From the earlier thread on annoying business practices, I found this comment about not wanting a business to show Fox News in a public area.
I don’t encounter TVs in a business’ public area as often as I used to. I imagine people that are waiting there for a short time are probably engaged in their smart phone or tablet. The last automobile dealership I was at had a tv running automotive related programming on one tv and there was a second one near the children’s play area that was on a cartoon channel.
My doctor office usually has a local Chicago station on during the morning news. During the day, it’s usually high blood pressure or other type medical programming.
Hotels I’ve been to recently will often have a tv in the front lobby if they’ve got some tables and chairs set up for morning coffee. It’s usually tuned to a local station for morning news or perhaps CNN. At night, it’s usually tuned to ESPN
I’d be furious if I went to a business and they were showing Fox News. Even if you believe the news programming is unbiased, the station does have a lot of commentary. The last thing I want to do is get drawn into a political discussion with a complete stranger. I really don’t want to discuss the affordable health care act or gun control , I don’t like making small talk about the weather but I’ll do it to be polite. I’d feel the same way about MSNBC, even though I often agree with their commentary.
Was this really worth a whole new thread? Your last paragraph couldn’t have gone into the other thread?
So you would be furious if a television in a business was airing Fox News? What about at Best Buy or Walmart where they sell TV’s? Furious is a very strong emotion over something rather silly isn’t it?
My dentist in his old office played Fox News for a while in the waiting room. After a bit they turned off the sound and went closed captioning. Very disgusting.
They also played “Christian” radio in the exam rooms. Really, really crappy music with occasional logic-free, fact-free commentary.
New office, new partner. ABC seems to play in the waiting room from what I’ve seen. TVs in the exam rooms, which I ask to be turned off. Somewhat better.
A lot of places seem to play HGTV as a “neutral” station.
I would prefer nothing. I bring a book, puzzle, whatever. Don’t need background crap.
Playing Fox News in a public area is extremely rude. It smacks of political indocrination, as if subjecting us to this propaganda is going to convert us to their side.
When I was a security guard, the client agency installed a TV in the lobby. I didn’t mind that much, since it was usually switched off, but once some guy from a nearby office came in, turned the set on, then went back into his office! And he couldn’t even see the TV from there!
My experience is that about 80-90% of the time I find a TV in a public area (waiting room, restaurant) it is tuned to Fox News. I’ve always wondered why. Does the business get some financial kickback from choosing certain channels? Is there a Fox News vigilante in my region who makes sure it is always on that channel?
There are 4 or 5 TVs at my gym by the cardio area. 2 of the 5 TVs are always on Fox News and it drives me bonkers (even if I liked Fox News, it’s not particularly something that I want to watch while I’m jogging on a treadmill…)
I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Tulsa OK once. The mgr had a bunch of TVs everywhere on FOX 24/7 in the common areas. He was even yelling stuff in support when I was the only one around.
I asked him to change it so I could eat breakfast, and he said he couldn’t. What a clown.
This would have been a great time to tell HI HQ about that. I doubt they’d like their managers getting political with/around guests, no matter their political stance.
Are all of you in conservative areas of the country? Fox News or right-wing talk radio plays in most business in my hometown, but this area is overwhelmingly conservative. I always figured it was simply appealing to the majority of their customer base.
Go to Eugene or Portland and I’m sure it’s a different situation.
That is exactly why I strongly dislike “NewsRadio” 106.3 WORD. Russ Cassell and Rush Limbaugh are the absolute worst I have ever listened to! The tone of their voices not only makes me think that Russ is as right-wing as Rush, but that both of them expect me to hang on every word they say. I always feel like they’re screaming at me.
I travel for work on occasion. I live in Atlanta and we travel over the Southeast. Hotels generally have FoxNews on in the mornings. If Fox News wasn’t bad enough - Fox & Friends is much much worse.
Once again, I’m an outlier. I see CNN on publicly displayed televisions waaaaay more than I see Fox. And I see both ESPN and kiddie cartoon channels substantially more often than I see Fox.
Most businesses I encounter try to provide innocuous, time killing entertainment. Owners generally want to keep waiting customers occupied, not to preach to them.
My dad tells me that it’s “the first news channel on the box” meaning that Time Warner has all of the news channels grouped together and Fox is first in line. That’s his excuse for why he constantly flips over to it - because he’ll start there and sample all of the news as he works his way up the channels.
This I’m sure varies in different parts of the country, but could it be as simple as corporate HQ knows that Fox News consistently gets better ratings, and figures that translates into what the majority of their customers want to see?
I dont think it’s necessarily some vast conspiracy.
That’s what I was thinking, too. Fox has substantially higher ratings than its rivals, so it’s not unreasonable to think most viewers prefer it. Though I guess one could argue that CNN should be picked for public viewing since it tends to be closer to the middle than either Fox or MSNBC. But all of the news networks are annoying and very repetitive.
Women doctors: Nature channel, HGTV. Men doctors: CNN, golf magazines with his home address label snipped off. Small business tire, sign etc. shops: Fox News.
I deal with a lot of small businessmen vendors and contractors. It’s a given they’re “am I right, right?” right-wing. As if nothing’s changed for that demographic since Babbit.
My guess is that FN viewers tend have a strong desire to watch Fox. In my unscientific observation at the gym, anytime someone changes they station, they change it to FN. My guess is that most people aren’t really too concerned about what is on TV, but FN viewers want to watch FN. When they leave their treadmill or whatever, the TV stays on FN and the rest of the people don’t really care enough to ask it to be changed to something else.
Also, the FN viewers at my gym don’t care to ask if anyone else minds if the channel is changed. They just go up and change it regardless of who else is around.
I work in a place (large medical practice) where Fox News is played over the public area TV sets frequently. I’m one of the clinic directors, and I change it to something more neutral from time to time - Food Network, A&E, I did ESPN while the Olympics and March Madness were on - but it gets turned back to Fox News pretty often. Because both of the people above me in the company hierarchy are quite conservative.
The waiting room in the cataract surgery area, which is basically full of old white people all day, just stays on Fox News and I don’t even bother trying to change it. They have so few comforts in their dotage; it seems an unkindness to take their fear and outrage away.