http://www.conservapedia.com/Fox_News_ChannelFox News was started in 1996 by Murdoch and Roger Ailes. The two of them perceived a need for a news organization that offered more balanced reporting, one where the facts from all sides would be presented. Main-stream media "Political Correctness" was banished, with the news anchors calling terrorists, what they were (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 uses the slogan "Fair & Balanced", carries bipartisan shows like Hannity and Colmes, and daily guest pundits from all sides of the political spectrum. Fox News also is non-hostile to conservative and Christian values, viewpoints, spokesmen, and ideas. Fox News has gained the reputation for reporting the news in an unbiased manner and then allowing the viewer to decide; "We Report, You Decide" is another of their on-air slogans.
Special Report — Fox's most straightforward news show — more centrist than any of the three major networks' evening newscasts, all of which are left leaning. <2> The program is a model of smart news television.
And although it's 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's equally true that Fox's biggest super-star, Bill O'Reilly, is not a mainstream Republican, but a registered Independent. He regularly charges the oil companies with price-gouging and attacks big business for squashing the little guy. Who can say what host Greta Van Susteren's politics are? She mostly covers the crime-of-the-day stories. Geraldo Rivera has always been liberal on most issues, with the exception of being a strong supporter of the military and stiff penalties for sex offenders.
Liberal commentators go in and out of the Fox studios all over America, every day — some of them, like host Alan Colmes and news analyst Marvin Kalb, and Eleanor Clift affiliated with the channel. There's no doubt, of course, that Fox News is closer to mainstream America than CBS, ABC, NBC or CNN. But, after all, that was its founding mission.