I know it is not, and in fact cannot be, just me who has noticed the commencement of Fox News' rapid slide into the swill, slime and sludge at the bottom of the news world barrel. Once upon a time, in the United States of America, it seemingly was pretty much only pulp type rags that printed stuff like that Fox has been plastering all over their online news site in recent times. The amount of non-newsworthy news they have been printing, at least in my opinion, has been staggering.
For instance, as I type at the keyboard, it is August 5, 2021 at about 415 in the morning. In the center column of three columns, on the FoxNews.com website, there are approximately 38 articles in what to me seems to be the main news section. That is followed by other articles, and/or repeats of some of those same articles, in subsections with their own headers such as Business, Corona Virus, Fox News Flash, Politics, U.S, World, America Together, Opinion and so on. Looking within just the main news section that I just mentioned and at only the articles within the center column, there are articles with these headlines:
Former Microsoft boss breaks silence on 'very sad' divorce, his Epstein 'mistake'
Heidi Klum shows off her backside in cheeky Instagram post: 'What a view'
Katharine McPhee, David Foster so in love at dinner after welcoming their first son into the world
Ava Phillippe strolls with her two dogs as mom Reese Witherspoon sells company in huge deal
Cameron Diaz, 48, makes rare appearance taking daughter Raddix to swim class in Beverly Hills
Charlize Theron soaks up some sun in black bikini while yachting in Greece
‘It’s very hurtful’: Model defends herself after photos arise of her topless on yacht with Princess Eugenie’s husband
Those six (7) articles amount to approximately 18.5% of all the articles in that center column of the main news section, almost 1/5 of the articles. As far as I am concerned, not one of them is of interest and none of them is newsworthy, except maybe for publication in a pulp type rag or within the 'pages' of a social media website where the users of those sites love to read what amounts to useless gossip.
Think about it, really - are you truly interested in reading about the rare appearance of an entertainer who took her daughter to swimming lessons or about an actress whose photograph makes her look like, as I see her, a somewhat thinner version of the Pillsbury Doughboy, all much too white and pasty (or would it be pastry) looking for my tastes, while donned in a bikini. The sight almost makes me want to allow vultures to pluck out my eyes! Do you or I really have a need to know, or even want to know, about another actress' whose daughter walked her dogs? Honestly folks - I am surprised they did not get the scoop of her scooping up the poop; is that newsworthy or is it absolute crap! Then there is the one about a model showing off her backside (not that I'd necessarily mind looking) - butt to me it seems to be yet another classic piece befitting a sensationalist rag or maybe better yet for something like a so called gentleman's magazine, Those things certainly are not, in my opinion, fit for a publication that likes to give the impression it is printing the news, at least news about anything that matters. These are not even human interest stories as I see them - they are filler deserving of being thrown into the trash can and not much more in my opinion. Wait, oh yes, they are something more - they are liberal style fawning over the elite of Hollywood - something that I think you, or at least I, would not have expected to see, in such abundance, on a site like FoxNews just a year or three ago.
Why is FoxNews descending to the levels of CNN, MSNBC, NBC and to the levels of what I think were the pulp rags of old? Are they trying to commit virtual suicide as has, I think, the NY Times or are they trying to appease their audience which somehow has become interested in non-newsworthy news, so to speak, as opposed to printing articles solely, or at least in greater abundance, about events that actually have some importance in the life of Americans and that would interest those with some modicum of intelligence.
Further down the page, at FoxNews.com, there is a section with the header: Good News. In it there is an article about someone finding their cat after it had gone missing for 6 years. That article is one of those feel good human interest stories that the mainstream media (and make no mistake FoxNews is part of the mainstream media no matter what Hannity and others claim) likes to throw into the mix - usually near the bottom of the page. Yet even though relegated to the bottom of the heap, more or less, if I were to read it, my guess is that it would be of more interest to me than an article about some multi-billionaire's marital problems or an article about two unknown to me celebrities being "...so in love at dinner...".
Honestly though, when I am looking to read newsworthy news, I am much more likely to look for pieces about: the aftermath of the U.S. pulling out of Afghanistan, the latest efforts by the dems to destroy the 2nd Amendment or to phase out other rights and liberties, voter identification requirements, the huge surge of illegal border crossings, illegal aliens with COVID-19 being released into the USA, COVID-19 breakthrough cases, calls for Governor Andrew Cuomo to be prosecuted and to resign, the government of Mexico attempting to sure U.S. Firearms manufacturers relative to arms trafficking to Mexico, the progress in the impeachment attempt of Governor Gavin Newsom, the state of the stock market and our economy in general, China's continued militarization, the origins of the Novel Corona Virus, Russia's chest pounding and drum beating in world politics, the current president's income tax plans for the nation, employment in the nation, the infrastructure bill, the alleged anti-American activities of BLM & ANTIFA, the seemingly failing mental health of the man in the White House and the activities of the cackling and possibly crazed woman who would take his place. Then again, lest we forget or sweep it under the rug, there is the rampant violence that has been taking place in mostly liberal run cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle and Washington, DC to name a few; I find that quite interesting especially in light of the responses of the left relative to calls to defund the police and their absolute unwillingness or inability to bring the violent crime surges to an end. Of course, some other folks also may have an interest in sports and even I take an occasional look at articles about the Olympics.
Sure, FoxNews has articles about most of, if not all of, those truly newsworthy things that I just mentioned. The thing is though, as I indicated above, they also throw in way too much non-newsworthy trash as I see it. I wish they would go back to reporting the news - not all the news that is fit to print as the NY Times used to claim it printed, nor all the news that fits as, I think, Rolling Stone magazine/newspaper claimed they printed but instead that they would fill up their webpage with articles that are truly newsworthy and of interest to, and worthy of being read by, people with at least half a brain.
I am not saying they should do away with entertainment news or human interest stories and the like but at least that when reporting on entertainers or entertainment that they would please report what is worthy of the news and that is not an article about how sizzling looking is someone's behind. Intelligent reporting about current events and such that have some real importance in the grand scheme of things, with a bit of human interest stories thrown in for good measure, and not so high a rate of stories that amount to mere sensationalism would be a nice change of pace. Stuff like that, the flamboyant and the absolutely petty is apparently often only in the news because of one's celebrity status and because the media loves kissing the arses of celebrities. Well not only due to those two things, we need to include the fact that way too many idiots people want to read about those things instead of what truly matters in the nation and the world.
I realize everyone has their own opinion and yours may differ from mine but that is mine and I am sure that there are some other folks who must think likewise and long for a return to the times when trash news was pretty much reported on in what were the pulp rags of the day and newsworthy news was what made up the great bulk of pieces in newspapers, television news reporting and even early online news sites.
All the best,
Glenn B
