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Print This PageAnother Gem from Fox News (Updated)
The “Fair” in “Fair and Balanced”:
Wouldn’t it be nice if Fox News at least pretended to live up to its motto?
UPDATE: In the comments, “Humble Law Student” claims that my post is a “cheap shot at sliming the network [and] is both incorrect and dishonest,” ostensibly because the screenshot comes from The Big Story, an opinion show instead of a news show. Unfortunately, that claim is about as accurate as Fox News itself. Here is Wikipedia’s description of the show:
The Big Story, which debuted in 2001, is an American news/talk television program on the Fox News Channel, hosted by John Gibson and Heather Nauert weekdays.One of the channel’s afternoon programs, the program features coverage of news stories of the day under general banners (ex. “Big Money,” “Big Security”) introduced after commercial breaks. Additionally, the program also focuses around debate and talk about these stories, including experts and panelists relating to each story.
[snip]
Along with general coverage, the program also features a commentary segment. During the weekdays, John Gibson gives his perspective of current news stories in “My Word,” allowing for viewers to e-mail him responses to his commentary, some read during a “Your Word” segment at the end of each broadcast.
The Fox News website for The Big Story itself says that the show “takes you inside the day’s biggest stories.”
There is no indication on the screenshot that the caption was part of John Gibson’s “My Word” commentary segment. It thus seems clear that the caption was one of the “general banners” the show uses for “coverage of news stories of the day” — a news description, in other words, not opinion.
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Actually — John Gibson’s show is billed as a conservative show. It is an “opinion” show and he has never claimed otherwise. At least we know that bias instead of the hypocritical objective NYT, BBC, CNN, et al. Bill O’Reilly, etc. all bill themselves as opinion shows — like Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, Chris Matthews, etc. Stop getting the vapors.
at 10:31 am EST Troy
Given the behavior of the Democrats in Congress, and the fact that their radical left supporters want us to just up and leave Iraq, I’d say that graphic is pretty accurate.
at 12:30 pm EST Steve
Steve, you seem to forget that Congress, whether it’s under control of republican or democrats, it is supposed to serve as a check and balance to the Executive. Unfortunalely, the Republican control Congress has had a severe lack of amnesia. What you see now is what your party should have been doing a long time ago.
Also, if I am correct, 66% of americans wants us to leave Iraq. So, you are either being disingenuous, or your party has lost a big part of it’s support. And of course, the radical right does not want to hear that.
But don’t worry, next election we will fix the mess that your party and president got us into :0)
at 3:50 pm EST cruz del sur
I’m so glad that the radical left now comprises 66% of the American population! That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.
at 7:45 pm EST Kevin Heller
In all honesty I was wrong about the 66%. It’s only 61%
at 8:34 pm EST cruz del sur
Laura Ingraham: Here is the question: do left wing activist really believe in freedom of speech or are they trying to intimidate opposing views points ?” and “why are you against free speech now”
did she mean this, or this, or all those times that protestors were kicked out of republicans events? But if you relly want to turn things on it’s head, was gonzo arrested or allowed to finish his speech???
at 10:02 pm EST cruz del sur
Professor Heller,
Still waiting on your correction to the blog post.
Or in other words, “Wouldn’t it be nice if Professor Heller at least pretended to be intellectually honest on this issue?”
at 12:13 am EST Humble Law Student
Non-humble law student,
What correction would that be?
Kevin,
Wouldn’t it be awesome if 60+ percentof the population was on the “radical left”?
Also, has anyone seen the clip “Fox News Porn.” Google it. I assure you it is work safe, and very funny. Everything in it as been aired on Fox during primetime.
at 4:55 am EST Una
Mr Not Too humble Law Student:
If you are expecting a correction because of the 66%, I can assure you that I will find a quote that says “2/3 of Americans want us out of Iraq”, which would make it… 66%.
If it’s not that, how about you put up.
at 10:05 am EST cruz del sur
And before I go stuff my self, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY
at 2:20 pm EST cruz del sur
The needed correction has already been explained, but I will reiterate.
FOXNews does not assert or even pretend that its opinion shows are necessarily fair or balanced. Instead, it tries to present its news as fair and balanced. The screen shot is from an opinion show. Professor Heller’s cheap shot at sliming the network is both incorrect and dishonest.
at 5:53 pm EST Humble Law Student
forgive me but nothing professor Heller does or says can slime such a slime bucket. They are as low as they can get.
The problem with fox is that they pretend to be a news network, and it pretends to be fair and balanced. If they took those words, and said: we are an opinion network, and we are biased, then no big deal. They are as you said, intellectualy dishonest!!!
at 11:07 pm EST cruz del sur
Lol, wikipedia. Really?
Okay, I can play that game. Let’s look at other wikipedia entries.
From the Countdown with Keith Olbermann entry”
“Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an hour-long nightly newscast on MSNBC which airs live at 8pm Eastern Time and reruns at midnight on weekdays. The show, hosted by Keith Olbermann, debuted on March 31, 2003 and counts down the top news stories of the day with news reports and interviews with guests, along with commentary by Olbermann.
The show is the highest-rated program on MSNBC. In January 2007, the show averaged 715,000 viewers per night, according to Nielsen Media Research. This was up 85% from January 2006.[1] Countdown has been referred to as the “flagship” MSNBC franchise, so much so that on February 15, 2007 Olbermann received a four-year contract extension which will include two Countdown primetime specials on NBC, appearances on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams as a commentator, and his addition as an in-studio host on Football Night In America, NBC’s NFL Highlight/Pre-Game Show.
The show is notable for Olbermann’s elaborate writing style, fast-paced delivery, historical and pop culture references, and signature witty interjections, which make Countdown more colorful than most newscasts. Olbermann combines serious news stories with humorous segments and, of late, with commentaries critical of the Bush administration.”
If you have watched The Countdown you will know that it tilts pretty left, even when doing just pure “news” stories.
The wiki for “The Countdown” notes that Olbermann does seperate commentary, but the bias runs straight through the other sections. Same for “Big Story.”
No one would consider “The Countdown” a real news program, even though the wiki entry implies as much. The same goes for “Big Story.” Both shows address news stories, but with a definite bias.
The news programs that I have always thought FOXNews considered neutral were their actual news segments–usually a few minutes every hour–and their programs like the Fox Report with Shephard Smith.
at 9:28 pm EST Humble Law Student
Objection, Your Honor, Relevance?
at 2:50 pm EST cruz del sur