When an employee of a legitimate news organization reports something as factual that turns out to be made up and erroneous, he or she is typically reprimanded and possibly fired. We have seen this happen again and again, and I suspect that most of us would agree that it makes sense. People watch news primarily because they want to be informed; they want to learn about what is happening in their world. Someone who is making things up and trying to pass them off as real is unlikely to last long.

That Fox "News" does not operate this way should tell us plenty. They are not a legitimate news organization but a purveyor of propaganda. When Sean Hannity goes on the air and deliberately and repeatedly misinforms his audience, there are no repercussions. He is not reprimanded, and he has obviously not been fired.

It is widely recognized that Fox "News" uses its more news oriented programs in conjunction with its opinion oriented shows in something of a media circle jerk. The opinion pundit asks absurd questions and suggest half-truths. The "news" section reports some variety of "Some people think that..." in order to lend legitimacy to whatever crazy theory the pundit has suggested. And then the pundit seizes on the more news oriented reports and uses them to prop up his insane claims. We have seen this again and again. Everyone seems well aware of it, except of course for the core Fox "News" audience.

That is the thing about well executed propaganda: it is usually quite effective. Those against which it has been repeatedly used tend not to recognize what it happening. They just know they need to buy more gold.

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