.

Don’t believe me? Remember the DaVinci Code fuss?

Only the religious right got all worked up about FICTION!

Those of us with more liberal minds aren’t offended by
viewpoints unless they are intentionally hurtful and that
is quite another matter.

I refuse to patronize the CanWest Global media empire in
any way. They won’t miss my money but if enough of us
keep away, they’ll get the message.

The National Post is getting ready for its eleventh
anniversary and it should probably be its last.
It’s fit for the chopping block any day now.

If only we could do the same to the Global TV people.
2 Bene D on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm

Thanks. Fixed.

Interesting circle.
Is it implied that CanWest employees are required to feed Fox with their appearance?

They must know they aren’t going to get a word in edgewise, they must know they are going to get talked over. Are they allowed to say no?

I don’t see the NatPo surviving, and I’d be surprised if it’s missed. They have a couple of good writers.

So what we’re seeing is the gospel according to Murdoch.
3 Torontonian on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm

. . .Is it implied that CanWest employees are required to feed Fox with their appearance? . . . .
——————

I don’t believe so. It’s just a convenience that CanWest Global and Fox have that partership and therefore would be the first “turn-to” party for a comment on current events.

. . . to get a word in edgewise . . .

That’s not much different than Charles Adler or Michael Coren.
The program is about them, not their interlocutor.

. . . Are they allowed to say no? . . .

Maybe, but promotions might be slower to come as well as
rises in income.

It helps to remember how much a micro-manager David Asper is. Nobody like meddling in the editorial office but Asper continues
on doing it. That explains the haemorrhaging of talent from the
Post.

I made a mistake. The upcoming anniversary is the 10th not
the 11th.

Whatever is going on between Fox and CanWest Global still
has a sickly sweet stench.

Two weeks ago, Global National was not even in the top
30 programs for the Toronto area. So much for the claim
of being”Canada’s most watched newscast.”
4 benjamino on Sep 24th, 2008 at 10:54 am

So what else is new! We all know about GVS and Fox. And with Palin, religion and religious views so much more in the news these days than ever before, I’m wondering what you all think about this. I came across this interesting site, opposingviews.com the other day while doing some research on religion and its place in politics today.

It’s a site where there are numerous interesting debates on all sorts of subjects that are on everyone’s mind. The debate that specifically captured my attention is the one asking whether Intelligent Design has merit. I do like the idea that their debaters are not simply average people giving their opinions, but all are experts in their chosen fields.

The point of view that really got to me though, is the one from the Ayn Rand Institute in which they call ID a supposedly non-religious theory, and a crusade to peddle religion by giving it the veneer of science. They use words like it is metaphysical marijuana intended to draw students away from scientific explanations and get them hooked on the supernatural. I’d like to place my comment there, but I’d really like to get some input from you before doing so. Here’s the specific debate I’d like to comment on. http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/it-s-bait-and-switch Thanks so much.