[That Metal Beastie]

Fox makes the claim of being 'fair and balanced'. Well if you feel the other US networks are left-leaning then I'll accept a claim that Fox is 'fair and balancing', or attempts to be. But Fox is IMO very obviously biased to the right. I'm a bit of a news junkie and everyday get news from several sourses- Fox, CNN, NBC, NPR, local newscasts, various web sourses, my local newspaper (the Post & Courier, that I call the Most Inferior!) each day and at least one other newspaper each week. It is interesting to see what's covered and what's not, and by whom. And eye-opening to see the differences between reports of the same story.

[mmoore]

I can't help but notice that people who complain that Fox News is not "fair and balanced" are those who lean to the left.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Livingston

Well, the same could be said of CNN, but it's not true. Personally I think the best thing to do is gather your news from a variety of sources. The BBC certainly does seem to be better balanced than most but the 24 hour news channel pretty much killed television journalism in my view.

I would agree with that. The more sources you use, the better a picture you'll get.

Although I most often catch the BBC services, they've had their own allegations of bias from time to time. So I try to mix others in when major events are being covered.

Never watch just one source for ALL your news.

[kevin]

Doesn't the reverse often apply - that those who say it is sometimes lean to the right?

It's probably more their 'commentator shows' that create that impression over general news coverage, but given who some of their contributers are, it's perhaps not really surprising that perception exists.

That said, I don't object to FOX's stance on anything. I don't use them as my main source. It's more Rupert Murdoch I object to. He's the perfect exmaple of a terrific media operator, but at the cost of dumbing down every news outlet he's attached to.

[horatio]

We all know what we have to read or watch to get our political opinion uttered by someone else. But repeating the party's agenda has little to do with journalism.

Clouding and shrouding one's opinion also has little do with decent journalism. Tell me where you stand, tell em your perspective and I have an easier time as audience.

I don't think that one needs a wide variety of sources if this only implies sampling several forms of such pseudo-journalism. Two good journalists, even when they both come from one side of the political spectrum, have different opinions about one subject often enough. You just need smart and independent people, simple as that.

[That Metal Beastie]

Originally Posted by mmoore

I can't help but notice that people who complain that Fox News is not "fair and balanced" are those who lean to the left.

And those that feel it is seem to lean to the right, so there you go.

As I indicated, I think 'balancing' would be a better, if not apt, characterization of that network. If you needed any clue to Fox News' leaning a good one was their election returns coverage. That night when it became obvious McCain was not going to win the newscasters became noticeably crest-fallen and downright flummoxed! The atmosphere on that network that night was nearly funereal.

FYI, I am a 'small i' independent. I've voted for Demecrats, Republicans, Independants, Libertarians and others since I reached voting age in the seventies. When all things are considered it would be hard to accurately lable me as liberal or conservative, left or right. I vote for the person and their positions and not down party lines. I (try to) think independently.

And again IMO Fox is biased. They may be fair but I don't think balanced is accurate.

[RedShirtWalking]

Originally Posted by That Metal Beastie

And those that feel it is seem to lean to the right, so there you go.

As I indicated, I think 'balancing' would be a better, if not apt, characterization of that network. If you needed any clue to Fox News' leaning a good one was their election returns coverage. That night when it became obvious McCain was not going to win the newscasters became noticeably crest-fallen and downright flummoxed! The atmosphere on that network that night was nearly funereal.

FYI, I am a 'small i' independent. I've voted for Demecrats, Republicans, Independants, Libertarians and others since I reached voting age in the seventies. When all things are considered it would be hard to accurately lable me as liberal or conservative, left or right. I vote for the person and their positions and not down party lines. I (try to) think independently.

And again IMO Fox is biased. They may be fair but I don't think balanced is accurate.

Yeah, but by the same token, the rest of the media is biased in the other direction. FOX News might have seemed like someone ran over their dog on election night, but ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC all seemed like they were near 0rgasm on election night.

I'm a conservative and I do think FOX is biased---but I also know the rest of the media is absolutely biased in the opposite direction.

[Lady Vaako]

Well, I don't live in the US so my main sources for TV news are CTV and Global. But for American news it's usually MSNBC. I love to watch "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and The Rachel Maddow Show is also very interesting and entertaining at the same time. I'm too much of a left winger to watch Fox News.

[Botany Bay]

The problem with Fox is not what political spectrum the journalists come from or what the oppinion of the networks owner is, the problem are their methods. Sure, almost all american news networks suffer from the same problems, but Fox is definatly the worst. This problem are the methods:

Fox does make exessive use of strawman arguments, red herrings, false dichotomy, ad hitlerum argumentations and "guilty by association" games. Most of their reports are actually political comments. Fox poses rumors as facts and pays lobbyists as experts (Heritage Foundation, PNAC, Karl Rove, Billy Kristol, the Foreign Policy Initiative and other openly neo-conservative interest groups of american corporatism). In summary: Fox uses the complete tool box of spin doctoring and very exessively. It doesnt matter what side of the political spectrum you personally stand on to see how Fox has no intention to inform the public.

The argument of some Fox News fans here, who say only left leaning people would critizise Fox for its bias proves the point:
Fox is biased.

Why someone wants a biased news network or even trusts it is beyond me. I allways thought a worldview and partisanship should be the result of informations. I dont see how a world would work where one first chooses a worldview and then picks the infos that back this worldview up. Such an aproach sounds like voluntary indoctrination to me. Why would someone enjoy to be indoctrinated? I just dont understand.

[jla1987]

Personally, I look at Fox as the balance to the liberal media which consists of all the others. Why do people hate Fox for being the one conservative slanted network, when they have CNN/NBC/ABC/CBS etc. to get a more Liberal viewpoint?