Fox News, the Liberal Media, news in America.
MuddBudd
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So after the discussion came up in the Stewart vs Colbert thread, I wanted to continue this conversation about the state of the media, specifically the news media, in America today.
Key Players:
Bill O'Reilly - A conservative with heavily right-wing viewpoints. O'Reilly's television show, The O'Reilly Factor, is routinely the highest-rated show of the three major U.S. 24-hour cable news channels (CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC).
Here's a few clips from various sources, including Outfoxed (more on that later)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJo4erfBNTo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skBNgeL5jOk
http://www.outfoxed.org/oreillyattacks.php
Fox News - The Fox News Channel (FNC) is an United States-based cable and satellite news channel. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, and is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. As of January 2005, it is available to 85 million households in the U.S. and further to viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its New York City studios. Known for it's right wing stance and the catchphrase "Fair and Balanced"
Fox has been the target of heavy criticism that they are biased in their reporting, so much so that there has been a documentary produced with the intent to inform people of this. It is called OUTFOXED. They claim Fox News bullies guests, slants stories to support conservative views, and more.
Here are some clips of OUTFOXED, that highlight their problems with Fox News. As a liberal and Democrat, I personally recommend this documentary.
http://www.outfoxed.org/Clips.php
And here's President Clinton ripping them a new one.
Part 1
Part 2
Keith Olbermann - Basically the liberal counter to Bill O'reilly. He currently hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, an hour-long nightly newscast that reviews the top news stories of the day along with political commentary by Olbermann.
Some Clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qknkxPw9aDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KU02lsfH8
Jon Stewart and The Daily Show - Jon hosts TDS, of course, and generally has a more liberal take on issues, although the show will often criticize Democrats for being weak against the Republicans. Oddly, The Daily Show has become almost a news show in it's own right, at least to it's viewers. This is often attributed to the fact that not only has the show become more informative, but that more disturbingly, it also represents a trend in traditional media to be less informative, or at the very least more influenced by hype. This has led The Daily Show to increase greatly in popularity as they will hold peoples feet to the fire, as it were, when news outlets often don't.
Jon himself has criticized the media for this decline in integrity, most famously on Crossfire, which was cancelled shortly after his appearance.
Jon also talked with Bill O'reilly
Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report - Fomerly a correspondent on The Daily Show, Stephen was spun off into the Report (pronounced re-pour). Stephen plays the show as an ultra right-wing conservative with heavy, heavy satire. His character, which he rarely lapses from, is based on many conservative pundits, most notably Bill O'Reilly, whom Stephen calls 'Papa Bear'. Often, his portrayal is so strong that people don't realize he is playing a character.
Speaking of, Stephen talked to O'Reilly as well.
He also gave an amazing speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. (this may not be the whole video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s
Admittedly, I am on the left side of this argument, but I find it very unsettling that comedy programs are becoming the standard for media integrity. What happened to us? Is television news corrupted beyond repair? Is there anyone who can report on the news and politics today, dare I say it, with neutrality and fairness? How do we fix it?
Discuss.
Key Players:
Bill O'Reilly - A conservative with heavily right-wing viewpoints. O'Reilly's television show, The O'Reilly Factor, is routinely the highest-rated show of the three major U.S. 24-hour cable news channels (CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC).
Here's a few clips from various sources, including Outfoxed (more on that later)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJo4erfBNTo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skBNgeL5jOk
http://www.outfoxed.org/oreillyattacks.php
Fox News - The Fox News Channel (FNC) is an United States-based cable and satellite news channel. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, and is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. As of January 2005, it is available to 85 million households in the U.S. and further to viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its New York City studios. Known for it's right wing stance and the catchphrase "Fair and Balanced"
Fox has been the target of heavy criticism that they are biased in their reporting, so much so that there has been a documentary produced with the intent to inform people of this. It is called OUTFOXED. They claim Fox News bullies guests, slants stories to support conservative views, and more.
Here are some clips of OUTFOXED, that highlight their problems with Fox News. As a liberal and Democrat, I personally recommend this documentary.
http://www.outfoxed.org/Clips.php
And here's President Clinton ripping them a new one.
Part 1
Part 2
Keith Olbermann - Basically the liberal counter to Bill O'reilly. He currently hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, an hour-long nightly newscast that reviews the top news stories of the day along with political commentary by Olbermann.
Some Clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qknkxPw9aDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KU02lsfH8
Jon Stewart and The Daily Show - Jon hosts TDS, of course, and generally has a more liberal take on issues, although the show will often criticize Democrats for being weak against the Republicans. Oddly, The Daily Show has become almost a news show in it's own right, at least to it's viewers. This is often attributed to the fact that not only has the show become more informative, but that more disturbingly, it also represents a trend in traditional media to be less informative, or at the very least more influenced by hype. This has led The Daily Show to increase greatly in popularity as they will hold peoples feet to the fire, as it were, when news outlets often don't.
Jon himself has criticized the media for this decline in integrity, most famously on Crossfire, which was cancelled shortly after his appearance.
Jon also talked with Bill O'reilly
Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report - Fomerly a correspondent on The Daily Show, Stephen was spun off into the Report (pronounced re-pour). Stephen plays the show as an ultra right-wing conservative with heavy, heavy satire. His character, which he rarely lapses from, is based on many conservative pundits, most notably Bill O'Reilly, whom Stephen calls 'Papa Bear'. Often, his portrayal is so strong that people don't realize he is playing a character.
Speaking of, Stephen talked to O'Reilly as well.
He also gave an amazing speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. (this may not be the whole video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s
Admittedly, I am on the left side of this argument, but I find it very unsettling that comedy programs are becoming the standard for media integrity. What happened to us? Is television news corrupted beyond repair? Is there anyone who can report on the news and politics today, dare I say it, with neutrality and fairness? How do we fix it?
Discuss.
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
MuddBudd on
0
Posts
I for one agree 100%. It's sad to see O'Reilly at the top.
Wait, what?
I know this type of competition has been happening as long as there has been a free media (and even before that), but when news began to be consolidated and folded into corporations, the bottom line became profit rather than journalistic credibility.
That's my take on it, at least.
I will when I get home, thank god for TIVO.
I love that man.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
This is not to say that our news sources are perfect. They all have a slight slant, Global being the worst, and our print media is almost as bad as the stuff south of the border.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
And that definitely is a problem. To most people, O'Reilly or Olbermann are the news. There isn't a distinction between news analysis and actual news. I guess some (re: a lot of) people want to see the news through a lens that they like rather than get it raw.
Exactly.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
the example given there was global warming, where the overwhelming majority of scientists consider the matter settled some time ago but a few dissenters have been given equal weight as far as media consideration, in other words making some topics seem more controversial than they actually are by giving a respected platform to a minority opinion.
edit: my spelling
For commentary, my top sources are a) that same series of tubes, and b) Olbermann (who started off on the news side of the ledger, then something broke in his brain after Katrina and he drifted into punditry).
Mix with Daily Show, Colbert Report, Meet The Press, and assorted sprinklings of random CNN/MSNBC coverage. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Goes well with fish.
Well, except for News and Notes on some occassions. They had this (white) super intendent from some Texas school come in and talk about this young black girl that had been expelled from school and tried for attacking a teacher, and the girl may or may not have had an extensive history of disobedience prior to this event.
After he said his piece, Farai tore into him like he personally had done something abhorrent. As if her baseless attacks hadn't been enough, the guest they had on after him said, verbatim, "You could hear the red on his neck."
I prefer Tony Cox when he shows up.
--LeVar Burton
Yeah this policy is a real problem.
I actually find NPR almost always has a bias to it, but it's my favored news outlet apart from BBC World. Ironically I find normal BBC to be kind of terrible. Come to think of it CNN is better in Europe. Maybe I just need to always get my news from outside its country of origin.
--LeVar Burton
What parts of it are you listening to? I flick on the hourly news updates at work, and am almost always driving home on the hour. I find that to be pretty plain reporting.
On the other hand, they can tend to be conservative, especially with some of the commentaries on Marketplace. I had no idea that fiscal policy could be such an enthralling topic when I started listening years ago, but I'm very seriously concerned about the social security crisis.
Being leftward of Fox News does not make you "liberal". It makes you semisane.
Man, that band sucked.
--LeVar Burton
That's EXACTLY why I love Google News. I can usually find stories from several countries on there.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
I try to do that in my head. Some parts of me hope that most people that listen to NPR do as well. (Edit: I know it's not as common as I'd hope)
I have to say though, mad props to the Fresh Air.
Precisely.
I also saw Olbermann's attack on Rudy Giuliani about Rudy's indirect "vote for me or DIE" statement, and it was one of the finest examples of brass-balls journalism I've ever seen. We need more of that.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
I like him, but he's no Edward R Murrow.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Well, er.
Since Fox trademarked the phrase "Fair and Balanced", I don't think anyone on any other news medium is going to use it anytime soon.
I forgot that.
I have to watch Outfoxed again... but god it makes me so damn angry.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
But, I highly doubt we'll ever see something like that. I do agree that a scary amount of people are considering talking heads to be legitimate news. That stuff isn't necessarily bad, but the success of Mr. O and his ilk mean that it'll become more commonplace.
EDIT: Intentionally that is
kpop appreciation station i also like to tweet some
Any comedy indistinguishable from reality is insufficiently crude and sarcastic.
I call this the Andy Kaufman effect.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
I don't find it ironic at all that a vehicle for social/political satire is the most visible force pushing for higher standards. That is what satire at its best generally does.
I mean, we ALL KNOW it's a game, especially the nightly newscasts, which is where most people get their TV news. It's all about putting up whatever will get the most people to watch, so that they get the most viewers, so that they can charge the most for advertising during their program. They want us to think the world is going to shit so that we keep watching, just like we have to slow down and look when we see car accidents on the highway. And just when they've got your attention.... they CUT TO COMMERCIAL! WOOO!
It also bugs me how nobody seems to realize that the yee-haw, pro-America Fox News Channel is run by an old, rich, British guy. Ugh. It's all marketing.
XBL: QuazarX
I heard that it was once regarded as one of the least biased news outlets. A quick wiki found this list of awards:
Also interesting, was this little tidbit:
I might start looking into it.
Genius.
It's run as a customer service now - the public just labour under the misapprehension that they are the customer as opposed to the product. Newspapers sell audiences to advertisers.
I wish there were more conservatives I could say that about. Even when I violently disagreed with them I could always respect Buckley or Will for their unapologetic erudition and command of the Western canon, but the trend these days seems to be to cynically affect a sleazy, codeword-laden vernacular and denounce anyone who uses elevated diction as a pointy-headed intellectual/atheist/"media elitist".