Fox News

[Nicki]

My hubby has been watching the above channel a lot lately (I never would have thought he'd be so interested in American news, but since the Trump campaign, yes, he has). I remembered something said about it here, but I must have had it the wrong way round - I thought it was one of the Christians saying Fox News was liberal and Ed or someone replying that it had no political leaning. Watching it I thought, 'this is not liberal at all - it definitely seems conservative-leaning to me!' They've been so pro-Trump and often feature conservative figures being interviewed and conservative points of view in monologues and so on, whereas liberals are non-existent.

I don't mind - for me it's better when the kids are around for them to hear these conservative points of view rather than if it was the other end of the spectrum. Given that hubby doesn't worry too much about what he lets the kids see on TV (well, it's not the X-rated type stuff so much; he's more into violent action ) I'm thankful.

[edwardmurphy]

FOX is not a news organization, it is a punditry organization. Their goal isn't to provide unbiased information and allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Their purpose is to sell their own narrative, and they push that narrative relentlessly, day in and day out, regardless of what's actually happening in the world. If something doesn't fit their narrative they misrepresent it or ignore it.

For example, there's currently a big kerfuffle about a production of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, which casts a Trump look-alike as Caesar. The FOX depiction of the event is "TAX FUNDED PLAY 'ASSASSINATES' PRESIDENT" and "If this was President Obama and they behaved in this fashion, you cannot even imagine the international outrage."

In actuality, the exact same theater group put on the exact same play in 2012 and their Caesar was a Barack Obama look-alike. Nobody freaked out, none of the sponsors walked, and FOX had no problem whatsoever with the production. But 5 years later they left all of that information out of their "reporting" because it didn't fit their narrative.

There are endless examples of this phenomenon. Here's a link to the FOX News page on Politifact. Some here will tell you that the folks at Politifact are just a bunch of liberal liars, but they explain all of their conclusions in detail so you can judge for yourself.

Long story short, if you think that conservatives are the best kind of people, never make mistakes, and deserve to be in charge, and liberals are greedy, stupid, incompetent morons who base all of their decisions on doing the most possible harm to honest, God-fearing Americans then you'll love FOX. They'll reinforce all of those ideas and give you someone else to blame for all of the world's problems. On the other hand, if you value objectivity, context, and honesty and you like to come up with your own conclusions based on good data you'll want a different news outlet.

[Stu]

CNN, MSNBC, NYT is not a news organization, it is a punditry organization. Their goal isn't to provide unbiased information and allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Their purpose is to sell their own narrative, and they push that narrative relentlessly, day in and day out, regardless of what's actually happening in the world. If something doesn't fit their narrative they misrepresent it or ignore it.

Fixed.

[edwardmurphy]

You're correct about MSNBC, but wrong about the rest. CNN and the Times may have a liberal slant, but comparing either of them to FOX News is silly. FOX is the propaganda wing of the Republican Party. The Times is an excellent news organization, and CNN is a poor one, but neither of them marches lockstep with a political party.

[RickD]

You're correct about MSNBC, but wrong about the rest. CNN and the Times may have a liberal slant, but comparing either of them to FOX News is silly. FOX is the propaganda wing of the Republican Party. The Times is an excellent news organization, and CNN is a poor one, but neither of them marches lockstep with a political party.

Ed,

Now you're sounding like what you accuse B. W. of doing.

Foxnews is clearly right leaning. And many of their commentators are clearly conservative on the political spectrum.

And if you said that someone like hannity is a shill for the Republican Party, and trump, I'd tend to agree. But not every commentator on foxnews is as biased as Hannity.

[abelcainsbrother]

FOX is not a news organization, it is a punditry organization. Their goal isn't to provide unbiased information and allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Their purpose is to sell their own narrative, and they push that narrative relentlessly, day in and day out, regardless of what's actually happening in the world. If something doesn't fit their narrative they misrepresent it or ignore it.

For example, there's currently a big kerfuffle about a production of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, which casts a Trump look-alike as Caesar. The FOX depiction of the event is "TAX FUNDED PLAY 'ASSASSINATES' PRESIDENT" and "If this was President Obama and they behaved in this fashion, you cannot even imagine the international outrage."

In actuality, the exact same theater group put on the exact same play in 2012 and their Caesar was a Barack Obama look-alike. Nobody freaked out, none of the sponsors walked, and FOX had no problem whatsoever with the production. But 5 years later they left all of that information out of their "reporting" because it didn't fit their narrative.

There are endless examples of this phenomenon. Here's a link to the FOX News page on Politifact. Some here will tell you that the folks at Politifact are just a bunch of liberal liars, but they explain all of their conclusions in detail so you can judge for yourself.

Long story short, if you think that conservatives are the best kind of people, never make mistakes, and deserve to be in charge, and liberals are greedy, stupid, incompetent morons who base all of their decisions on doing the most possible harm to honest, God-fearing Americans then you'll love FOX. They'll reinforce all of those ideas and give you someone else to blame for all of the world's problems. On the other hand, if you value objectivity, context, and honesty and you like to come up with your own conclusions based on good data you'll want a different news outlet.

Hate to tell you but the majority no longer trust the liberal MSM,I know you won't believe it but they are losing their power to get their message out.How do you think Trump won with all of them doing everything they could to help Hillary get elected while telling you Hillary would win easily?They are dying and more and more people are turning to alternative news sources that they trust more.They are still anti-Trump even now having not learned their lesson but in time they will either change or they will die. Now sure everybody that voted for Trump were not bigtime Trump supporters but just could not vote for Hillary but Democrats besides Obama have lost the last four elections and yet seem to have overlooked this.

As far as Fox News people are not watching it as much as they were since Bill O'Reilly was fired and there are signs that they could be moving more to the left since Roger Ailles has been out but people only really watch Tucker Carlson and Hannity but more and more people are dropping cable TV too and are going with Netflix instead.

[Philip]

ACB: As far as Fox News people are not watching it as much as they were since Bill O'Reilly was fired and there are signs that they could be moving more to the left since Roger Ailes

I'd say they are moving more center. However, they know that their base has conservative views - and that if they track too far away from conservative sensibilities, they'll kill their brand, lose their audience. The CNBC and CNN niche is already full!

As for Hannity - while he makes very good points in highlighting hypocrisy, he is RABID hard right. I don't like him - he's nastily aggressive and totally disrespectful of those who disagree with him. And he's unwilling to criticize those of conservative backgrounds when they clearly need it - which is the litmus test for objectivity. Carlson - very smart, but has gotten too angry and aggressive as well - you have to use your brains in watching him. Again, not sure he's an "equal-opportunity" criticizer. If Tucker would just dial it back a bit, I think he'd be a lot better. The other issue is, these TV personalities - whether at Fox or CNN, or wherever - they begin to think of themselves as rockstars, and so they begin to get full of themselves - it's not just their political views.

[Nicki]

Yes, it's weird to me - calling a channel like that 'news' I mean. I was used to a one-hour news bulletin that was supposed to be impartial and objective, followed perhaps by a current affairs show which was really also impartial, politically speaking.

[Philip]

Nicki, if you'll notice, ALL channels that do commentary are putting forth a particular viewpoint. Not only that, but the editors and newsroom managers, those who decide what gets reported, from what sources, and whose viewpoints and reactions get aired - AND WHICH DON'T - EVERY time they make such an editorial decision of what to NOT include, that's a form of bias. You might THINK you are getting ONLY the facts - but I can guarantee you that you are getting them selectively and screened. HUGE redflag - if you only see a news program criticize one certain side of the political spectrum and/or buttressing it, while NEVER criticizing another spectrum - that shows great bias. And most news shows have this. Why? Because that is human nature - to align with whatever group or people you think best represents your views - and so people begin to demonize all others. We see this in families a lot - people spewing all kinds venom about whatever people or groups doing whatever - but if one their own FAMILY members does a thing they detest, they defend them, make excuses, or ignore it. This is human nature. ALL news organizations are made up of people - so they ALL do this, to whatever degree or extreme! And, again, these shows are playing to whatever demographic is bringing in their ratings. They often view themselves via marketing sensibilities, and as a "brand." So, self-criticism, legitimate criticism of one's favorites in the political spectrum - for such shows, that kind of criticism hurts the BRAND, and thus their bottom line: $$$$$$ And so, "Ya don't killed the golden goose, not if you like them golden EGGS!"

[Stu]

You're correct about MSNBC, but wrong about the rest. CNN and the Times may have a liberal slant, but comparing either of them to FOX News is silly. FOX is the propaganda wing of the Republican Party. The Times is an excellent news organization, and CNN is a poor one, but neither of them marches lockstep with a political party.

The "Narrative" says otherwise.

Former editor reveals how the NYT pushes an agenda, "the narrative," instead of doing journalism

[RickD]

Philip wrote:
As for Hannity - while he makes very good points in highlighting hypocrisy, he is RABID hard right. I don't like him - he's nastily aggressive and totally disrespectful of those who disagree with him. And he's unwilling to criticize those of conservative backgrounds when they clearly need it - which is the litmus test for objectivity. Carlson - very smart, but has gotten too angry and aggressive as well - you have to use your brains in watching him. Again, not sure he's an "equal-opportunity" criticizer. If Tucker would just dial it back a bit, I think he'd be a lot better. The other issue is, these TV personalities - whether at Fox or CNN, or wherever - they begin to think of themselves as rockstars, and so they begin to get full of themselves - it's not just their political views.

I agree about hannity. I used to be able to listen to him in small spurts, but he's off the rails now, imo. When he has people on his show that disagree with him, he won't let them get a word in. It's really quite pathetic. Not to mention, Hannity has become a huge Trump butt kisser. He refuses to be critical of anything regarding Trump.

And to me, Tucker Carlson can be amusing, if I watch him on occasion. He's starting to do the same thing Hannity is doing, when he has people on his show that disagree with his views. But he hasn't quite gotten to the insane level of Hannity.