Tucker

[jesmu84]

I understand that Grandpa meets with his golfing buddies for lunch and complains about the world based on what he watched on Fox News or MSNBC. But, I ask again, does that matter? So what? Does it move the needle on anything?

My biggest complaint about Cable News is that it creates no news. It emotionally reacts news broken somewhere else (typically, it is still the dead tree newspapers). So, you watch what fits your political view, as they assemble a panel to be outraged at whatever is happening in politics based on their viewpoint. I found that exhausting and stopped watching. 

I think what moves the needle is social media. Twitter (the center of social media) matters as that is where things start; even if it is a dead tree newspaper breaking news, the story gets its narrative and acceleration there. Cable News is just the summary of that for the elderly. Again, no thank you for me.

I looked it up. Tucker's show was the highest-rated show, with around 4 million viewers. There are 258 million people over 18 in the US (2020 Census). So, what are 98.5% of the adult population doing on any given night? The answer is not watching Tucker, and even more are not watching all the other Cable News shows.

But how many social media posts from prominent influencers have more than 4 million impressions? Hundreds of them!

So, I understand this post and why people are talking about it. I'm just struggling to figure out why any of this matters.

You're missing the influence of someone like tucker who's headlines, video clips and talking points get spread on social media.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Not even close, one lied for profit and money knowing full well what they were doing, the other had to compromise with another political party dead-set against providing healthcare for anyone not sponsored by their employer to get legislation passed.

Username checks out.

[tower912]

Lurch is a really great guy who has been in the heart of the insurance industry for a couple of decades.     Ground zero for all the changes of Obamacare.

[tower912]

Slow your roll. Yule putt bedder, hey?

26 putts again today.   

[4everwarriors]

Godd thing you retired early, aina?

[tower912]

I retired right on time.   The game is coming along.  And the roll does not need slowed.

[lawdog77]

26 putts again today.   

Not bad for 9

[tower912]

Really good for 18.  A testament to hitting fringes and chipping well.

[muwarrior69]

Not even close, one lied for profit and money knowing full well what they were doing, the other had to compromise with another political party dead-set against providing healthcare for anyone not sponsored by their employer to get legislation passed.

So lying by a Democrat is not lying. Even the Washington Post gave Obama 4 Pinocchios for lying knowing full well it was for votes. He had the house and senate so no compromise with Republicans was necessary.

[Lighthouse 84]

[Shaka Shart]

Lmao

https://twitter.com/gabrielsherman/status/1650964676606324736?s=46&t=G2FhP_F2kWewaBOpvRv5lg

[Heisenberg]

You're missing the influence of someone like tucker who's headlines, video clips and talking points get spread on social media.

Confirmation bias

Meaningless level of opinions are changed.

This applies for all of cable news. Everybody six out their own opinion and nothing is changed.

[ATL MU Warrior]

I think those who say this are looking at it from a far too short timeframe. At any given moment? Sure, maybe 1%-2% are influenced in the moment. It's the cumulative, long-term effect that is most powerful.

Few people are swayed by a single segment. It's the constant repetition that builds up perceptions over time, to the point that some become so terrified they shoot anyone on their doorstep that doesn't look like them...

...or go from vaccine proponent to posting memes about how the vaccine changes your DNA.

This is spot on.

[pbiflyer]

Viewer responses to his departure.

https://www.theonion.com/tucker-carlson-fox-news-exit-viewers-react-1850369577

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Confirmation bias

Meaningless level of opinions are changed.

This applies for all of cable news. Everybody six out their own opinion and nothing is changed.

I actually think these shows and the viral outflows are what solidify less opinions changing or that they are unwilling to change.  Outrage and apathy result from getting fed what you want all the time. 

It drags the dialog to a cynical place even if some people aren't there or changing beliefs because of it directly.

[MuggsyB]

To be honest even if it were 1-2%, you have to break that down and look at where that 1-2% is located throughout the country.  In other words if it is actually 1% in Wisconsin it could have an impact on elections.  Whereas if it's 1% in Illinois it would have no impact whatsoever.  Now, I've heard conservatives argue that big-tech withholding certain points of view about for example the covid lab theory and Hunter Biden could have swayed voters and the election.  My take, similar to TV "news" shows, is that  it had very little if any impact. 

The truth is debates, tv news, and even the counless lies, douchebaggery, and dishonesty displayed by both Trump and Biden are not swaying voters much at all.   People are entrenched in their political party with the exception of young voters.   And the vast majority of young voters will vote Democrat.  The fact that this disgusting rematch will likely take place is a condemnation of our entire society and country. They're both are old as fk and suck royally in different ways, not to mention are clear criminals.   No rational person wants to see either of these fkbags running our country. 

[Pakuni]

Fox didn't just pay $787 million settlement in a defamation suit because it has no influence on the public.
Any one of us could say the same nonsense about Dominion here and it wouldn't cost us a dime. Fox isn't paying up because it told lies, it's paying up because it told lives that people believed, shattering the otherwise unquestioned reputation of a company.

[tower912]

Peddled lies while knowing the truth.

[lurch91]

So lying by a Democrat is not lying. Even the Washington Post gave Obama 4 Pinocchios for lying knowing full well it was for votes. He had the house and senate so no compromise with Republicans was necessary.

Wow, 4 Pinocchios?  I stand corrected.

Anyone who had already purchased a health insurance plan by March 23, 2010 had a plan with "grandfathered status." The grandfather clause allowed current plans to stay the same, as long as their insurer continued to offer that plan.

The insurers just had to not offer the existing plan in order to make people switch.

Did Obama know that this was a risk, I'm sure he did.  If there's any fault to his words, that's where the lie is.  Not making the public aware that the health plan has to be offered in order for them to keep their health plan.

[Pakuni]

Peddled lies while knowing the truth.

Sure, but damages in a case like that are determined by the effect of the lie, not the lie itself.
A lie is relatively harmless if no one believes it. Judging by their payout, Fox seemed pretty concerned that their lies weren't harmless.

[jesmu84]

Confirmation bias

Meaningless level of opinions are changed.

This applies for all of cable news. Everybody six out their own opinion and nothing is changed.

So, social media does or doesn't matter? Cause, you previously said social media does matter. And if Tucker's stuff ends up on social media...

[MuggsyB]

So, social media does or doesn't matter? Cause, you previously said social media does matter. And if Tucker's stuff ends up on social media...

When you write "it matters" are you saying people in significant numbers are voting based on what Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon say?  I find that difficult to believe no matter how their opinions are viewed or shared.  People that have watched these tools are generally middle aged or older and not remotely swing voters. 

[dgies9156]

Cronkite's broadcasts were mostly "just the facts," but, from what I've read, there definitely were times he inserted his views or emotions. He famously fought off tears when reporting the JFK assassination, and he enthusiastically reported on the 1969 Apollo mission.

His biggest expressions of opinion involved the Vietnam War, which he despised and advocated against. After he visited Nam in 1968, he declared the war a "stalemate" and urged LBJ to get America out of it.

I'm too young to remember Nam (nice to say I'm too young to remember something!) but I did sometimes watch the Cronkite news as a teen and into my early 20s. Huntley and Brinkley on NBC were cut from the same cloth.

I'm a news junkie and one can draw the following:

1) Cronkite really was objective. To Brother MU's point, the only time Cronkite became an advocate was on space. The excitement, the technological enthusiasm really caught Cronkite and I don't think he was objective. He treated astronauts like sportswriters treat ballplayers -- with kid gloves. Burn 'em and they stop talking to you.

2) The controversial 1968 Vietnam piece was extremely well-researched and detailed. Cronkite's "opinion" was part of a commentary at the end of a one-hour special examining the purpose and tactics in Vietnam. Long form documentaries, as was CBS Reports, tended to be more interpretive reporting and commentary as opposed to straight news. Ed Murrow did the same thing with a "See it Now" piece, Harvest of Shame, a report about migrant workers that CBS broadcast in 1960.

3) To expect reporters not to have human emotions is ridiculous. I've seen the tape of Mr. Cronkite announcing the death of President Kennedy many times and Mr. Cronkite had the same emotion many of us and our families did when we learned a dynamic young President of the United States died. You'd have to ask Mr. Cronkite when you cross the pearly gates, but I suspect he would have felt the same way had Presidents Eisenhower or Reagan been assassinated.

4) Huntley/Brinkley was objective as well. In fact, for the first time, the CBS Evening News passed Huntley Brinkley during a strike in which Brinkley honored the picket lines but Huntley did not.

5) Cronkite was an interesting watch during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. On one hand, he called the Chicago Police "a bunch of thugs" after the police assaulted Dan Rather on the floor of the International Amphitheatre (Go Cops!) but he allowed Richard J. Daley to spew lies and nonsense about the threats to the Democratic Convention in Chicago without challenging Mayor Pinocchio. In those days, the way you could tell Daley was lying was his lips were moving. Cronkite was docile after the convention and it gave Daley the sense that he was above the media.
   

[jesmu84]

When you write "it matters" are you saying people in significant numbers are voting based on what Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon say?  I find that difficult to believe no matter how their opinions are viewed or shared.  People that have watched these tools are generally middle aged or older and not remotely swing voters.

You'd have to ask heisy. He was the one who said social media matters

[Heisenberg]

You'd have to ask heisy. He was the one who said social media matters

Yes, social media mattering to public opinion, and by extension elections, is unique to me.