Ludacris Has Been Fired

As Fox News gathered strength, progressive activists turned to comedian Al Franken and fledgling online communities to punch back. But could the left put up a real fight without a Fox News of its own? And what did Fox’s critics miss when they focused only on its politics?

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Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs.

Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo.

Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey.

Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Mix and sound design by Joe Plourde.

Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season. Episode artwork by Ivylise Simones.

Sources for This Episode:

Books

Drobny, Sheldon. Road to Air America: Breaking The Right Wing Stranglehold On Our Nation’s Airwaves, SelectBooks, Inc., 2004.

Franken, Al. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Dutton, 2003.

Sherman, Gabriel. The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News-and Divided a Country, Random House, 2014.

York, Byron. The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President–and Why They’ll Try Even Harder Next Time, Crown Forum, 2005.

Articles

“33 internal FOX editorial memos reviewed by MMFA reveal FOX News Channel’s inner workings,” Media Matters, July 14, 2004.

Ackerman, Seth. “Bill O’Reilly’s Sheer O’Reillyness,” FAIR, July 1, 2001.

Auletta, Ken. “Vox Fox,” the New Yorker, May 19, 2003.

Bark, Ed. “Journalist Writes About What He Knows: TV News’ Cutthroat World,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 13, 1998.

Boynton, Robert S. “How to Make a Guerrilla Documentary,” New York Times Magazine, July 11, 2004.

“Campaign 2003: MoveOn moves fast on its anti-Bush ads in key states,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 3, 2003.

Carrillo, Karen Juanita. “Liberal Air America will displace Black talk at WLIB,” Amsterdam News, April 6, 2004.

Cluchey, Jeremy. “FOX’s response to Outfoxed charge of ‘bias toward Republicans’: ‘FNC denies the claim,’ ” Media Matters, July 13, 2004.

Curry, Tom. “Dean places first in online ‘primary,’ ” NBC, Oct. 23, 2003.

Day, Sherri. “Pepsi says its pop music stars can reach minorities and the mainstream at the same time,” New York Times, Aug. 27, 2002.

Eberhart, John Mark. “The O’Franky fracas; BookExpo audience lost patience with Al Franken; Bill O’Reilly spat,” Kansas City Star, June 8, 2003.

Evangelista, Benny. “A Way to Petition Congress on Clinton / Web site lets you tell your lawmaker to censure, move on,” SFGate, Oct. 15, 1998.

Farhi, Paul. “The Life Of O’Reilly,” Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2000.

Finn, Robin. “A Radio Voice Challenging Right-Wing Talkers,” New York Times, April 14, 2004.

“FOX News Channel Statement on ‘Outfoxed’,” Fox News, July 13, 2004.

Garofoli, Joe. “Louisiana’s Jena Six beating case galvanizes S.F.’s ‘black MoveOn,’ ” San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 22, 2007.

Grove, Lloyd. “The Reliable Source: The Franken Factor,” Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2001.

Hart, Peter. “Are 2,000 U.S. Deaths ‘Negligible’?” FAIR, Dec. 1, 2005.

Henry, Ed. “Factor This,” Roll Call, June 3, 2003.

Holm, Kelsey. “Former Courier reporter takes hard look at the media,” Waterloo Courier, Nov. 16, 2006.

Janofsky, Michael and Jennifer 8. Lee. “Net Group Tries to Click Democrats to Power,” New York Times, Nov. 18, 2003.

Janofsky, Michael and Jennifer 8. Lee. “Online Advocacy Might Be Future of Political Trends; MoveOn.org is 1 Example of How to Mobilize Millions,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 2003.

Jensen, Elizabeth and Lia Miller. “After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America,” New York Times, Dec. 18, 2006.

“Judge denies Fox News attempt to block Franken book over title ‘fair and balanced,’ ” Associated Press, August 22, 2003.

Kurtz, Howard. “The Reportage Report; Survey Assesses ‘Tone’ of Iraq Coverage,” Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2003.

Last, Jonathan V. “Mad About Fox,” Washington Examiner, Sept. 2, 2004.

Lemann, Nicholas. “Fear Factor,” the New Yorker, March 27, 2006.

Levy, Steven. “Will The Blogs Kill Old Media?,” Newsweek, May 19, 2002.

Lombino, David. “Franken Unaware Of Ex-Colleague’s Alleged Loans,” New York Sun, Aug. 2, 2005.

McGrath, Ben. “The O’Reilly Factor,” the New Yorker, Aug. 24, 2003.

McNally, Terrence. “MoveOn as an Instrument of the People,” AlterNet, June 25, 2004.

Moore, Frazier. “Fox News has pro-Bush slant, film asserts,” Chicago Sun-Times, July 17, 2004.

Moulitsas, Markos. “Daily Kos turns 20, and what a ride it’s been,” Daily Kos, May 26, 2022.

“MoveOn.org Launches Online Fox Watch Group to Track Fox News’s Partisan Bias,” MoveOn.org, Nov. 21, 2003.

“O’Reilly winning the ratings game,” Chicago Tribune, Feb. 20, 2003.

Pressman, Matt. “What Ever Happened to Air America?,” Vanity Fair, March 12, 2009.

Reulas, Richard. “Former Fox Newsman Not Afraid To Be Honest,” Arizona Republic, Aug. 23, 2004.

Rubin, Daniel. “Liberal radio network set to air,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 11, 2004.

Rutenberg, Jim. “Liberal Radio Is Planned By Rich Group Of Democrats,” New York Times, Feb. 17, 2003.

Saulny, Susan. “In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox And a Victory For Al Franken,” New York Times, Aug. 23, 2003.

Scheck, Frank. “Outfoxed,” the Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 9, 2004.

Shafer, Jack. “Bill O’Reilly Wants You To Shut Up,” Slate, Aug. 28, 2003.

Shorto, Russell. “Al Franken, Seriously So,” New York Times Magazine, March 21, 2004.

Span, Paula. “And Don’t Even Get Her Started on the War,” New York Times, March 25, 2007.

Stelter, Brian. “Air America to Cease Broadcasting Immediately,” New York Times, Jan. 21, 2010.

Susman, Gary. “Pepsi drops Ludacris after O’Reilly-sparked protest,” Entertainment Weekly, Aug. 29, 2002.

Taylor, Chris and Karen Tumulty. “MoveOn’s big moment,” Time, Nov. 17, 2003.

Tolentino, Jia. “Reading Bill O’Reilly’s Old Novel About a TV Newsman Who Murders Several People After Losing His Job,” the New Yorker, April 20, 2017.

Turan, Kenneth. “A network gets ‘Outfoxed’ through its own ideas, deeds,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 2004.

Waldman, Paul. “Whose Media Bias?,” American Prospect, October 2010.

Wilkinson, Alec. “Al Franken Is a Big Fat Radio Host,” Rolling Stone, May 13, 2004.

Zorn, Eric. “’Big Fat Idiot’ Gives Rush A Run For His Money,” Chicago Tribune, Feb. 22, 1996.

Audiovisual

Doob, Nick and Chris Hegedus. Al Franken: God Spoke, 2006.

Farrelly, Patrick and Kate O’Callaghan. Left of the Dial, 2005.

“New York Protesters Hold ‘Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon,’ ” Democracy Now!,  Sept. 1, 2004.

Bonus Episode

How Fox News Broke Stories So Fast

A former producer on why he left CNN to go to Fox News.