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Foxocracy: Inside the Network’s Playbook of Tribal Warfare
From a 14-year Fox News contributor, guest anchor, and two-time New York Times bestselling author comes an unprecedented insider's account of the Fox News playbook--the production secrets and manipulation strategies Fox News uses to influence viewers, divide families, weaponize the daily discourse of news and public opinion, and addict a core audience on right-wing rage and fear.
Fox News did not start America's culture war--but they did have the manipulative and destructive genius to exploit it for billions of dollars. For the first time, a Fox News veteran exposes and diagrams the toxic strategies and tactics within the Fox News playbook that liberal and progressive candidates will be fighting against in 2020 and beyond. It is the very same playbook that Fox News used to move twelve percent of Independents to vote for Donald Trump in 2016 to produce Republican wins in the previous Democrat strongholds of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Author Tobin Smith takes readers behind the scenes of the actual production of the fair and balanced opinion panel segments that feed a ravenous audience. How are these productions rigged so that right-wing pundits always win? What techniques does Fox News use in manipulating its viewers' tribal to addict them; to activate a hatred toward partisan enemies; and to hook them on ego-gratifying feelings of intellectual and cultural superiority?
Foxocracy is filled with never-revealed conversations with Fox News executives--including the late Roger Ailes--and opinion programming producers. It breaks down the real and often heartbreaking collateral damage among friends and family caused by the waging of an endless culture war. And it brings incendiary proof from an insider and on-air talent of Fox News's predatory audience manipulation psychology and production tactics. And perhaps even more frightening, this book reveals how that playbook is now being insidiously upgraded for maximum effect--white tribal-identity activation--on all forms of social media and means of content delivery.
Fox News did not start America's culture war--but they did have the manipulative and destructive genius to exploit it for billions of dollars. For the first time, a Fox News veteran exposes and diagrams the toxic strategies and tactics within the Fox News playbook that liberal and progressive candidates will be fighting against in 2020 and beyond. It is the very same playbook that Fox News used to move twelve percent of Independents to vote for Donald Trump in 2016 to produce Republican wins in the previous Democrat strongholds of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Author Tobin Smith takes readers behind the scenes of the actual production of the fair and balanced opinion panel segments that feed a ravenous audience. How are these productions rigged so that right-wing pundits always win? What techniques does Fox News use in manipulating its viewers' tribal to addict them; to activate a hatred toward partisan enemies; and to hook them on ego-gratifying feelings of intellectual and cultural superiority?
Foxocracy is filled with never-revealed conversations with Fox News executives--including the late Roger Ailes--and opinion programming producers. It breaks down the real and often heartbreaking collateral damage among friends and family caused by the waging of an endless culture war. And it brings incendiary proof from an insider and on-air talent of Fox News's predatory audience manipulation psychology and production tactics. And perhaps even more frightening, this book reveals how that playbook is now being insidiously upgraded for maximum effect--white tribal-identity activation--on all forms of social media and means of content delivery.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2019
17 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 17, 2019
Foxocracy: Inside the Network's Playbook of Tribal Warfare by Tobin Smith is both an enlightening read and a frustrating experience.
The biggest positive this book offers is substantiated proof that the destruction of US democracy was and continues to be a conscious choice of those at Faux News/Entertainment. They lied about what they were doing, they lied about lying about it. Not a big shock there. While those with functioning brain cells knew that Faux News/Entertainment was destroying the country, we were always unsure to what extent those involved, from Ailes all the way down to every technician working the shows, were aware of what they were doing. Now we know.
The parts of the book that are essential but less captivating are the sections where Smith mentions the experts in psychology and communications he contacted. He does use those ideas correctly and, unlike a student of psychology mentioned, he does do so correctly. but he explains those concepts directly as they apply to the situations he is addressing, not as an academic abstract, those are for journal articles. But young students get a little uppity with regard to their area of study until they gain a little more experience so it is understandable. This is not a scientific or theory based book, this is a real-life book that uses theory to show how a few warped individuals can destroy a society through intentional and conscious manipulation of the most vulnerable among us.
The frustrating part of reading this book is simply Smith's style. He has always been an advocate for bluster and hyperbole, and for using the very strategies he exposes in this book. It gets tiresome when you don't care for the attempts to manipulate, especially when the additional methods aren't necessary. Though, since a part of his target audience seems to be those still addicted to Faux News/Entertainment, perhaps his use of the style of what they like serves a purpose. but for the rest of us, it means we will likely need to read the book in short chunks to avoid getting too frustrated.
Definitely worth the read and certainly won't hurt to try to help any addicted people you know by giving them a copy. But the book alone won't, I don't think, be enough. You'll need to be there to hold their hands and help them through the withdrawal pains. It will be worth it if you think compassion and humanity are worth saving.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
The biggest positive this book offers is substantiated proof that the destruction of US democracy was and continues to be a conscious choice of those at Faux News/Entertainment. They lied about what they were doing, they lied about lying about it. Not a big shock there. While those with functioning brain cells knew that Faux News/Entertainment was destroying the country, we were always unsure to what extent those involved, from Ailes all the way down to every technician working the shows, were aware of what they were doing. Now we know.
The parts of the book that are essential but less captivating are the sections where Smith mentions the experts in psychology and communications he contacted. He does use those ideas correctly and, unlike a student of psychology mentioned, he does do so correctly. but he explains those concepts directly as they apply to the situations he is addressing, not as an academic abstract, those are for journal articles. But young students get a little uppity with regard to their area of study until they gain a little more experience so it is understandable. This is not a scientific or theory based book, this is a real-life book that uses theory to show how a few warped individuals can destroy a society through intentional and conscious manipulation of the most vulnerable among us.
The frustrating part of reading this book is simply Smith's style. He has always been an advocate for bluster and hyperbole, and for using the very strategies he exposes in this book. It gets tiresome when you don't care for the attempts to manipulate, especially when the additional methods aren't necessary. Though, since a part of his target audience seems to be those still addicted to Faux News/Entertainment, perhaps his use of the style of what they like serves a purpose. but for the rest of us, it means we will likely need to read the book in short chunks to avoid getting too frustrated.
Definitely worth the read and certainly won't hurt to try to help any addicted people you know by giving them a copy. But the book alone won't, I don't think, be enough. You'll need to be there to hold their hands and help them through the withdrawal pains. It will be worth it if you think compassion and humanity are worth saving.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
December 6, 2019
Foxocracy is a look inside the propaganda machine of FOX News from someone who worked there for fourteen years. Tobin Smith explains how Roger Ailes combined the propaganda techniques of Goebbels and the cult psychology of televangelism with the latest neuroscience research on dopamine and serotonin addiction to weaponize tribalism (which he calls tribal identity porn) on behalf of the Republican party. He also covers who social media expands the reach of outrage addiction far beyond the FOX viewership, reaching over a hundred million people everyday through a network of radio, tv, and social media. This he calls the Foxocracy.
Smith reveals how the so-called liberal and conservative debate, the “ball game” is scripted to ensure the conservative always wipes the floor with the liberal, giving viewers the serotonin flush of victory. He quotes conversations of advice from producers that advise him to think like a cult leader and treat his audience as cult members. And in essence, that is what FOX is.
Although Foxocracy makes it abundantly clear that FOX producers and on-air talent have only contempt for their viewership, that isn’t really a surprise. The propaganda techniques are recognizable, though it is a revelation that they are so blatant in their insider converations, not even pretending that this is about journaliism. But reading Foxocracyis sort of like watching FOX News, all exclamatory outrage. It is exhausting and dispiriting even if it is informative.
Smith writes in bold type and exclamation points like a FOX host. He also repeats his ideas, another technique from his education at FOX. I think just as FOX News repels me, even reading something I agree with repels me when written with that tone of outrage. I agree it is urgent we understand what is happening, but I don’t want to feel manipulated into urgency.
Smith reveals that he outright said things he knew were false. For example, criticizing how cost of living is figured, even though in his professional work, he takes the opposite view. He is pretty glib about excusing this. Why did he do it? He was paid $5000 a week. Is that really the price of honor?
The book is best when Smith shows his understanding of and empathy for the people who become addicted to FOX. He writes of the collective trauma of having creating a working poverty class and the toxicity of economic trauma and anxiety. Of course, the more trauma, the more easily FOX can offer them the relief of blaming someone “other.”
Smith offers some idea for ways to fight back, but I doubt there will be mandatory disclaimers on identity porn any time soon. I hope his other ideas will work. He is right. We have to speak up and fight back and not tomorrow, today.
I received a copy of Foxocracy from the publisher through NetGalley
Foxocracy at Diversion Books
Tobin Smith on Medium
Fight Back Against Fox on Facebook
Hear Yourself Think
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Smith reveals how the so-called liberal and conservative debate, the “ball game” is scripted to ensure the conservative always wipes the floor with the liberal, giving viewers the serotonin flush of victory. He quotes conversations of advice from producers that advise him to think like a cult leader and treat his audience as cult members. And in essence, that is what FOX is.
Although Foxocracy makes it abundantly clear that FOX producers and on-air talent have only contempt for their viewership, that isn’t really a surprise. The propaganda techniques are recognizable, though it is a revelation that they are so blatant in their insider converations, not even pretending that this is about journaliism. But reading Foxocracyis sort of like watching FOX News, all exclamatory outrage. It is exhausting and dispiriting even if it is informative.
Smith writes in bold type and exclamation points like a FOX host. He also repeats his ideas, another technique from his education at FOX. I think just as FOX News repels me, even reading something I agree with repels me when written with that tone of outrage. I agree it is urgent we understand what is happening, but I don’t want to feel manipulated into urgency.
Smith reveals that he outright said things he knew were false. For example, criticizing how cost of living is figured, even though in his professional work, he takes the opposite view. He is pretty glib about excusing this. Why did he do it? He was paid $5000 a week. Is that really the price of honor?
The book is best when Smith shows his understanding of and empathy for the people who become addicted to FOX. He writes of the collective trauma of having creating a working poverty class and the toxicity of economic trauma and anxiety. Of course, the more trauma, the more easily FOX can offer them the relief of blaming someone “other.”
Smith offers some idea for ways to fight back, but I doubt there will be mandatory disclaimers on identity porn any time soon. I hope his other ideas will work. He is right. We have to speak up and fight back and not tomorrow, today.
I received a copy of Foxocracy from the publisher through NetGalley
Foxocracy at Diversion Books
Tobin Smith on Medium
Fight Back Against Fox on Facebook
Hear Yourself Think
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
November 9, 2019
I found Tobin Smith's Foxocracy to be an extremely emotional read. Like many members of Generation X, I have older relatives who watch Fox News. I watched my mother, who died this past January, go from a staunch Republican with a live-and-let-live attitude toward others to a fire-breathing Trump supporter who could no longer tolerate debate. When I cared for her in what I learned would be the last years of her life, Fox News would become a bane of my existence, and I often resorted to putting on headphones as Mom screamed "Fine! Shut yourself off from the truth!" I often feel like I am getting my news from different planets rather than merely different sources from my relatives. (For the record: Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal--also owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp--and my local newspaper, which for now is the Mobile Press Register. If I must watch TV for events like debates or hearings, I prefer C-SPAN's deliberately un-glitzy approach.)
So. Anyway. The book. Tobin Smith is a former Fox News contributor and host. He left when his supervisors at Fox News forced him to choose between continued employment at the station and one of his own businesses. By Smith's telling, he felt it was basically harmless to play the right-wing roles asked of him. After all, he was and is conservative. But when Donald Trump ascended to the Presidency using the same kind of propagandistic, tribal approaches Fox News did, Smith realized he had been part of something extremely damaging to America.
Smith's tone is blustery. It is, in fact, similar to the sort of tones that made me take to my headphones not so long ago. Smith is attempting to reach both Fox News addicts (which he calls "Foxholes") and those of us who know and love them through tough love. He makes himself out to be more of a tough-talker trying to tell you the real deal than a hero. At times, the reader can be forgiven for wondering if this Never-Trumper conservative has simply found himself a new scam and a new group to scare.
However, Smith has many insights. He explains exactly how Fox News exploits its senior citizen white viewers' nostalgia, low self esteem, and most of all, fear. He describes the deliberate effort Fox News executives made to produce an addictive product that would give viewers repeated adrenaline rushes for several hours a day. If you ever thought the liberals who appeared on Fox News were a bunch of weenie-tots with low self-esteem and/or a desperate need for money, Smith tells you quite frankly that you were right, and that this was done on purpose. Smith turns to research and experts on propaganda, economic mobility, and addiction. He compares Fox News to pornography and video games, media that can be addictive and destructive for younger people. Smith points out that older white people are often right to believe that the world is changing on them, and not for the better. Fox News conditions them to address the wrong people and factors, however.
What I found particularly interesting is Smith's description of how elder loneliness/isolation and Fox News becomes a destructive and unhealthy feedback loop. Loneliness makes elders turn to what they consider like-minded people at Fox News. It gives them many hours to watch. After watching, the viewers become more fearful of people who are different or think differently from them. They repel others in their lives, from children and grandchildren to neighbors to service personnel, with their extreme beliefs and their anger. Then, after confrontation, they turn Fox News on and feel better and more certain again.
If you watch Fox News, take a chance. Buy this at a discount or check it out of the library. (Or read a copy if someone gives it to you.) You'll probably get angry, but that's OK. There's no law saying you can't watch or read something else, or that you have to read it all at once, or that you have to finish it. Just give it a glance. You're not a snowflake, right?
If you know and love people who watch Fox News, I would also recommend this for you. Again, Smith is very much a conservative. He will likely offend some liberal readers at times. (I shook my head as he dismissed liberal "identity politics" in a book about Fox News' exploitation of right-wing identify politics.) However, he has excellent insights for liberals, moderates, and Never-Trumpers. Smith points out, rightly, that it's not just Fox News viewers, Trump supporters, etc. who can fall into negative patterns of outrage addiction and tribal reinforcement. He provides excellent insight into recognizing these patterns in oneself as well as others.
Smith states that he will be using part of Foxocracy's proceeds to counter the work he did for Fox News. The website link referred to in the book did not work for me; the Facebook page did. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from this.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest (not "fair and balanced"!) review, and apologies for my lateness.
So. Anyway. The book. Tobin Smith is a former Fox News contributor and host. He left when his supervisors at Fox News forced him to choose between continued employment at the station and one of his own businesses. By Smith's telling, he felt it was basically harmless to play the right-wing roles asked of him. After all, he was and is conservative. But when Donald Trump ascended to the Presidency using the same kind of propagandistic, tribal approaches Fox News did, Smith realized he had been part of something extremely damaging to America.
Smith's tone is blustery. It is, in fact, similar to the sort of tones that made me take to my headphones not so long ago. Smith is attempting to reach both Fox News addicts (which he calls "Foxholes") and those of us who know and love them through tough love. He makes himself out to be more of a tough-talker trying to tell you the real deal than a hero. At times, the reader can be forgiven for wondering if this Never-Trumper conservative has simply found himself a new scam and a new group to scare.
However, Smith has many insights. He explains exactly how Fox News exploits its senior citizen white viewers' nostalgia, low self esteem, and most of all, fear. He describes the deliberate effort Fox News executives made to produce an addictive product that would give viewers repeated adrenaline rushes for several hours a day. If you ever thought the liberals who appeared on Fox News were a bunch of weenie-tots with low self-esteem and/or a desperate need for money, Smith tells you quite frankly that you were right, and that this was done on purpose. Smith turns to research and experts on propaganda, economic mobility, and addiction. He compares Fox News to pornography and video games, media that can be addictive and destructive for younger people. Smith points out that older white people are often right to believe that the world is changing on them, and not for the better. Fox News conditions them to address the wrong people and factors, however.
What I found particularly interesting is Smith's description of how elder loneliness/isolation and Fox News becomes a destructive and unhealthy feedback loop. Loneliness makes elders turn to what they consider like-minded people at Fox News. It gives them many hours to watch. After watching, the viewers become more fearful of people who are different or think differently from them. They repel others in their lives, from children and grandchildren to neighbors to service personnel, with their extreme beliefs and their anger. Then, after confrontation, they turn Fox News on and feel better and more certain again.
If you watch Fox News, take a chance. Buy this at a discount or check it out of the library. (Or read a copy if someone gives it to you.) You'll probably get angry, but that's OK. There's no law saying you can't watch or read something else, or that you have to read it all at once, or that you have to finish it. Just give it a glance. You're not a snowflake, right?
If you know and love people who watch Fox News, I would also recommend this for you. Again, Smith is very much a conservative. He will likely offend some liberal readers at times. (I shook my head as he dismissed liberal "identity politics" in a book about Fox News' exploitation of right-wing identify politics.) However, he has excellent insights for liberals, moderates, and Never-Trumpers. Smith points out, rightly, that it's not just Fox News viewers, Trump supporters, etc. who can fall into negative patterns of outrage addiction and tribal reinforcement. He provides excellent insight into recognizing these patterns in oneself as well as others.
Smith states that he will be using part of Foxocracy's proceeds to counter the work he did for Fox News. The website link referred to in the book did not work for me; the Facebook page did. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from this.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest (not "fair and balanced"!) review, and apologies for my lateness.
November 1, 2019
As the author, I Just reread again after not since final approval of the publisher. There are tens of million of somewhat to over-the-top Fox News junkies in America— and 80+ million adults who report they are estranged with at least one close family member or long time friend over poisoned politics. My book is the first to identify just how we turned Fox News into the most emotionally manipulative and vote influencing power in America. If you have lost a loved one to Fox News addiction-my book will show you how to start to rebuild that important relationship.
FOXOCRACY will also teach you how to immunize yourself and loved ones from being sucked down into the downward spiraling Fox News digital rabbit hole. My fondest wish is this book helps you or a loved one come back to a non-tribalized agree-to-disagree partisan again.
FOXOCRACY will also teach you how to immunize yourself and loved ones from being sucked down into the downward spiraling Fox News digital rabbit hole. My fondest wish is this book helps you or a loved one come back to a non-tribalized agree-to-disagree partisan again.
January 9, 2024
He makes an interesting point although I don’t personally enjoy his authorial voice. I thought it was ironic that he seems to use the same techniques in his writing that he exposes in this book. The writing gets repetitive at points and I don’t think I’ve ever read that many mentions of porn in a book before.
The social/economic psychological research and terms he uses to back up his points was actually fairly accurate although I think he exaggerated some concepts and wasn’t entirely accurate with the details on a few others. I also wish he had backed up the arguments with more convincing or well-sighted research but part of that is the research psychology training in me.
The social/economic psychological research and terms he uses to back up his points was actually fairly accurate although I think he exaggerated some concepts and wasn’t entirely accurate with the details on a few others. I also wish he had backed up the arguments with more convincing or well-sighted research but part of that is the research psychology training in me.
September 10, 2020
Tobin quickly and sharply dissects the propaganda machine that is F*x News. Tobin circles the wagons pleading with a mixture of personal stories and psychology backing how F*x applies the tricks of the trade. I appreciated the moments where he peels back the curtain to show psychological tactics used to create an addictive dopamine high using fear and anger. Sadly, Tobin is so condescending and bitter, which works from a F*x News stance; however, from an opposing side makes him appear like an elitist, playing right into their hands. Additionally, his use of negative name-calling will automatically turn off the audience this book could end up helping. If he would have been able to tone down his former F*x persona I probably would have rated it higher.
“F*x News - the oxycontin of tribal identity media or aka tribal identity porn.”
“Why does F*x News go after older, white men? Because they are generally more culturally resentful and more prideful than older women, plus they have fewer close friend relationships.”
**This was a review copy given for an honest review**
“F*x News - the oxycontin of tribal identity media or aka tribal identity porn.”
“Why does F*x News go after older, white men? Because they are generally more culturally resentful and more prideful than older women, plus they have fewer close friend relationships.”
**This was a review copy given for an honest review**
June 9, 2021
The lengthy epithet prepended to every mention of Fox programming gets tiresome to read. The book is really a collection of essays which re-tread the same introductory topics each time. He has some interesting stories and perspectives, but they are interspersed among repetitive filler, like he had to meet a minimum page limit.
October 25, 2021
Smith has good insights and it's interesting to hear his perspective as a former insider at Fox "News," but wow is this book poorly written. Wildly redundant, clumsily organized and full of awkward phrasing (he repeats the phrase "tribal partisan identity hate activation pornography" -- rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? -- or a variation of it, ad nauseum), it's as if he wrote into his contract with the publisher that no editor would touch his manuscript before going to print. But if you can get past the inartful composition, it's worth checking out.
March 5, 2020
Definitely an important read regardless of Smiths history. It does get a little repetitive although the information is super important. Smith paints the true picture of just how Fox News manipulates it’s audience and creates tribal political porn.
September 24, 2025
The content was interesting but the tone throughout was preachy and crude. It was less an investigation and more like a journal entry for a person who wants to drudge up some dirt on an ex associate.
April 14, 2020
Interesting content, but repetitious. Should have been no longer than 100 pages, if not for the publisher demanding length.
December 15, 2019
What most don't know is that the author was fired from Fox News Channel for stock fraud forcing him to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars in fines (just Google it). I don't watch Fox News, but I know they're no different than CNN or MSNBC "news". Anybody that watches these channels knows that they don't air news, but rather partisan opinions that cause causing division and discord among their audiences. Newsflash: there's no such thing as unbiased news reporting a mainstream media anymore; real journalism is dead. Sadly, this publication is nothing more than "sour grapes" from a disgruntled Ex-Employee.
December 17, 2022
I hope this book is beneficial to anyone lost in the false reality Fox News perpetuates but this book is hard to get through for its repetitiveness and verbose.
November 27, 2019
Combined with personal anecdotes of his 14 years at FOX News Tobin writes an engaging and frankly, a bit frightening, account of Roger Ailes' strategies and tactics in creating a manipulative and destructive right-wing tribal network that has divided this country. A must read if you have loved ones who have alienated themselves from friends and family due to their addiction of watching hours of daily FOW News rigged programming.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews