So, California...Follow

Ash? You do get that cable news channels like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are a mix of journalism and editorial commentary, right? It's like the difference between watching the evening news broadcast (which is supposed to be impartial reporting) and watching an episode of "60 Minutes". They do exactly the same thing on those other cable networks, so it's more than a little absurd to compare Fox to the evening news on ABC.

The startling difference between Fox and CNN or MSNBC isn't that they have opinions or make commentary on the news (they all do that), but that Fox actually allows conservative viewpoints in addition to liberal ones). Their tagline isn't "unbiased", it's "fair and balanced". Where the other cable networks have pretty much only liberal opinions expressed, Fox contains both.

you defending your favorite news team is cute.

Then your issue is with cable news channels, not with Fox news specifically. I get that reality doesn't match your expectation, but that doesn't mean you should single out just one channel. Fox news doesn't do this to any greater degree than the others. It just doesn't have an overwhelming liberal slant and so it's "shocking" to those who've been used to such slant in their political commentary.


Joph. CNN was the channel where I did my "mixed panel experiment" several years ago. I'm thinking I need to do it again so that I have a more topical issue (since I can't for the life of me even remember the topic at the time and I lost the recordings). Now maybe that was a non-typical day on CNN, but I tend to flip back and forth between it and Fox (MSNBC isn't even remotely non-partisan and is laughable about it) and the differences are noticeable.

Obviously this is about perception as well. As a conservative, I'm going to notice liberal bias more than conservative bias. As a liberal, you're going to notice the opposite. Neither tells us whether one is "more biased" than the other. However, the polls showing viewership between Fox, CNN, and MSNBC would seem to indicate that Fox has a much more balanced viewership than the other channels. If Fox were so rabidly conservative, why are so many self-described liberals watching it? One might guess that maybe that label is applied by those other channels which are so far left that moderate liberals would rather watch Fox than their channels. Which somewhat invalidates their claim. It's the far far left labeling anything that isn't in lockstep with them as "conservative".


Of course, that's one interpretation. There are others I suppose.