Here’s the deal. I have no problem with a conservative network that shows some news. Go crazy. Do it. Say whatever you wanna say. But my problem with Fox is that they are being very dishonest in who they are and what they are actually doing.
Let me illustrate my problem with Fox this way. My kids were given a large dose of fox this summer and even last month as we spent a lot of time with my parents. My dad watches Fox News all day long. Literally, this is not an exaggeration. All day.
So my kids walked in on a lot of Fox News. Let me make it clear that my kids have never heard me talk about Fox News. None of them have any political preference. They were sad to see Bush go and Happy to see Obama elected. They have been taught well in school that the president is someone to learn about and be respected. None of them have any idea about any of the national issues that Fox is addressing, but my older kids had this to say about being in the room while Fox is on…
“it is loud and angry.” “they argue and yell a lot.”
I asked them if they think it is loud since Grandpa has it on loud because he is hard of hearing. And No, it is loud because all of those people are “always yelling and are mad.”
I don’t care about your political bias, but when you watch the Fox News, you are watching a network that does report the news, but only about half of the time. The other half is commentary. Conservative commentary. And according to my kids, angry commentary.
Jon Stewart this week released a great rant about Fox News and I believe it to be very true. They do report the news. And though Stewart did not say it, I believe that their reporters and anchormen and women are very biased against the president and make small editorial side comments often.
Stewart did say and support with video evidence that their reporters do report the news, their commentators then deliver a biased conclusion on the news, and then the reporters cite the commentators by making statements like “some people are raising the question on whether we are indoctrinating children.” Well, that question was raised by one of your commentators who used a video segment out of context.
So what the reporter just did was allow his own network to create news. And then he reported it as news.
Of course, Fox does this in a lot of ways. They were cheerleaders and even organizers of the Tea Parties that people were throwing months ago to protest taxes. They had a website dedicated to finding and attending a tea party. Their commentators and even reporters were featured speakers and celebs at the events.
I actually don’t have a problem with any of that. They can report whatever they want. They can do whatever they want but they need to examine whether it can be called “news.”
Fox News released a statement recently that said something to the effect of: “The American people are smart enough to distinguish between reporting and editorializing.” Which, of course they are. But Fox is telling them that it is news.
What I would love to see is Fox divide into two channels… A News channel that only reports headlines and news, and a second network that is an editorial network. On the editorial network, there would be 5 minutes of news every hour and 55 minutes of Cavuto, Beck, Hannity, OReilly, Ducey, Huckabee, Van Sustern editorializing. Which network is going to get the ratings? The editorial network. Why? Because it stirs people up. Fox News is getting the ratings because they are creating and editorializing news all under the guise of reporting.
Here is an example I found just a second ago on their site. The headline is: “Americans Take Congress to Task.” This is posted under the “Latest News” heading on the site. In the article it says that “64% of Americans would believe that the country would be better off by throwing out ‘most’ members of congress.”
First of all. Is it news that Americans think that congress is not doing a great job? Can you name a time when this level would have been under 50% ever?
Second of all. The poll is a poll that Fox News asked Opinion Dynamics to take. and in the results that are released, there is no place where this question is even asked or printed.
The article when you actually read the whole thing, actually has to interpret the data to say that Americans are actually more supportive of their democrat representatives than the republican counterparts. But is quick to say that those numbers are quickly falling which is not significantly backed up by the raw data anyway.
Fox News did not believe that you would read the poll. They believed that you only cared about the headline. The headline which is not statistically supported by the data. The headline is of course there for a reason. It is there so that the Editorialists can use it on their shows to say that America is less supportive of democrats. It will make the conservatives feel like they have momentum. And Fox becomes a cheerleader of conservatives against democrats.
Let me say again what I have said before… To be called a journalist, you have to report the news. This means that you not only report what newsmakers say, but you also support whether it is true or false. When Joe Wilson screamed “You Lie!” I would have liked journalists to tell me, whether he was correct or incorrect. All of the networks covered it. CNN and MSNBC called it a disgrace and Fox did not. Fox reported when he apologized and reported that he would stop apologizing. But did anyone say: Obama lied! or Wilson makes False Remark! Those would be news.
Don’t report to me that Palin says that the health care plan says that there are “death panels” that will decided grandma’s fate, without reporting whether it is a true or false statement.
Americans need to hold their news to higher standards. Right now, it is a ratings and money game.
The video is funny, but it is sad that Comedy Central is the only place where people are hearing about the problems with journalism.
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