After more than 20 years blogging for NewsHounds, it is time for me to move on. There is more to this post than good-bye, however.
FIRST…
This is a decision I have not wanted to make. It’s one I have put off for a very long time. I have loved working on this blog but I simply do not have the time to do it anymore.
I believe it is crucial now to do everything possible to disrupt and delay the Musk/Trump agenda and to do everything possible to have Democrats take back the House in 2026. I want more time and mental energy to devote to just that.
Also, I need to spend more time doing other things. The next four years are going to be very trying and often dispiriting. It will be especially crucial for me to have more down time to stop thinking about the news, do some more socializing, more creative writing, more dancing, other pleasurable pursuits and possibly moving. Maintaining this blog takes a tremendous amount of time and psychic energy spent thinking of toxic bad actors.
I will continue to work at Crooks and Liars and I will continue to post about Fox News there. But as part of a larger mix of subjects. I am particularly interested in writing about how “populist” Trump is working to usher in an oligarchy as well as the dangers of Elon Musk and the billionaire bros. In a lot of ways, that is more worrisome to me than Fox.
When this blog started out, not much attention was paid to Fox News. I am proud to have played a part in changing that. I know that Fox is more a threat to our democracy than ever. But my Herculean fight is out of steam. Besides, other outlets, such as Media Matters and Decoding Fox News, can do a better job of documenting this poison than I can.
SECOND... this is the part that’s not about good-bye
In September, I wrote about The Rise of Fox News podcast, produced by Slate’s Slow Burn series. I highly recommend it. But the last episode, below, is mostly about 2004, the year this blog began. I speak in it, as do OG News Hounds (that’s how we spelled it then) bloggers Christina Bradley, who wrote under the name Marie Therese, and Judy Daubenmier. This episode discusses the Swift Boating of John Kerry, speaks of “freedom fries,” the Bill O’Reilly/Andrea Mackris “loofah” scandal, Jon Stewart sucking up to Bill O’Reilly, and our old “pal,” Johnny Dollar, for example.
Despite having lived and blogged through all that, I learned quite a bit. I learned that Fox knew the Swift Boat story was bogus, that E.D. Hill, who was believed to have been fired for asking if Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist bump was a “terrorist fist jab,” was more likely fired for not performing sexual favors for Roger Ailes, that Fox News sent a PR person to "date" Brian Stelter in order to keep tabs on him, and more.
More importantly, the podcast reveals that much of what happened in 2004 was a foretaste of what was to come. For example, the John Kerry campaign and many Democrats, not realizing how damaging Fox’s Swift Boat campaign was, were shocked that he lost. Sound familiar?
The podcast also makes the point that 2004 was the year that Fox became such an important player in our elections. It is my hope that our two decades of posts will serve as a historical record of the network's machinations. It is now up to you all to do your best to counter them.
THIRD… Back to Goodbyes
What I will miss most about leaving this blog is our readers. That means you, scooter, mlp, Kevin Koster, Marge Arnold, Thx for Fish, Firefox, Karen Barton, Bemused, John McKee and so many others. Reading your comments, your thoughts, our interactions have lifted me up and meant more to me than I can express.
I will always hold the past News Hounds writers in my heart: Marie Therese, Judy, chrish; Eleanor, Scarlet, and Janie, may we all meet again some day; Melanie and Nancy and blogfather Jim Gilliam, may you rest in power; and Deborah, whom I have never stopped missing. Also, continued thanks to Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Films team. They not only got us going on this project that I thought would only last a couple of weeks but hosted this blog for many years.
Last but far from least, my deep gratitude, appreciation and affection goes to my more recent colleagues: Brian, Priscilla, Aunty Em, Alex, Melanie (the other one), Aria and site helpers John and Bemused. I could never have kept up this blog without your help.
I hope everyone will follow me to Crooks and Liars. I even have an RSS feed there. Also, I’m pretty active on Blue Sky. I will follow any NewsHound reader whose name I recognize. If you’re a contra dancer, I hope we can meet and say, “Hey!” on a dance floor somewhere. I'll even tell you about that time I danced with John Eastman - yes, that John Eastman.
And now, here’s a message from Brian. I am finally letting him call Fox “Faux” without editing it 😊:
My first contact with News Hounds was the first Obama inauguration in 2009. I remember pointing out an error made by either Neil Cavuto or one of his guests. It led to monitoring Your World, and later, other shows on Faux, and later, news about Faux.
After 21 years, News Hounds is ending. It started after the Robert Greenwald film, Outfoxed, was released. No time is a good time to end but especially now, with the start of the second Trump administration.
I don't know how people who monitor Faux and other conservative outlets take it without wanting to explode. My thanks to all the readers, bloggers, and especially Ellen, the Queen of News Hounds, for keeping this blog going for over two decades. Without Ellen, this site is non-existent. You were all splendid and will be missed. I hope you will keep challenging conservative outlets and politicians. I hope to hear from you again somewhere, sometime soon. Thank you for everything, take care, and farewell.
I intend to keep the pages of this blog up for at least another month. Heck, I may even come back and do some more posting at some point. But in the meanwhile, I need a good break.
I hope you’ll take a listen to the Slow Burn podcast below. Looking at the 2004 Fox from a 2024 perspective also puts this blog in perspective, I think.
My eyes are tearing up now.
(Image by Cottonbro studio, via Pexels.com and Creative Commons License)
I’ve been here off and on since the beginning. I got timed-out and maybe even banned a couple of times before (can be a bit of a hothead at times. ;] , despite being older than dirt). My original nick was ‘Whiskey’ around here (which I rarely imbibe).
I and many others really appreciated your efforts. Please leave the website up, most of us are willing to donate to it.
Perhaps y’all could revive it in the future? It really is a very important public service to monitor the Rethugs propaganda efforts in all their guises. And News Hounds was one of the first, and best at it.
As others have noted, they will be needed to counter the whitewashing that is to come! Maybe there is a way to reformat them into a simpler website, sort of an archive form, so they’re cheap or almost free to host. If you need money for this I’m sure this community would support such an effort.
Good luck and thank you for all you’ve done over the years fighting the good fight.
Once again, thanks Ellen. You done good, gal xx
I was a latecomer. NewHounds was the first blog I started reading sometime before Covid days, when I needed more than just the AP and Reuters and Guardian Weekly to keep track of the rotten tricks of the Orange One.
Crooks and Liars is now bookmarked in my favorites and so I will stay with you there, and cheer on your fight against the evil forces that are consuming this country.
I despise Fox, one of the most irresponsible, wicked broadcast organizations ever to waste our valuable resources, and so appreciate your willingness to cover them.
Do some things you love to do. It’s going to take a while to shake off the taint of Fox.
I have one major request: Please do not delete the information from these pages. The archive of facts and documentation over the past 20 years is going to be vital for historians and students to understand exactly what happened over the course of this epoch of time.
The main purpose Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch had in creating Fox “News” in 1996 was always about history. They were hoping to rewrite history into their version, and to convince enough people that their version actually was the true history rather than an Angry Right Wing opinion about it. They were trying to create current facts on the ground by generating their own biased takes on every current event (as shown both in Outfoxed and daily on this website for 20 years) and then trying to go back and cite those “current facts” when referencing them years later. It is vital that Angry Right Wing attempts to present their biased “history” of this time be repeatedly pushed back and shown for what they are.
When Roger Ailes and Little Rush Limbaugh died of their various issues, it was important to note that their contribution to the world wasn’t to make it a better place but to make it a nastier, meaner one, and to enrich themselves in the process. They succeeded on both counts, but history should show them for what they were rather than as anything anyone could admire. And in a few years, when someone like Bill O’Reilly has his career/life retrospective whitewashed, it will be necessary for Angry Right Wing propagandists to be publicly rebuked and reminded who O’Reilly really was.
I’m not on any social media other than Facebook, where I mostly reserve my comments. I deleted my Twitter account after this election, given that it only seems to be a promotional vehicle for Little Elon Musk now. I haven’t signed up for anything else as it just feels like everyone is going off into separate silos – either to one that is promoting Little Felon Trump or to one that is noting his criminality.
I’m happy to be of any help I can for Ellen, even if it is just to keep this website online and the archive available. We cannot lose this information, or the Angry Right Wing propagandists like Roger Ailes really will be able to rewrite history to their liking.
And one last time – Sean Hannity (and Chump) is a liar, a fraud, a coward, and a traitor. Never forget. Never forgive. Ever.
