I was posting this in reply to yet another Facebook post by somebody else about FoxNews as though it’s a joke of a network and mocked the “Fair and Balanced” slogan as all are wont to do in such posts… and I didn’t want to lose it. It’s certainly not an “everything that can be said about the matter”. I can’t say I’m making the best lawyerly case for FoxNews. I just want to lend some perspective to a liberal-leaning friend who may not understand why FoxNews exists.
FWIW, I am more than willing to admit that FOX News tilts conservative, obviously so in their entertainment/discussion shows in the evening. That said, “Fair and Balanced” is not the same thing as “unbiased”. I’m conservative; that doesn’t mean I can’t try to be fair and even-handed.
FOX News fares well in comparison to all the other news channels and shows. I remember the Pre-FOX era when all there was was blatantly left-leaning networks claiming to be unbiased, but only inviting one conservative guest to balance three liberal (but never named that) guests, and how little they’d get to talk. Back when I had FoxNews, I thought they did a much better job of having adequate numbers of conservatives and liberals and giving them time to speak even if they disagreed. (Look how many times Bill O’Reilly will let a liberal he disagrees with have the last words before going to commercial.)
I am willing to admit that it probably never looks adequate enough to some on the left.
I agree with Todd’s comment, BTW. (Todd said: “Journalism 101: EVERY news source is biased to some degree. Just filter the bull[honkey].”)
I wish all commentators had to just tell us who they voted for and what they believe, and then we could evaluate accordingly. Dan Rather constantly claimed that he was middle of the road. He also stated he didn’t know ANYONE who voted Republican! Walter Cronkite was “The Most Trusted Man In America”, but when asked if he could run for President because of this, he told the interviewer, “Wait until they find out I’d go door to door to grab every gun…”
That’s why FoxNews took off like a rocket. For 50 years, we were constantly told that our press was unbiased, and all along conservatives chafed at the news reporting. Then Fox comes along, essentially a flip version of the rest of the media (though actually more “balanced” as I noted above), and liberals have a hissy fit as though nobody had ever shown any bias in the news before!
I hope that helps you to understand the other side just a little bit.
