Foxocracy Inside the network's playbook of tribal warfare

A former Fox News contributor exposes tactics that the network uses to distort the truth and keep viewers hookedand how the network became "a 24/7 Donald Trump infomercial."Smith (Billion Dollar Green: Profit From the Eco Revolution, 2008, etc.), a financial analyst who contributed to the network from 2000 to 2013, may be too optimistic when he writes that Republicans will "learn to love"or at least toleratethis relentlessly unflattering portrait of Fox News. Few right-leaning viewers will warm up to his report on what chairman Roger Ailes said when asked about his "target audience": "Look at meI am the audience. White, fat, balding, age 55-to-dead. I'm a Red State Midwest conservative guy sitting at home in his favorite chair with a remote control surgically attached to his hand." Even fewer conservatives may buy Smith's argument that Fox News typically tries to frighten them with "white tribal identity porn" and then offer hope that they can defeat the "liberals/libtards/socialists" out to get them. However, if this book isn't likely to cause the mass defections from The Sean Hannity Show or The Ingraham Angle that he'd like, it offers a few eye-opening details. Are the "opinion-debate" segments rigged? Yes, producers try to pit a "milquetoast" liberal against a stronger conservative. Is it a coincidence that female hosts look "so hot"? No, Ailes required some to wear push-up bras. Given such tactics, how can Fox News attract self-respecting guests? A "paid contributor plebe" made $500 per appearance and "went to a fixed $5,000 per week" after a certain point, writes the author. As a "liberal Fox News piata," Juan Williams earned $2 million per year for about a half-hour of work per week. "I'd take a beating every day for $20,000 a week at 35 minutes of cumulative weekly airtime," writes Smith. "Wouldn't you?" Whether they agree or disagree with his book, most readers will give him a few points for honesty.An erstwhile insider's broadside against Fox News with some revealing tittle-tattle. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.