Fox News' HuffPo Copy Already Awesome
Fox News Channel today launched TheFoxNation.com, to finally give conservative pundits and commentators a place to gather online. (Cough, cough.) The site is already firing on all cylinders.
Various Fox News executives, clearly reading from the same Roger Ailes-issued talking points, described the site in the press today as Huffington Post + Drudge Report (see Washington Post, AP)
How does Fox Nation stack up to those and other aggregator sites?
Paucity of original content: Check. Rather than complain about online aggregators like other traditional media brands, Fox seems to have jumped into the game with both feet. The top five stories listed on Fox Nation right now are produced by KTAR TV, ABC News, Politico, the Porterville Recorder and the New York Post.
(The site's operators are promising to eventually recruit volunteer writers like those who contribute to the Huffington Post.)
Hysterical headlines: Check. E.g.: "Scary! Obama nominee wants one world order;" "Bill Maher smears U.S. troops;" and "GOP vows WWII over Stuart Smalley," where "Stuart Smalley" refers to would-be Minnesota senator Al Franken, depicted for some reason (see picture above) as a rabbit (the image rollover seems to be broken).
Jeff Bercovici at Portfolio found this gem: "Affirmative Action for Muslims in the White House?" Fox already yanked that one.
Brilliantly insane comments section: Check. Particularly fun was the populist story "GM CEO drives off with $22 million," which split the right-wing commenters into people who blamed the mess on recently-ousted General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner; those who blamed GM's main union, the United Auto Workers; and those who blamed Barack Hussein Obama, aka Hilter:
As you can see, the future of right-wing attack journalism is being born before our very eyes, right there on FoxNation.com. It's enough to make you choke up a little bit. Or just, you know, choke.