The Sunday News shows have been dominated by rightys for over a decade. The idea that we have a left wing bias in the news is so outdated. The corps took care of that problem a long time ago.
I watch it when I’m feeling overly calm and want something to piss me off beyond belief.
But Glenn Beck is hilarious - I’ll miss that guy.
Yes.
In all seriousness. Yes.
No we do not. Why is it not enough for you to simply not watch Fox News or any other news program that you dislike? Why do you feel a need to force other people to do likewise or to comply with some centrally defined standard?
Why is it necessary for the quality of food and medicine to be centrally regulated? Why is it not enough for you to avoid foods and medications you think may be dangerous or whose qualities are fraudulently advertised? Let *caveat emptor *rule!
I may not necessarily think that a license should be required, but I do understand the concern. Fox is not a news show, it’s pure opinion and frankly propaganda.
If they would name themselves Fox Propaganda Channel, then fine, because that’s what they do. But they promote themselves as News which is not true.
You and I know it really isn’t news, but there are too many gullible people who don’t realize this. It would be for their protection, because frankly, if they believe the lies on Fox, they may vote accordingly which would probably end up hurting them. They don’t realize that Fox is a tool of big corporations and simply have no interest other than ensuring votes from the ignorant and misinformed through outright false information.
The sad thing is, they would likely have just as many viewers even if they were to rename themselves Fox Propaganda
Those are both things I favour abolishing. However you didn’t answer the question and by this reasoning everything could be put under state control. How about online discussion forums? When food and medication are centrally regulated, surely SDMB must be so too. And in any case news are not what it used to be. It’s much more fuzzy these days. What about blogs. Wikinews. Etc.
I’ve always had a particular dislike for the “gullible sheeple” argument. I don’t know about Fox because I haven’t watched it, and I have no pretensions of being morally or intellectually superior to the masses, and I certainly will not restrict anyone’s freedom for his own good. Because it is morally wrong and because it is a policy that can real quick come back and bite you in the ass. It already has.
And I’ve always had a particular dislike for “government control is bad; much better to let corporations control the populace”. Because, frankly, that’s what happens in reality. And at present in Western democracies the threat of corporations doing things detrimental to society for their own benefit is much higher than for politicians to do the same.
It’s easier to get the government to watch the corporations and for us to watch the government than for us to keep track of what the corporations are doing, given who controls the media. I don’t trust the government but I trust the private sector even less.
Do you feel that corporations control you? In what way do you feel that corporations control you with regard to media? I think the trend is the complete opposite. The Internet is undermining the control which states previously held over news and media with an iron fist. If somewhat exaggerated then it is still not for nothing that the revolutions in the Middle East are being called Facebook or Twitter revolutions. I think it is pretty funny that state in China has banned all crime, spy and romance shows for the coming months, building up to Communist Party’s 90th anniversary. Good luck with that. And good luck with corporations trying to do what states cannot.
You have never watched Fox News…
Perhaps you should make an effort to try catching a program or two before forming an opinion. Do you support Propaganda? It is effective on the gullible sheeple.
As for freedom, this is not a question of restricting anyone’s freedom. It’s about what should be rightfully defined as news. It is morally wrong to report outright lies and falsehood as fact. Gullible or not, some people will believe it is truth because those lies are presented as fact from what is perceived as a respectable news channel.
Foxnews reporting consists of lies, exaggerations, over-reactions to non-issues and outright patriotic propaganda which would make Joseph Göbbels proud. Complete lack of moral integrity.
I would not want to restrict Fox’s rights to broadcast, I just question if they should be allowed to call themselves a news channel. Because it is not.
Imagine if Fox were allowed to run whatever they like, as long as they included (and read out) disclaimers like:
“The following opinion piece has no supporting evidence and should be considered entertainment and not news.
The previous opinion piece on this subject included demonstrably false assertions. A full report on these errors can be found at www.fox.com/errors/blah”
And the corporations are running wild trying to control the Internet. Just look up the term “net neutrality.” It’s taken government regulation to keep the Internet free from corporate control. This is something we see over and over again. Why do you think the food laws you dislike got passed in the first place? It sure wasn’t because the average person had easy access to food that wouldn’t hurt them. You want to go backwards.
Of course none of the news media controls me. The fact that I am aware helps to make immune. But the fact that so many conservatives I run into believe the lies originally propagated by Fox News (often using their exact words) means that a significant portion of our population is being controlled.
We the People are our government. It is far better for the organization we have inherent control over to be in charge than for a random business owner. It’s not perfect: I’d love to live in your libertarian ideal, too. But pure libertarianism is as practical as communism.
The U.S.A. now has a dysfunctional government.
The dysfunctional government is caused in part by hugely stupid voters.
A major source of the stupidity is FoxNews propaganda.
I am not particularly an advocate of restricting free speech, but any pragmatist should understand that FoxNews propaganda is now a very real problem; we should look for some solution.
It is so preciously amusing how the strong supporters of FoxNews in these threads are people who’ve never watched it! 
That’s like defending restaurants that sell maggot-infested cow shit on the grounds that: “I’ve never eaten there, but they call it food and who am I to say my taste in food is better than the masses.”
Thanks for the laughs, Rune !
So, you got nothing. Check.
You left out all the right wing hate radio programming. Pretty much dominates the airwaves, with Rush in the lead, but plenty of wannabes and also rans along with him. In radio, it’s NPR on one side and right wing hate radio on the other. And … care to guess which side is biased as hell and lies a lot?
Much as I hate to find myself on Rune’s side here, the thought of a government agency charged with declaring what is a lie and what is truth, especially in the area of politics, gives me the shivering flibbertijibbets. Can you imagine what a fellow like Karl Rove would do if he had a tool like that?
I don’t disagree. Mainly I was trying to explain to Rune what Fox News was since he had never seen it.
I would have similar issues in that respect. Still have to question it though. I had already mentioned that licensing would probably not the way to go.
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…
There is no left wing analog to Fox. The other nets are not liberal. The liberal “MSM” is the sheerest right wing fantasy. Most of those things that righties think are “liberal,” are actually just facts.