In a piece posted on the Variety website, Brian Lowry gives it to Fox News, contending the conservative outlet is using fear as “the main ingredient in the channel's stew.”

Lowry adds:

With Barack Obama's election, Fox has carved out a near-exclusive TV niche, while having plenty of company in radio: catering to those agitated (consciously or otherwise) by having an African-American in the White House. Yet a broader secret of its success -- preying upon anxiety in general -- hasn't really changed since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

As the original home of the “news alerts” (which usually aren't alerting us to breaking news), Fox News under CEO Roger Ailes has been adept at tapping into deep-seated concerns. And in order to powerfully connect with core viewers, it's not enough to disagree with President Obama's policies; rather, they must be couched as an existential threat to U.S. society.

In this context, accusing FNC of race-baiting is an oversimplification. Yes, there has been a good deal of coded language to stoke misgivings about Obama being a “radical” and “socialist” -- terms meant to resonate among those old enough to associate their use with extreme elements of the 1960s antiwar movement.

But that's merely part of the fear factor that's become crack cocaine to TV news, and FNC in particular. Whether Fox planned this or stumbled onto it -- in the way programmers in the movie “Network” realized they had a hit on their hands after Howard Beale began shouting -- is, at this point, immaterial to the discussion.

He also takes on Glenn Beck, noting:

Is Glenn Beck a true believer or showman, a “rodeo clown,” as he once called himself? Either way, his voice has become the rallying cry around which Fox News is organized. And that drumbeat sounds like a slogan popularized by “The Fly” remake: Be afraid. Be very afraid.