A liberal 'conspiracy' to shut down Fox News?

A new leak of posts to JournoList, a listserv for liberal journalists and commentators, shows participants arguing the merits of shutting down Fox News, according to The Daily Caller's Jonathan Strong. In one message, UCLA law professor Jonathan Zasloff wonders if the FCC could "simply pull their broadcasting permit once it expires," Strong reports, concluding, "The very existence of Fox News... sends Journolisters into paroxysms of rage." Has Daily Caller founder Tucker Carlson uncovered a liberal conspiracy to kill Fox News? (Watch Tucker Carlson outline his claims)

The only 'conspiracy' is a bid for Fox's love: The only problem with The Daily Caller's story: It "never happened," says JournoList founder Ezra Klein in The Washington Post. No one on the listserv suggested shutting Fox News down, and in fact the journalists, rightly, "ignored or opposed" Zasloff's musing on whether the FCC could even do it. This is really about The Daily Caller, "in need of hits and publicity," feeding Fox a story that Fox is sure to pick up.

"You shall know them by their work"

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The Fox hunt is only part of the story: The real story is that "mainstream players at national outlets ... raise less objection than they should" to a series of objectionable ideas, says Mary Katherine Ham in The Weekly Standard. One of those is using the FCC to "deal with the Fox problem," but there's also "wishing in graphic detail to witness the death of Rush Limbaugh" and comparing "teabaggers" to Nazi Brownshirts.

"JournoList Day Two... Do something about this Fox News problem?"

Carlson needs more than 'Drudge-bait': If The Daily Caller is just aiming for "conservative link bait," it succeeded, says Matt Welch in Reason. But if Tucker Carlson wants to uncover a "real opinion-journalism scandal" in the JournoList archives, his reporters need to do "real spadework" and tie the liberal "locker-room trash-talk" to a "coordinated flurry of on-the-record commentary." So far, "this ain't that."

"Day Two of JournoListMageddon: Not very convincing"