I’ve been hearing suggestions of late that progressive media outlets should ignore the propaganda stories from Fox. This morning I came across an excellent article by Randy Shaw who holds to that view. I disagree. We agree that the Republican party has driven the news cycle by circulating propaganda pieces through their captive media, Fox News and Right wing radio, keeping Democrats on the defensive instead of talking about their positive achievements and agenda.

Here is his introduction:

Since President Obama took office, the Republican Party’s agenda has dominated the public debate. Fox News and right-wing talk radio decide what’s news, and the traditional media either echoes the story or is criticized for not doing so, as occurred when the New York Times Public Editor chastised the paper for inadequately covering right-wing falsehoods about ACORN. But progressive media has also allowed conservatives to set the terms of the debate. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann regularly devotes considerable time to rebutting Fox News lies, as do many progressive bloggers. This reactive approach ensures that fake stories like the nonexistent Ground Zero mosque control the news cycle, while stories confirming progressive policy successes get ignored. In The Activist’s Handbook, I describe the importance of moving pro-actively, rather than fighting battles on opponents’ terms. The party that frames the debate usually wins, but progressives too often get sidetracked by responding to their opponents’ agendas rather than promoting their own. So while progressives enjoy lampooning Sarah Palin, it’s striking how much time MSNBC and progressive bloggers spend talking about her. She becomes a perfect foil for getting progressives off-track, with she and her right-wing allies getting the last laugh… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

To be fair, this is not his entire argument, so click through for several examples of what he means.

I agree that progressive media and blogs need to be pro-active, but being proactive without fighting back is a recipe for disaster.

I wish I could find a poll I once studied, but cannot because it’s buried within a mass of push-polls by Fox about Fox. So from memory (this may be a bit off, bit it’s close), about 25% of Americans (who watch TV news) get their TV news exclusively from Fox. About 20% get their TV News from sources that do not include Fox. The remaining 55% get their TV news from from sources including Fox. Therefore, approximately 80% of Americans who watch TV news hear the lies from the GOP Reichsministry of Propaganda. Even some of the remaining 20% are exposed, because the traditional media usually just repeat the lies, sometimes with opposing sound bites, but rarely, if ever, offer sound analysis debunking the lies. When people hear a lie often enough without challenge, they believe it. That’s why, according to Pew, only 34% of Americans believe Obama is a Christian.

Let’s go back to 2004. In one corner we had a Vietnam War hero. In the other we had a draft dodger, who was AWOL for a large part of his National Guard service. Out popped Fox and the swift boat campaign of lies. The Kerry campaign ignored the lies until it was too late. Bush got close enough to steal, with a little help from disenfranchising minorities and rigged voting machines, to steal the election and thousands of us felt the need to apologize to the rest of the world by posting pictures like the one above and to the right. Disaster.