Fox News Admits Bias!

[tuvor]

Its London bureau chief blurts out the political slant that dare not speak its name.

<snip>

Here is what Norvell (London bureau chief for Fox News) fessed up to in the May 20 Wall Street Journal Europe:

Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind.

Fox News is, after all, a private channel and our presenters are quite open about where they stand on particular stories. That's our appeal. People watch us because they know what they are getting. The Beeb's institutionalized leftism would be easier to tolerate if the corporation was a little more honest about it.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2119864/

(Found it on Crooks and Liars who found it on Slate.)

[journalist3072]

1. We don't need Faux New to tell us they are biased.

Any person with an ounce of sense can see it.

I think they proved their bias when they let George W.'s cousin John be in charge of the Decision Desk on Election Night 2000, calling states for his cousin or Al Gore.

If a supposed "news" network had let Al Gore's cousin work their Decision Desk, the right-wing would have crapped all over themselves from anger.

[tuvor]

3. Well, as they said at Crooks and Liars...

All right all you right wingers, mobilize. Its time to set the record straight. I'll help you this time. Let's get that Scott Norvell on the line and get a retraction. We can say that he was taken out of context. That always works. Email me with a strategy. Blogswarm maybe?

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Of course they would've

Doy. Sometimes these people drive me crazy.

[AuntiBush]

12. Exactly! Thank you for that reminder!

[Jon_da_brockman]

2. I am shocked, SHOCKED!

Well, not that shocked.

[tuvor]

5. Welcome to DU, my fellow Soviet Canuckistani!

Better late than never.

:hi:

[merwin]

4. Aren't they fair and balanced?

They're about as balanced as Commander Cuckoo Bananas on a bender.

[lonestarnot]

7. Fuck Fox News... blah blah blah ....down the drain with you Fox News!

[spindoctor]

8. Now that we got that out of the way, what will be their new slogan?

FOX News: 'Unfair but predictable' ?

[struggle4progress]

9. This is part of the continuing attack on the BBC. eom

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. And that's why their ratings are in the toilet.

:toast:

[AuntiBush]

11. So that's why they're RATINGS have doubled-downwards. O'te!

Screw um'! They're not NEWS. They're spinning, whining, opinionated heads making boo-coo bucks on their corporate investment returns.

They don't care about Americans - that's the reality... "club them to death!" Shame on them!

[earth mom]

13. Why am I not surprised?

:eyes:

So, the reason all these news outlets aren't reporting the news is because they are "privately owned channels"?! Whoa. And that's the excuse for CBS, NBC and ABC as well?!

Okay. Now we know for sure that the field of journalism has completely and totally ceased to exist.
And the networks are now all offering up OPINIONS and selling them to the public-aka suckers-as FACT. :puke:

[spooky3]

14. uh, a "private channel"? Aren't these public airwaves?

[Toots]

16. No they aren't..Fox is on Cable and you pay for that

NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS are all networks on public airwaves.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. They are not honest about anything.

I remember many Fox watchers believing their hype that they were unbiased. They used Fox as an example of objective reporting. Of course, that was years ago. If they don't know they were duped by now, they must be hardcore Republicans.

[9119495]

17. What I find most interesting is that people in Europe

probably see it as clearly biased. The American tendency to question institutions as a way of safeguarding against tyranny seems to be dying. Sure, we on DU and some of our party reps do it, but then we are in the minority.

I think the politically plural nature of Europe seems to be doing a better job of seeing reality. I believe many Americans DO see Fox as unbiased. They don't actually watch it much, but then they don't read or watch the news anyway. They buy the slogan, watch reality TV, and know enough to say "the media is librul." Each year I have students repeat both myths that the media is "librul" and Fox is unbiased. I believe they believe they are right. I think only a huge scandal could crack that veneer but who would even care anymore outside DU?