I do not think that there is an “international” version of Fox News as there is with CNN. We just get the straight US version . The only difference is that during the commercial breaks ( of which there seems a great many ) we get an international weather map . They used to show messages recieved from viewers during these breaks saying how good the station was ( fools! ) but that has now ceased.
No, that would be Al Jazeera.
First, they have a tendency to “invent” news and then try to make it stick. Rita Cosby and Sean Hannity are particularly prone to this. Just last week I saw:
Rita Cosby asking a field correspondent whether the guy who lobbed the hand grenades into the Officer’s tents was connected to a SCUD alert the same day. When the correspondent replied “it’s possible but very unlikely” she blew him off and asked her studio guest the same question. Had her studio guest not placated her with a weak assent she’d no doubt have pulled a Sean Hannity and repeated the question until somebody agreed with her just to shut her up. Watch Hannity and Colmes sometime if you can stand them and you’ll see the same thing:
Hannity: “Isn’t it true that the Democrats, particularly President Clinton, started World War I?”
Guest: “Actually the war was precipitated by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, an Austrian archduke who…”
Hannity: “Yes, but isn’t it true that the Democrats, particularly President Clinton, started World War I?”
Guest: No.
Hannity: “So you admit that the Democrats, led by President Clinton, started World War I.”
I also happened to be tuned in when they announced that a curiously camouflaged chemical factory was found in southern Iraq. The person being interviewed in the video clip at the top of the screen said “Frankly we don’t know what it is at this point; we’ve got people looking into it, but it would be premature to assume it has anything to do with WMDs quite yet” while the headline caption at the bottom of the screen blared HUGE CHEMICAL WEAPONS FACTORY FOUND IN IRAQ.
Fox News is pure tabloid, the motion-video equivalent of the National Enquirer. They repeat “fair and balanced” like a mantra in order to counter their reputation of fanatical right-wing bias, but they’ve never been overly concerned about accuracy.
Except that this was specifically a question about Fox News. A discussion about general political bias in channels is a valid discussion for another thread (seriously).
Did anyone else see the big blooper that Sheppard Smith made about Jennifer Lopez? He was doing a story about her and said “blowjob” on the air. I guess it was his fantasy coming through.
God, I love Fox News. Not because I enjoy watching it, but because it’s so deliciously seductive. Now THAT’S the way to be a hypocrite. Rather and Jennings are so staid as they attempt the role of serious, unbiased newsmen, but their leftist leanings leak out in technicolor–obvious to all because they try to hide it.
The right-wingers on Fox don’t care. I love that. I say wear your politics like trashy lipstick.
http://krockradio.com/content/local_file_312142641
I cringe just thinking about this; I cannot think of a more embarrassing thing I have ever seen.
Perhaps the most blatent was the Geraldo stunt in Afghanistan where he “created” a bullet just missing him (that members of his crew said did not exist). And another time where Geraldo claimed to be at the site of an action. when, in fact, he was miles away.
To be sure, he had excuses for both of these incidents, but most people in journalism feel that he plays fast and loose with the facts. Any other network would have fired him instead of giving him a featured position in prime time as Fox has.
A less obvious aspect is the tendency of Fox’s reporters using “loaded” words to embelish a story. On ABC or CBS or CNN, the “soldiers drove into the village of Varnasi at 3 p.m.” but on Fox the “As the sun scoarched the hell land that is Saddam’s Iraq, American heros bravely took their lives in their hands and plunged into the deathtrap that was Varnasi.”
Yes, it draws more viewers, but it isn’t always accurate. It’s like comparing a tabloid newspaper with a broadsheet. The trying to influence news in this way has come to be considered unetheical by most serious journalists and looked down upon by many in the business. But it does sell.
TV
Let’s not discuss the merits or demerits of Fox News (or any other channel) in this forum. The General Question here is what’s the most-watched news channel in the world.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Hey, Revtim, thanks! ROFLMAO!
Most of Fox’s “featured contributors” have a pedigree of disgrace or deceit. Not just Geraldo, who everyone recognizes as a joke, but Newt Gingrich and Oliver North, two men who were eyeball-deep in the most scandalous abuses of power in American history.
The network is so reactionary that even prominent Republican administration officials, who you’d think would be happy to appear on a network warmly receptive to conservative ideology, avoid Fox like the plague. Think about it: it’s not at all uncommon to see Colin Powell or Donald Rumsfeld or Condoleeza Rice being interviewed on CNN or MSNBC, but they wouldn’t be caught dead on Fox.
<oreilly>Am I wrong about this?</oreilly>
No problem.
I really feel for that poor guy. But not enough to stop sending people links to his embarrassment though, I guess…
Whoops, that got through before I heard the warning buzzer.
Thus,
Apparently so.
Do those ratings reflect international viewers, or just the US market? I imagine CNN have a greater share of the international market.
The OP didn’t ask about Jennings and Rather.
Blakeformayor, you asked about journalistic ethics. Although the wording may not be the same, a list would generally include the practices described at this website:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/index.asp?L1=40&L2=40&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0
I don’t watch Fox news, but from time to time my husband will have it on. A couple of days ago, I noticed a breech in these two expectations:
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Journalists should examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
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Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
The context in which I heard a departure from these ethics was a report from the Middle East in which a seemingly angry reporter was berating those involved in the peace movement. I can expect that in a talk show, but not in a newscast where the reporter should remain impartial in what he says.
The article quoted by KoalaBear also says:
So apparently CNN is claiming that they are still the most watched news station worldwide.
Duh. How did I miss that line? Apologies.