Almost 14 years old, the Fox News Channel has taken the world by storm!
For as long as we can remember, the news was dominated by ABC, CBS and NBC. As CNN entered the scene, television news still operated with a liberal bias; blatant to those who closely followed their coverage. In the midst of the media slobbering over President Bill Clinton on "All Bill Clinton," the "Clinton News Network," "Nothing But Clinton," and the "Clinton Broadcast System," Americans wanted an alternative and that void was filled by the Fox News Channel.
For as long as we can remember, the news was dominated by ABC, CBS and NBC. As CNN entered the scene, television news still operated with a liberal bias; blatant to those who closely followed their coverage. In the midst of the media slobbering over President Bill Clinton on "All Bill Clinton," the "Clinton News Network," "Nothing But Clinton," and the "Clinton Broadcast System," Americans wanted an alternative and that void was filled by the Fox News Channel.
Roger Ailes is the mastermind behind Fox News and with his intuition, his keen eye for on air talent and his belief that Americans do not want bias in their news coverage, Fox News rose to the top and is currently the highest rated cable news station. Americans truly believe Fox News is 'fair and balanced' and as a result, the network has garnered much success over the years it has been on the air.
In doing my research for The Calling to Lead, I decided that Fox News will play a major role in the storyline and in Michael Buonocore's life. Having intensively researched Fox News at a time I considered working for them, as well as thanks to the folks I know who work there that provided me with information, I have a working knowledge of why Fox News is so successful and including them was the appropriate ode to their importance in American society, politics and the way the media does business. I have taken from Fox News the idea of "Fair and Balanced" in my teaching, as I have explained in a previous blog post.
Liberals and opponents of Fox News hate it. They hate that conservatives have a voice, they smear anyone working for them as dumb, rigid or radical. Additionally, they scream that Fox News has a blatant Conservative bias and constantly cite Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto. What the liberals don't tell their drone supporters is that Fox News television programming is broken into two areas:
Hard News: This is defined as news programming where there is an anchor(s) in the studio who may moderate debates between guests, read the news or introduce field correspondents who are covering the stories they are introducing. On Fox News, these anchors, consisting of Bret Baier, Shepard Smith, Juliet Huddy, Martha MacCallum, etc, are even handed and do not give their opinions. They let the viewer decide for themselves. Fox News is the only network whose hard news programming does not disclose their bias.
News Analysis: This is defined as programming whose hosts DO give their opinion and are required to do so in many cases. Hosts like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, etc, are intellectually honest about their beliefs and do not hide behind the cover of journalism to give their viewpoints. The critics of Fox News specifically cite this type of programming as the reason why Fox News has a conservative bias, but when you look at the analysts who host shows on Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera, as well as some of the pundits like Juan Williams who have guest hosted, they are not conservative...more than can be said for MSNBC who only has Joe Scarborough (and he has a liberal to keep an eye on him in Mika Brzezinski.)
One final note, their pundits or contributors are much more evenly divided than on the other networks. You have Ann Coulter, but you also have Bob Beckel. You have Michelle Malkin, but you also have Penny Lee. Rarely does one see a conservative on the other networks and when they are on, they are usually being talked over or demeaned.
In the past year alone, Fox News has broken stories such as ACORN's fraud, Van Jones, Anita Dunn, Bill Ayers and the recent corruption in the justice department that other outlets have ignored.
So the next time critics scream about Fox News, it would be wise for us to examine the veracity of their attacks and once we find out they are false, thank Roger Ailes and Fox News for introducing a truly fair and balanced news outlet that will continue to have influence over the way journalism is presented to Americans and viewers around the world.
In doing my research for The Calling to Lead, I decided that Fox News will play a major role in the storyline and in Michael Buonocore's life. Having intensively researched Fox News at a time I considered working for them, as well as thanks to the folks I know who work there that provided me with information, I have a working knowledge of why Fox News is so successful and including them was the appropriate ode to their importance in American society, politics and the way the media does business. I have taken from Fox News the idea of "Fair and Balanced" in my teaching, as I have explained in a previous blog post.
Liberals and opponents of Fox News hate it. They hate that conservatives have a voice, they smear anyone working for them as dumb, rigid or radical. Additionally, they scream that Fox News has a blatant Conservative bias and constantly cite Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto. What the liberals don't tell their drone supporters is that Fox News television programming is broken into two areas:
Hard News: This is defined as news programming where there is an anchor(s) in the studio who may moderate debates between guests, read the news or introduce field correspondents who are covering the stories they are introducing. On Fox News, these anchors, consisting of Bret Baier, Shepard Smith, Juliet Huddy, Martha MacCallum, etc, are even handed and do not give their opinions. They let the viewer decide for themselves. Fox News is the only network whose hard news programming does not disclose their bias.
News Analysis: This is defined as programming whose hosts DO give their opinion and are required to do so in many cases. Hosts like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, etc, are intellectually honest about their beliefs and do not hide behind the cover of journalism to give their viewpoints. The critics of Fox News specifically cite this type of programming as the reason why Fox News has a conservative bias, but when you look at the analysts who host shows on Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera, as well as some of the pundits like Juan Williams who have guest hosted, they are not conservative...more than can be said for MSNBC who only has Joe Scarborough (and he has a liberal to keep an eye on him in Mika Brzezinski.)
One final note, their pundits or contributors are much more evenly divided than on the other networks. You have Ann Coulter, but you also have Bob Beckel. You have Michelle Malkin, but you also have Penny Lee. Rarely does one see a conservative on the other networks and when they are on, they are usually being talked over or demeaned.
In the past year alone, Fox News has broken stories such as ACORN's fraud, Van Jones, Anita Dunn, Bill Ayers and the recent corruption in the justice department that other outlets have ignored.
So the next time critics scream about Fox News, it would be wise for us to examine the veracity of their attacks and once we find out they are false, thank Roger Ailes and Fox News for introducing a truly fair and balanced news outlet that will continue to have influence over the way journalism is presented to Americans and viewers around the world.
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