# Is Fox news for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 19, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933 "2011-04-19T05:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/141 "2011-05-13T13:21:58Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > A+ > > Honestly, though, the FCC letting media conglomerates operate the majority of media is just dismal. ☹ I agree, it’s just substituting one set of narrow self interests over another, since in a mature capitalist state the tendency is for wealthy oligarchies to develop, or in our case, a wealthy corporate oligarchy. Not sure what can be done about it, however. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/142 "2011-05-13T13:27:52Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Straight question - could someone provide a cite to back up the claim that UK news broadcasters require some kind of licence to “operate as news”? Just because I have never heard of such a thing. I realise that broadcasters based in the UK come under a certain amount of regulation from Ofcom (for commercial broadcasters) or the BBC Trust in the case of the BBC, but I was not aware of any particular licence for certain types of content, such as news. Are we saying that Channel Five, say, needs a “certified news broadcaster” licence in order to show its news programmes? If so, I can’t say I’m comfortable with the though of some regulator deciding what constitutes unbiased news. IIRC, and I’m pretty sure I do, the case in which Fox News was rejected was based in Canada, not the UK. Somebody said the claim that it had occurred was a fake, a lie, etc., but someone else came along with cites for it having occurred in Canada. So cites are in the thread already, for Canada. Don’t think there are any for the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/143 "2011-05-13T15:26:49Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > IIRC, and I’m pretty sure I do, the case in which Fox News was rejected was based in Canada, not the UK. Somebody said the claim that it had occurred was a fake, a lie, etc., but someone else came along with cites for it having occurred in Canada. So cites are in the thread already, for Canada. Don’t think there are any for the UK. Post #6 and certainly #19 on page 1 seem to be explicitly talking about UK regulations. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/144 "2011-05-13T17:30:06Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > A+ > > Honestly, though, the FCC letting media conglomerates operate the majority of media is just dismal. ☹ You know, you may be on to something. In some European countries there are laws which say you can’t own more than one newspaper in each city. I think it’s the same for broadcast news channels If I’m not mistaken, the regulation is also that major corporations can not own a news channel. Please correct me if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/145 "2011-06-06T23:21:17Z")
> [@FarmerChuck](#): > > uh so MSNBC shows like rachel madow… and when that idito olberman was on… and CNN has no bias at alll? yes.. No bias at all.. > also GLENN BECK NEVER CLAIMS TO BE A NEWS MAN. a news person would be shepard smith… oreily, hannity, beck, vansutren, stossel etc etc etc… are talking heads… they are not NEWS also GLENN is leaving fox b/c they wont let him say the crazy shit he wants 2.. and as far as his “crazy” stuff… him looking at past history.. then looking at what our country is doing now, and having economists on and backing his stuff up with fact how is that crazy.. back when gold was 600 he said it would get this high or higher… people said he was crazy… when the stock market was at 14000 and he said its gonna collapse people called him crazy… he was agian RIGHT… you cannont COMPARE becks show to BBC.. thats NEWS fox news should have a seperate channle called Fox “hot talk” or something.. as well as CNN and MSNBC should have… but they dont, and all of them say crazy shit that make peoples heads on the left and right pop… i listen to glenn yes… but when he says.. hey prepare b/c our system is unsistianable… 14 trillion in debt… borrowing .43 on every dollar… i tend to agree as most people would… that is glenns message, prepare b/c if it goes south our way of life could end…BUT HE ALWAYS FOLLOWS THAT WITH I HOPE IT NEVER HAPPENS … im so tired of people attacking him.. BOTH sides do it… so if we have a post about fox then we need to have one about MSNBC…glenn also calls out alot of BS on the republican side… and furthermore HE IDENTIFYS HIMSELF AS A LIBERTARIAN…and if you listen too him you will understand that he is not a card carrying republican… I can’t read that. Sorry. I come from a country where there is an honest-to-God state-_controlled_ TV and radio station. While the government is not supposed to use it as propaganda, the fact is that their news is biased in favor of whichever party is in government at the moment (at least it was when I last paid any attention almost 2 decades ago). It is not really overt propaganda, more like ignoring or glossing over uncomfortable issues. Nobody ever trust their news programming (other than that their programming is the same wholesome, educational programming you expect from an official channel, which means nobody ever watches it either). Anyway, coming from a country where the government does control a TV channel and a radio station allows me to say unequivocally that what Fox does is well beyond your run of the mill biased party-friendly news. No way it is near anything I have seen anywhere else (I have never been to China or the Soviet Union though, but I have read Cuban “News”, and even them seem to be a little less overt). Frankly, the people on Fox News seem a bit unstable to me. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933/146 "2011-06-07T00:03:43Z")
> [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > You know, you may be on to something. In some European countries there are laws which say you can’t own more than one newspaper in each city. I think it’s the same for broadcast news channels If I’m not mistaken, the regulation is also that major corporations can not own a news channel. > Please correct me if I’m wrong. In the U.S. or Europe? Not sure, but it’s my understanding that the FCC has eased up on media conglomerates and mergers. I don’t know if this has been posted on SD or not, but I feel like [this is appropriate](http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110606/ts_yblog_thecutline/fox-news-swaps-palin-photo-with-tina-fey-as-sarahs-supporters-try-to-rewrite-paul-revere-history) for the thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-for-real/578933.md?page=7)