Would FoxNews bother you so much...

[KyuzoGator]

...if they were just up-front and honest about being sensationalistic entertainment for right-wingers instead of passing themselves off as "fair and balanced" journalism?

I've given this a little thought. If they were just honest with everyone about what they were, I think I'd be okay with that.

[shoelace414]

1. Rush is not known as "news" but opinion Fox news is.

[Tim4319]

2. I feel the same way!

If they would just say, they are strongly supportive of the RW I could handle them better. But, when they say they are fair and balanced, I get sick to my stomach.

[DemInDistress]

3. Faux news.= all spin, no substance, never a critical comment

about the failure in our WHITEHOUSE....

[bullimiami]

4. firstly, it is not news. secondly, they lie.

if they were required to run a disclaimer periodically stating that what they say may not be factual and if they were not allowed to use the word "news" to describe what they did. sure I would be cool with it.

[KyuzoGator]

5. I think that's all I'd need - a disclaimer...

...stating that they do not adhere to the generally-accepted best practices of modern journalism, and that it should be watched for entertainment purposes only.

[pdxmom]

6. I agree with you. Any time I hear them say "Coming up: a fair and

balanced discussion of the issues" I know that what I will hear is neither fair nor balanced. And I hate lying.

[KyuzoGator]

10. Like Bill Hicks said...

There's a puppet on the right and a puppet on the left, and one guy is holding up both puppets.

Just present the facts. We don't need punditry.

[Marr]

7. I think so, yes. If they had a slogan like,

"Fox News: THE source for right-wing opinion"... it would be less of a problem. They're essentially no different from right-wing radio, but they're allowed to steer media coverage to a ridiculous degree.

[Katherine Brengle]

8. They'll never come out and say it. As far as they are concerned, they

are "fair and balanced."

And I don't think they are legally entitled to present a right-wing viewpoint as "news" on national television. Even if they came out and said, "Okay, you got us, we're incredibly biased, we only show things from a right-wing perspective, we like to bully our progressive/liberal/Democratic guests and we're never going to tell you the truth," I would still take issue with them. They are in a position to influence a huge number of the American people--they aren't doing their job the way it is supposed to be done.

The media is supposed to be the Fourth Estate--as far as I can tell, FOX News is hardly serving as a check on government power and authority. And neither is any other network news station or major newspaper.

The media is a complete mess, and while FOX is worse than most, it is not alone in misrepresenting the truth.

[lectrobyte]

9. It's always the hypocrisy. It's not the rw bullshit. It's the fake

moral outrage over Janet's boob, while running every sort of sleaze on Fox and FX.

[KyuzoGator]

11. Exactly...it's not really WHAT they are saying that bugs me.

It's that they are trying to pass it off as real journalism and fact reporting.

[distantearlywarning]

19. That's so true!

I've wondered for years now why the Faux News constituency doesn't protest all of their skeezy shows (Temptation Island, anyone?) in the name of morality. They are the worst network on TV for that kind of trashy stuff, and yet you never hear the bible-thumpers asking Fox to do something about it. It's total hypocracy. I'm very socially liberal, and I even think some of the stuff Fox shows is indecent and inappropriate.

I guess in today's world you get to be as immoral as you want as long as you are a Republican. At least that's the message I'm taking away here. :eyes:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. I agree with you. If they didn't pretend to be "news" and "balanced"

I'd be fine with that. Then when RWers try to bring up the latest crap they heard there, you would shove the "infotainment" disclaimer in their face.

[Initech]

13. "We kind of sort of report, you decide if we're full of crap or not"

They should just be honest and say that they're just the news arm & mouthpiece of the Republican National Committee and say that they put a positive spin on everything that the RNC tells them.

THEN I might take Fox News seriously.

[Snotcicles]

14. Being dishonest helps change votes and that is harmful to America, and

I feel they will all burn in hell for it. ALL OF THEM.

[tenshi816]

15. I don't actually watch FOX news,

and I doubt many people in the UK do (I'd love to see FOX's international viewing numbers), but I might not hate it as much if they were honest about being Republican shills. At least viewers would know from the get-go that they were watching biased programming. "Fair and balanced" my shiny white ass. The words "FOX news" and "journalism" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

[KyuzoGator]

16. Kick nt

[distantearlywarning]

17. That's exactly it, Kyuzo.

I would be perfectly ok with Faux News if they just admitted that they have a RW spin, or that they are supporting Republicans or whatever. I like to watch liberal TV because it makes me feel good and vindicated in my viewpoints, and I imagine the Red-Staters out there feel the same way. It's fine as long as you take what you hear with a grain of salt and remember that what you hear is filtered through the machine. But passing themselves off as "balanced" (whatever that means these days), "fair", or even completely truthful is dishonest, and it confuses the mooing masses. But my guess is that that last thing is exactly what they are aiming for. Suckering the gullible sheeple into believing that what they are hearing about the world is the gospel instead of some Repukes nutbag opinion.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. The point is, though, since it is INTENDED and CONCEIVED as pro-Republican

propaganda, it wouldn't be effective propaganda if it admitted to bias and didn't try to pass itself off as news.