Frank Rich has a very well-written piece at New York Magazine, “Stop Beating a Dead Fox,” that is currently making the rounds. Rich does an excellent job laying out the declining ratings for Fox News, including a look at the demographics of its dwindling audience. There’s also some interesting explanation of why Fox has been both very slow and ludicrously clueless about how to integrate the net in general and social media in particular into its service and coverage. The reporting half of the article is really very good, and you ought to give it a read.

However, the most passionate part of his argument is the claim that when those of us who don’t share Fox’s ideology react to the latest outrageous commentary or false story, we’re simply giving them the attention they want. And we should stop doing that. That sounds eerily like the advice I used to get from some adults regarding some of my most frequent childhood bullies. And it is just one of the deep flaws I see in Mr. Rich’s arguments… Continue reading “Just ignore them!” →