Fox News - (Not) Fair and Balanced

[chrisa]

This is what really annoys me about Fox News. I have no problem with them spewing Conservative talking points. Sure, they are a news organization, but if you looked at any station, you would find some bias, given the nature of some shows that feature commentators.

However, there are a few things that stop me from ever taking Fox News seriously. It mostly has to do with their "fair and balanced" slogan.

Come on, Fox. You can't pit 1 Liberal vs. 5 Conservatives, create a circular firing squad where said Liberal gets 5 seconds to talk before being shouted over and ridiculed for the rest of the segment time, and then claim that the show is being fair because a Liberal is represented on it. Even the hardcore veterans like Bill O'Reilly appear like they know nothing about being a good journalist. What pisses me off about O'Reilly is that he never lets anybody talk and interrupts them, even when he says that they have time to talk. Either that, or he has no control over the interview, and it's just a full-blown shouting match. Other commentators, such as Hannity or Glenn Beck, throw out exaggeration after exaggeration, and overexaggerate small events in order to make a mountain out of a mole hill. One such example was Glenn Beck claiming that a terms of use agreement on Cars.gov was a grand government conspiracy to take over our computers. Right... Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

The second problem - If Fox News is so fair and balanced, where is the representation of Liberals, Independents, Democrats, and Libertarians? Almost every single commentator on Fox News are anti-regulation, anti-Universal Healthcare, anti-Obama, Conservative-Christian Republicans. It's the same opinions over and over again. If you watched "Hannity," or "Glenn Beck," you would struggle to find any differences between what is being said. They're too far-right of the general public to be in touch with the issues of this country.

Third problem - Fox News is almost like a horrible, failed propaganda network that keeps playing the same junk over and over again. What the hell is this crap? They keep showing the same Town Hall protests over and over again, which consists of 5 shots that they show over and over again. Fox News's attempts to make these town hall protests seem bigger than they are by showing the same protest images over and over again for weeks on end is dishonest, to say the least. Also, where are the good stories about Obama? Obama does have a point that your network, especially with shows such as "Hannity" and "Glenn Beck" are devoted completely to attacking Obama over and over again. The stories might not even be true, and your network airs them as if they were fact. I don't think that this is some grand conspiracy. It's just lazy, terrible journalism guided by sensationalism and bias. Sensationalism = Ratings, and Ratings = More money. In addition, the stupid statements of "Those liberals!. etc." are dehumanizing and annoying. Who are these "Liberals?" It's never explained on Fox News. Just cardboard enemy after cardboard enemy is attacked without recourse.

Finally, what makes Fox News so ridiculous is their tendency to use fringe characters as strawmen to attack entire groups. Let's say, for example, someone does something horrible, and they happen to be a Liberal. Commentators such as Hannity then take this event as proof that all Liberals are evil terrorists who must be destroyed. The best example of this I can think of is Ward Churchill. According to the logic of Hannity, all Liberals are just like him, and have the same views as him. I can't believe people fall for such obvious strawmen and boogeymen so easily. This is lazy journalism and commentary at its finest. The second part of this point is the use of logical fallacies done by some commentators, where they claimed that if you didn't have a certain viewpoint, you didn't "Support the Troops, etc." This is less in use now, but when Bush was in office, almost everybody who didn't agree with Fox News commentators, often in points that have nothing to do with the military, fell into this category. The best example I can think of is the circular reasoning portrayed where "The Commander in Chief is technically a military rank, and therefore, if you do not throw your support 100% behind the Commander in Chief, you don't support the troops." This sort of lazy commentary should never make it on TV, but I'm not surprised it does.

Fox News is almost hopeless at this point. We're in for 8 more years of lazy commentary, half-truths, and ridiculous Obama-bashing. I don't mind commentators having strong opinions, but when your entire network is devoted to undermining the Presidency by changing public opinion, that's where I draw the line. There's nothing that can be done about Fox News, really, but I wish more people would see them for what they are and ignore them. I'm a progressive-centrist, and even I see the ridiculousness of what is on their network. I wonder how much of the Conservative-Centrist viewing audience they lost by catering to the far-right. If they were to be really fair and balanced, Progressives, Big-government Liberals, small-government liberals, Libertarians, and Conservatives would all find Fox News appealing. Unfortunately, 99% of aforementioned groups hate you. It really is a shame.

[DainBramaged]

1. Images to save for future use