MSNBC is difficult to watch these days, but so is Fox News. The warring ideologies are so comfortable in their alarmism, and their certitude about being the noble, much put-upon victims of the other side, that it’s painful to tune into either channel. Probably in a binary situation bereft of books, newspapers and magazines Fox would get the nod from yours truly, but only because some of the hosts on Fox are legitimately funny.
The execrable nature of the two cable networks came to mind while reading former publisher and owner of The New Republic Martin Peretz’s new, and thoroughly unputdownable new memoir, The Controversialist: Arguments With Everyone, Left Right and Center. Describing Fox and MSNBC early on, he laments that the “warring parties cannot even refer to a shared reality.” He puts it so well. I lean Fox (for several years I was a cast member on the late, great Forbes on Fox), but can’t presently watch the channel now without rolling my eyes every few seconds.
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