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Fox News Channel

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The Fox News Channel is a United States cable and satellite news channel. It is a 24-hour general news service covering breaking news as well as political, business and entertainment news. The average age of its viewership is 65 years old, and even 70 years old for its O'Reilly Factor. Much of Fox News Channel is self-serving "happy talk," telling its elderly audience what it wants to hear, or selling O'Reilly's latest book.

The Fox News Channel heavily promotes RINO Backers -- commentators who may appear to be conservative but side with RINOs just when it matters most. Examples include Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, and Rush Limbaugh, who savaged Todd Akin for making a pro-life statement pointing out that pregnancy from rape is rare due to feminine biology. The Fox News Channel gave Karl Rove a platform to raise money against pro-life Republican candidates.

Even center-right pundit Sarah Palin is too conservative for Fox News Channel, as when it canceled some of her interviews at a key political moment in August 2012,[1] and then refused to renew her contract.

More generally, the Fox News Channel heavily favors neoconservatives and generally avoids or even sides against liberals on most political issues. The Fox News Channel is particularly weak in criticizing the homosexual agenda and abortion. The Fox News Channel often helps elect less conservative Republicans, as when it repeatedly featured and promoted John McCain and Chris Christie while excluding their more conservative primary opponents. It drifted further from the conservative movement by petulantly declaring that conservative Newt Gingrich would not be accepted back.[2]

Founding

The Fox News channel was started in 1996 by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, who perceived a need for a news organization that offered more balanced reporting, one where the facts from all sides would be presented. Mainstream media "political correctness" was banished. As an example, Fox news anchors call terrorists what they are, (terrorists), instead of referring to them as "militants." As of February, 2007, polls show that over 20% of Americans say their main source of news is the Fox News Channel.

Fox News has dominated the ratings of other cable news outlets.[3] Launched by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and former political consultant Roger Ailes as a refuge for viewers fed up with real or perceived liberal bias everywhere in the so-called "mainstream media", Fox is the undisputed ratings champion of cable news. It's been trouncing CNN, MSNBC and CNBC for years, and draws a much larger audience share than all competitors, including the three major broadcast news shows, combined. It is by far the most profitable news network in the world, on track to earn more than $700 Million in 2010.[4] But the profit motive may cause some of the hostility Fox News has to the conservative positions on important social issues.

Indeed, for over 100 consecutive months, FNC has been the most-watched cable news channel in the country. FNC is available in more than 90 million homes. It is part of the Fox Television Stations Group, a subsidiary of Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Roger Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005.

Fair and Balanced

 
Fair And Balanced Logo

Critics have been known to complain about the "Fair & Balanced" slogan. Former President Bill Clinton exploded at Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace in September of 2006, accusing him of "a nice little conservative hit job" after being lightly pressed by Wallace about his record on fighting Al Qaeda. Democratic politicians and advocates have relentlessly attacked the cable network, sometimes accusing it of being a Republican propaganda mill. Former Vice-President and environmentalist Al Gore has likened Fox to a right-wing "fifth column." Groups, such as MoveOn.org, funded a classic schlockumentary entitled Outfoxed, which purports to expose the channel's 'nefarious Republican agenda'. Some have referred to FOX News as "the propaganda arm of the Republican Party" or "Faux News." In a grandstanding gesture of political theater the group unsuccessfully petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to stop Fox's from using its slogan as "deceptive advertising". It was unanimously rejected. [5] Fox News spokesman Rob Zimmerman told today's (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal: "If they can attack Fox News to this extreme, then all news organizations are at risk to be targeted by similar attacks. ... It's best to ignore nuts."

Rolling Stone magazine charged that Ailes has “built the most formidable propaganda machine ever seen outside of the Communist bloc.” Ailes responded accusing NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, and the rest of running a liberal propaganda machine.

“ If they did fair and balanced news, we’d be out of business. ”

A recent comprehensive study by UCLA political scientist Tim Groseclose and University of Missouri-Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Milyo found Brit Hume's Special Report — Fox's most straightforward news show — more centrist than any of the three major networks' evening newscasts, all of which are liberal. [6] The program is a model of smart news television.

Although it is true that the Fox's opinion shows (as opposed to its news shows) are, as they're supposed to be, frequently bombastic and opinionated; it is equally true that Fox's biggest super-star, Bill O'Reilly is not a mainstream Republican, but a registered Independent who sides with conservatives. He regularly charges the oil companies with price-gouging and attacks big business for quashing the little guy. Greta Van Susteren's politics are unclear, as she mostly covers the crime-of-the-day stories. Geraldo Rivera is traditionally liberal on most issues, with the exception of being a strong supporter of the military and stiff penalties for sex offenders.

Some liberal commentators, such as news analyst Marvin Kalb, and Eleanor Clift, are affiliated with the channel. In general, Fox News is closer to mainstream America than CBS, ABC, NBC or CNN, its founding mission.

Conservatives have criticism for the Fox News Channel as well. For example, conservatives have complained about how Fox News has covered the homosexuality issue. In 2006, the conservative reporter Peter LaBarbera wrote that "Fox News and Wal-mart are among the high-level ($10,000) sponsors of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s (NLGJA) 2006 Convention in Miami."[7] In addition, their 'Fair and Balanced' motto allows liberal propaganda, lies, deceit, and half-truths to gain an audience. In reality, Fox was judged to actually provide a more "fair and balanced" coverage in the 2008 Presidential race than all three MSM networks, who had a decidedly pro-Obama tilt, a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs. [8]

Fox News Liberals

Fox News is accused of being blatantly biased towards the right, during its supposedly non-partisan news reports. These false accusations stem from alleged injection of opinion in news stories, selectively preventing liberals a chance to be represented on the channel, and support for high ranking Republican Party members. Opponents to this theory cite the fact that Fox News parent company News Corp. overwhelmingly donates campaign contributions to Democrats [9] and the network employs the following liberals:


A 2009 national survey showed that 46% of those who watch FOX News “just about every day” are Democrats or Independents. Dick Morris interpreted the numbers and determines, "Could it be that the Obama Administration is concerned about FOX News not because it is 'an arm of the Republican Party' but because it is so widely seen among Democrats and Independents?" [10]

The Five

The show that replaced Glenn Beck's ratings dominance is 'The Five', described as a “roundtable ensemble of five rotating FOX personalities...." [11]

Most often, the show pits Bob Beckel, a consistent defender of every Democratic Party talking point, against a panel of conservative or libertarian opponents. 'The Five' features Bob Beckel, Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams, Dana Perino, Andrew Napolitano, Geraldo Rivera, Andrea Tantaros, Eric Bolling, Monica Crowley, and Kimberly Guilfoyle.