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Oh Fox News


-O-P-rime
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Another in a long list of Fox News' deceptions.

 

Something interesting happened to Fox News recently that I found heartwarming. In Wisconsin as you know the labor protests have been heating up, and Fox News, in its normal deceptive ways, would interview hundreds of protesters and picked the stupidest to put on-air (to make them seem bad). Because of this, a small group of people followed them around the next day and chanted "FOX NEWS LIES" constantly, so Fox News couldn't air any of the footage. The day after that, much larger amounts of people chanted the same thing, thus rendering them unable to air any footage on-scene once again. Of course they tried to spin it as "trying to oppress freedom of the press," but I was pretty proud of the protesters for this.

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No news organization can be completely unbiased. Objectivity was always a myth.

Television news is an individual’s main source for knowledge about politics. It is predispositions, especially ideology, that influence what news channel one watches and ultimately what news channel one believes.

ideology influences news channel believability, namely that conservatives will believe FOX and liberals will believe CNN.

The Fox News Channel is viewed by Americans in more ideological terms than other television news networks. And while the public is evenly divided in its view of hosts of cable news programs having strong political opinions, more Fox News viewers see this as a good thing than as a bad thing.

Edited by Wabbit
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No news organization can be completely unbiased. Objectivity was always a myth.

Television news is an individual’s main source for knowledge about politics. It is predispositions, especially ideology, that influence what news channel one watches and ultimately what news channel one believes.

ideology influences news channel believability, namely that conservatives will believe FOX and liberals will believe CNN.

The Fox News Channel is viewed by Americans in more ideological terms than other television news networks. And while the public is evenly divided in its view of hosts of cable news programs having strong political opinions, more Fox News viewers see this as a good thing than as a bad thing.

 

It's the fact that Fox News advertises itself as the One True News Source and as unbiased, and yet is so much more blatantly biased than any other significant news station.

 

(PROTIP: Use a foreign news source for news)

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It's the fact that Fox News advertises itself as the One True News Source and as unbiased, and yet is so much more blatantly biased than any other significant news station.

 

(PROTIP: Use a foreign news source for news)

 

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

 

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox Investigators team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

 

According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited about the series. But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox's actions to the FCC, they were both fired.

 

Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station and on August 18, 2000, a Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre was wrongfully fired by Fox Television when she refused to broadcast (in the jury's words) a false, distorted or slanted story about the widespread use of BGH in dairy cows. They further maintained that she deserved protection under Florida's whistle blower law. Akre was awarded a $425,000 settlement. Inexplicably, however, the court decided that Steve Wilson, her partner in the case, was ruled not wronged by the same actions taken by FOX.

 

FOX appealed the case, and on February 14, 2003 the Florida Second District Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the settlement awarded to Akre. The Court held that Akres threat to report the stations actions to the FCC did not deserve protection under Floridas whistle blower statute, because Floridas whistle blower law states that an employer must violate an adopted law, rule, or regulation." In a stunningly narrow interpretation of FCC rules, the Florida Appeals court claimed that the FCC policy against falsification of the news does not rise to the level of a "law, rule, or regulation," it was simply a "policy." Therefore, it is up to the station whether or not it wants to report honestly.

 

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akres claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so.

Edited by Wabbit
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wat....

 

this is legal?

 

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the PRESS; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

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Never did I say the legality of it was questionable, what I meant was the over-the-top nature of manipulation in the media.

 

I responded to Peter, he asked if it was legal/.....

 

 

The staging of the toppling of Saddam Husein's statue in Baghdad was a classic case of media manipulation. Pictures of this non-event were broadcast globally and repeatedly to give the impression of a massive demo when in fact there were only around 150 people present.

Like if it was the Fall of Berlin,

Most people fail to realize you are only manipulated as much as you let yourself be.

 

On the Fox News topic/

When I watch this channel, I find myself amazed at the overt agenda it portrays in trying to take on other news establishments. It is clear that Fox News is distinguishing itself by portraying a fairly conservative agenda. I suspect this is just a way to generate ratings while separating itself from what has been called “liberal media times. ” “With the ascendancy of Fox News Channel, we now have a national conservative TV network in addition to the established centrist outlets. But like the mainstream networks, Fox refuses to admit its political point of view. The result is a skewed center-to-right media spectrum made worse by the refusal to acknowledge any tilt at all. Fox continues to drive home their motto “fair and balanced” news, which is not the case.”

 

Fox could potentially represent a valuable contribution to the journalistic mix if it admitted it had a conservative point of view, if it beefed up its hard news and investigative coverage (and cut back on the tabloid sensationalism), and if there were an openly left-leaning TV news channel capable of balancing both Fox’s conservatism and CNN’s centrism. Here is an analogy: Fox is like a weak sports team that continues to lose to a stronger sports team, thus in an effort to generate a sense of spirit, it creates an artificial rival. Fox has done this by placing a left-wing liberal label on CNN.

The difference between the two networks is that while such conservative-friendly fare airs on CNN some of the time, Fox has oriented its whole network around it. Contrary to what Ailes and other right-wing media critics say, the agenda of CNN and its fellow mainstream outlets is not liberal or conservative, but staunchly centrist. The perspectives they value most are those of the bipartisan establishment middle, the same views that make up the mainstream corporate consensus that media publishers and executives are themselves a part of. It’s politicians who stake out centrist, pro-business positions within their parties who win the adulation of the Washington press corps, like John McCain and Joe Lieberman during the 2000 campaign. Both parties are constantly urged by the media to “move to the center.”

 

Some have suggested that Fox’s conservative point of view and its Republican leanings render the network inherently unworthy as a news outlet. Some believe this view is misguided. The United States is unusual, perhaps even unique, in having a journalistic culture so fiercely wedded to the elusive notion of “objective” news (an idea of relatively recent historical vintage even in the U.S.). In Great Britain, papers like the conservative Times of London and the left-leaning Guardian deliver consistently excellent coverage while making no secret of their respective points of view. There’s nothing keeping American journalists from doing the same. Oh, do not forget about the BBC.

Fox has become the modern day Goldwater in that conservatives who feel as though they have been silenced for years, now have a champion that provides hope from the liberal thought process of liberal intellectuals and political figures. When I Studied Advanced Placement Government and Politics, I always taught that news outlets avoided “agenda” news. They could not risk creating an archtype that would cost them viewers. Well, forgive me and many textbooks for poor Learning. Fox has proven me wrong.

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