Do you need a "FOX Blocker?"

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http://staging.hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stori...-03-25-15-36-44

 

Mar 25, 7:40 PM EST

 

Man Sells Device That Blocks Fox News

 

By EMILY FREDRIX

Associated Press Writer

 

 

 

 

It's not that Sam Kimery objects to the views expressed on Fox News. The creator of the "Fox Blocker" contends the channel is not news at all. Kimery figures he's sold about 100 of the little silver bits of metal that screw into the back of most televisions, allowing people to filter Fox News from their sets, since its August debut.

 

The Tulsa, Okla., resident also has received thousands of e-mails, both angry and complimentary - as well as a few death threats.

 

"Apparently the making of terroristic threats against those who don't share your views is a high art form among a certain core audience," said Kimery, 45.

 

Formerly a registered Republican, even a precinct captain, Kimery became an independent in the 1990s when he said the state party stopped taking input from its everyday members.

 

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Kimery now contends Fox News' top-level management dictates a conservative journalistic bias, that inaccuracies are never retracted, and what winds up on the air is more opinion than news. "I might as well be reading tabloids out of the grocery store," he says. "Anything to get a rise out of the viewer and to reinforce certain retrograde notions."

 

A Fox spokeswoman at the station's New York headquarters said the channel's ratings speak for themselves. For the first three months of this year, Fox has been averaging 1.62 million viewers in prime-time, compared with CNN's 805,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.

 

Kimery's motives go deeper than preventing people from watching the channel, which he acknowledges can be done without the Blocker. But he likens his device to burning a draft card, a tangible example of disagreement.

 

And he's taking this message to the network's advertisers. After buying the $8.95 device online, would-be blockers are shown a letter that they can send to advertisers via the Fox Blocker site.

 

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"The point is not to block the channel or block free speech but to raise awareness," said Kimery, who works in the tech industry.

 

Kimery doesn't use the device himself; his remote is programmed to only a half-dozen channels. Plus he occasionally feels the need to tune into Fox News for something "especially heinous."

 

Business could pick up since the blocker was alluded to in a recent episode of the ABC drama "Boston Legal." The show's original script mentioned Fox News, but ABC had the references removed.

 

The boisterous conversations on Fox News may be why the station is so popular, said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media watchdog group. And despite a perception that Fox leans to the right, Felling said, that doesn't mean people who lean left should tune out.

 

"It's tough to engage in an argument when you're not participating in it," Felling said. "It's just one more layer in the wall that the right and the left are building in between each other.

 

 

 

 

Sweet.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'll watch Fox News even more know.

[Mole 0]

That is so damn dumb.

 

Why waste your money on something that blocks a channel when you DON'T HAVE TO TURN TO IT?

 

I don't like FOX news, so I don't turn to that station. Simple as that.

[Guest MikeSC]

How nice of him to speak out against FOX without any personal gain.

 

Wait, he IS making some gain?

 

Damn.

-=Mike

...100 people bought this? Well, shocking what people would rather have than money...

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

Perhaps these people would also purchase my assortment of twigs and rocks that will keep tigers from coming into their house and stealing their valuables.

[Gary Floyd 0]

What a load of bullshit

 

You see, this is what's wrong with our country: Too many people these days take there political views far too seriously. I'm usually a pretty liberal guy, but God Damnit, this is stupid. If you're like me, you don't need a "Fox News Blocker", or whatever, you just change the fucking channel, or just don't watch it. What in God's name happened to our country's sense of humor? Are people really this stupid? How far have people lodged their heads up their asses? I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous, and proof that the left in this Country is beginning to become as intolerable as the right.

 

/End of rant. Granted, I normally don't get too political, and I try my hardest not to rant, but this is just stupid, and for some reason, really pisses me off.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I'm fairly certain that a lot of the people that bought it did so for the "sense of humor" aspect involved in it.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I have a Fox blocker too. It is call my remote and all you press is the channel arrow buttons.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Now if he would have created some blocker to erase certain talking heads when they are on these news show, then I'll be interested...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

This is nothing new, however, you guys are either more dense than I thought or not understanding the idea of this.

 

It's not for your own feed, it's designed so you can block Fox out from your right-wing neighbor or friend. There's even a "nudge nudge" warning against doing this on the site. This guy just took some old technology in a tiny case and resells it to liberals who are willing to pay money to watch the guy next door with the "Gun Control is good aim & a steady finger" bumper sticker on his pickup truck throw a shitfit.

[Guest MikeSC]

This is nothing new, however, you guys are either more dense than I thought or not understanding the idea of this.

 

It's not for your own feed, it's designed so you can block Fox out from your right-wing neighbor or friend. There's even a "nudge nudge" warning against doing this on the site. This guy just took some old technology in a tiny case and resells it to liberals who are willing to pay money to watch the guy next door with the "Gun Control is good aim & a steady finger" bumper sticker on his pickup truck throw a shitfit.

So he wants people to dictate what OTHER people watch?

 

Classy.

 

It's STILL the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

-=Mike

[Guest Smues]

It's retarded. Now if someone would create an MTV blocker this country's collective IQ might go up a few points.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

This is nothing new, however, you guys are either more dense than I thought or not understanding the idea of this.

I doubt you can think of me any denser, so I'm pleading the latter.

 

If someone wants to take out my channel 34 on my Comcast cable package, I'll find out who they are and kill the faggot.

 

This guy just took some old technology in a tiny case and resells it to liberals who are willing to pay money to watch the guy next door with the "Gun Control is good aim & a steady finger" bumper sticker on his pickup truck throw a shitfit.

 

Now we need someone to do the same thing to PBS, and then those commies will really think Ashcroft is watching them.

 

"The point is not to block the channel or block free speech but to raise awareness,"

 

You raise awareness by blocking the signal? If he REALLY wanted to raise of awareness of OMG FAUX NEWS LOL2005 He'd make a device where O'Reilly would appear on every channel on a person's TV. Then the viewer would be forced to see the lies and distortions created by the right-wing media machine...

[Ted the Poster 0]

kkk, O'Reilly isn't part of the right-wing news machine. He's part of the "edit tape to make me look good and others look like assholes" machine. I will admit though; he's one of the best in that line of work.

 

Come to think of it, I would like a "Bias Blocker" so that the only news I can watch is local and MSNBC. Yeah, I know MSNBC isn't exactly down-the-middle, but it's the closest thing.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

This is nothing new, however, you guys are either more dense than I thought or not understanding the idea of this.

 

It's not for your own feed, it's designed so you can block Fox out from your right-wing neighbor or friend. There's even a "nudge nudge" warning against doing this on the site. This guy just took some old technology in a tiny case and resells it to liberals who are willing to pay money to watch the guy next door with the "Gun Control is good aim & a steady finger" bumper sticker on his pickup truck throw a shitfit.

So he wants people to dictate what OTHER people watch?

 

Classy.

 

It's STILL the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

-=Mike

This IS a lame idea, but there are more stupid ideas than this.

[Vyce 0]

This is nothing new, however, you guys are either more dense than I thought or not understanding the idea of this.

 

It's not for your own feed, it's designed so you can block Fox out from your right-wing neighbor or friend. There's even a "nudge nudge" warning against doing this on the site. This guy just took some old technology in a tiny case and resells it to liberals who are willing to pay money to watch the guy next door with the "Gun Control is good aim & a steady finger" bumper sticker on his pickup truck throw a shitfit.

You really think these devices are going to hold up?

 

I mean, I positively cannot wait until some liberal decides to pull this on, as you say, the guy with the gun control bumper sticker, and then gets hit with a tort lawsuit. Because that's what can and will happen.

 

And if this technology is all about limiting the viewing options of your neighbors, then where does this guy get off saying he isn't trying to 'block free speech'? It's a clear violation of the first amendment rights of others.

 

Man, he's not being very fair and balanced.

[Guest MikeSC]

How about a device that blocks fraudulent memos from being in news stories?

 

I mean, we already had the CBS thing. Now we got the fraudulent "talking points memo" ABC claims it possesses.

-=Mike