# Is Fox News really all that bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 3, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625 "2012-10-03T21:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 112
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2222 "2018-12-27T03:48:35Z")
Rachel’s fucking great. She’s smart, she is trustworthy, and she will often put current events in context with historical events that I’ve not heard of work made the connection with. Hers is the only new show on my DVR. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2223 "2018-12-27T04:34:22Z")
Well perhaps I’ve simply been unlucky. Every time I watched she’s rambling around something not particularly consequential, pausing for dramatic effect many times and in a smug style…unwatchable. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2224 "2018-12-27T04:37:10Z")
She’s very much in love with her own wit. I can see why **elucidator** is such a big fan. Well, that and the neck. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2225 "2018-12-27T10:23:49Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > Rachel’s fucking great. She’s smart, she is trustworthy, and she will often put current events in context with historical events that I’ve not heard of work made the connection with. Hers is the only new show on my DVR. Yes, I almost a Rachel Maddow fan. My biggest complaint is that she repeats everything 4 or 5 times. :smack: Playing her at 1.75x speed makes her much less tedious and much more exciting! ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2227 "2018-12-27T10:37:22Z")
Spam reported (Rihankhan) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2228 "2018-12-27T12:54:42Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Yes, I almost a Rachel Maddow fan. This was “I am also a Rachel Maddow fan” before my weird typing aphasia worked its will. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2229 "2018-12-27T16:17:53Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Well perhaps I’ve simply been unlucky. > Every time I watched she’s rambling around something not particularly consequential, pausing for dramatic effect many times and in a smug style…unwatchable. YMMV No, that sounds about right. She usually has about 3-4 minutes worth of actual useful content, and the rest is a dramatic lead up to it. > [@septimus](#): > > Yes, I almost a Rachel Maddow fan. > > My biggest complaint is that she repeats everything 4 or 5 times. :smack: Playing her at 1.75x speed makes her much less tedious and much more exciting! > [@septimus](#): > > This was “I am also a Rachel Maddow fan” before my weird typing aphasia worked its will. Hmmm, I was about to agree. 🙂 I liked Rachel when she followed Olbermann, and I still sometimes will watch her on youtube if there is something interesting going on, but I really can’t stand to watch her more than a few minutes a week. How do you get 1.75x speed? Youtube only lets me do 1.5x. Yeah, I’m also almost a Rachel Maddow fan. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2230 "2018-12-28T15:06:07Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > How do you get 1.75x speed? Youtube only lets me do 1.5x. > > Yeah, I’m also almost a Rachel Maddow fan. Youtube where I live, whether using Chrome or Firefox, gives me speeds of 0.25, 0.5, .75, Normal, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2. They retain pitch — 2x does not raise voices up an octave. Is it an HTML vs HTML5 issue or some such?? I’ve no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2231 "2018-12-31T22:30:31Z")
I’m not sure where else to put this juicy little tidbit…apologies if it’s been posted elsewhere. [Laura Ingraham’s Radio Show Cancelled Due To Advertiser Boycott](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/30/1822575/-Laura-Ingraham-s-Radio-Show-Cancelled-Due-To-Advertiser-Boycott) Granted, this is just her syndicated radio show, and she’ll still be showing up on Faux regularly. But, still, it’s positive news. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2232 "2019-01-02T13:21:02Z")
I spent the holidays with the in-laws, who are avid FoxNews junkies including the radio channel, and thus got a lot of exposure to their stream-of-sewage offerings. Quite of lot of the radio chatter followed the same format: 1. Lie about something someone did or said 2. Build a fake narrative that extrapolates from that lie 3. Postulate sinister motives derived from the fake narrative. 4. Profit! To do this full justice I’d need a transcript, but one thing they were claiming was that Comey’s pre-election announcement was that Hillary had committed felonies; they then used this to demonstrate that the FBI must be corrupt since Hillary was never indicted. They’re also still going on about the Lynch/Clinton tarmac meeting, by the way. There was also a story about Vogue “criticizing the Trumps’ Christmas cards”, which became a story about how this proves that liberals are hating on Trump just because and not for any legitimate reasons, which became a discussion about how liberals hate Christmas and want to make it miserable for everyone (that’s a close paraphrase, by the way). At no point in the story did they say what exactly Vogue had said or what it was about the Christmas cards that Vogue had found objectionable. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2233 "2019-01-02T15:48:42Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > I’m not sure where else to put this juicy little tidbit…apologies if it’s been posted elsewhere. > > [Laura Ingraham’s Radio Show Cancelled Due To Advertiser Boycott](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/30/1822575/-Laura-Ingraham-s-Radio-Show-Cancelled-Due-To-Advertiser-Boycott) > > Granted, this is just her syndicated radio show, and she’ll still be showing up on Faux regularly. But, still, it’s positive news. On the theme of misleading half truths on Fox, that headline would fit right in. She is ending the show, she says because it was too much to do it and the Fox TV show every day. I don’t know the actual truth, but that story quotes no independent information, nor could I find any elsewhere, that the radio show was ‘cancelled’ or that it was due to ‘advertiser boycott’ (mainly aimed at her TV show, which has had reduced advertising minutes, though higher viewership, since the boycott). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2234 "2019-01-02T18:21:58Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > On the theme of misleading half truths on Fox, that headline would fit right in. She is ending the show, she says because it was too much to do it and the Fox TV show every day. I don’t know the actual truth, but that story quotes no independent information, nor could I find any elsewhere, that the radio show was ‘cancelled’ or that it was due to ‘advertiser boycott’ (mainly aimed at her TV show, which has had reduced advertising minutes, though higher viewership, since the boycott). I suppose that whenever a celebrity suddenly disappears from the public eye that it is “exhaustion” too, right? The fact is that as recently as a couple months ago, [Politico was pointing out](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/16/ingraham-fox-news-advertising-902466), “the sustained loss of advertising minutes and big, nationally recognized brands” was hurting the show even as ratings were “surging.” So it is documented that the show is doing well in the ratings but has had a problem with both the quantity and quality of sponsors and that this has been ongoing for some time past the usual cycle for these kinds of boycotts. Throw in the fact that she would like to save face (how good will her next venture go if she publicly concedes that her downward mobility was due to an effective boycott?) and view it all with Occam’s Razor and it’s pretty clear that the boycott had the desired effect. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2235 "2019-01-02T18:36:09Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > 1. I suppose that whenever a celebrity suddenly disappears from the public eye that it is “exhaustion” too, right? > > 2 .The fact is that as recently as a couple months ago, [Politico was pointing out](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/16/ingraham-fox-news-advertising-902466), “the sustained loss of advertising minutes and big, nationally recognized brands” was hurting the show even as ratings were “surging.” > > So it is documented that the show is doing well in the ratings but has had a problem with both the quantity and quality of sponsors and that this has been ongoing for some time past the usual cycle for these kinds of boycotts. > > 1. Throw in the fact that she would like to save face (how good will her next venture go if she publicly concedes that her downward mobility was due to an effective boycott?) and view it all with Occam’s Razor and it’s pretty clear that the boycott had the desired effect. 1. Like I said, I don’t personally know in this case (or any other) what the actual reason(s) are. I do know this thread is criticizing Fox for promoting politicized, speculative half truths (which they do do), but DailyKos is doing just that with that headline. They provide no factual reporting to back up their claim her _radio_ show was ‘cancelled’. 2. All of that applies to her TV show, not the radio show which isn’t a Fox product. 3. Consumers of news can use ‘Occam’s Razor’ (along with their biases) to put any spin they want on factual reporting. But the DK story specifically says the radio show was cancelled as if a report of a known fact, but provides no actual facts to that effect. ‘Both sides’ don’t necessarily ‘do it’ equally, but that link is an example of a leftish outlet doing it: spun half truth, at best. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2236 "2019-01-02T18:45:47Z")
This I have been expecting for a year or so. FOX will lose more and more viewers just by the fact that the actual news is always elsewhere. I’m a cable news surfer. When you do that you get the gist of how interesting, and how sticky each networks programming is. You always go to the station that has what you need to know and don’t. It’s very simple. Fox has gone coocoo and can’t play that game anymore. The only thing you can find out factually from them by watching is what the “Fox spin” is and how they are distracting that day. This is not enough to keep their base informed, if their base needs to know what’s happening in the real world of the justice system. The fox base is watching CNN and MSNBC to get their news, and watching fox for religion basically. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2237 "2019-01-02T19:02:04Z")
To be fair, there was some news about a Nobel Committee Chair writing about Obama’s Peace Prize. BBC gave the story a headline that suggested the committee regretted awarding the prize to him, while other sites used words like “mistake” or “failure” in their headlines. I searched for the story on Fox and found they [posted the wire copy straight](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obamas-peace-prize-didnt-have-desired-effect-former-nobel-official-says) under an undistorted headline that was more in line with the actual content. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2238 "2019-01-02T19:17:26Z")
I’m not seeing evidence that Laura’s show was cancelled, especially since she called it quits 2 months ago: > **[Laura Ingraham ending radio show, moving to podcast](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/laura-ingraham-ending-radio-show-moving-to-podcast)** > > Fox News host and conservative commentator Laura Ingraham announced Wednesday she was ending her long-running syndicated radio show and will launch a new podcast. To be honest, it sounds like both a lifestyle change and a “move with the market” change. 15 hours of regular-grind radio, or the same for a podcast which can be recorded any time. And, of course, nothing says you can’t broadcast your podcast. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2239 "2019-01-02T21:32:34Z")
1-CNN brought several celebrities on to make joke New Year’s resolutions. One of them was Jane Curtin, who said that her resolution was to “make sure the Republican Party dies." So Fox News, in particular Steve Doocey, is claiming that it was no a joke, and he’s afraid that Jane Curtin is going to start shooting Republicans. [‘Fox & Friends’ Guest ‘Terrified’ by Jane Curtin’s Joke New Year’s Resolution](https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-friends-guest-terrified-by-jane-curtins-joke-new-years-resolution)? 2-Fox & Friends guest says people on food stamps don’t feel shame enough for taking them, and they spend all of their time watching porn, anyway. [https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2019/01/02/Fox---Friends-guest-Food-stamp-recipients-are-watching-porn-and-watching-TV-instead-of-wor/222390](https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2019/01/02/Fox---Friends-guest-Food-stamp-recipients-are-watching-porn-and-watching-TV-instead-of-wor/222390)? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2240 "2019-01-04T05:31:09Z")
And still they keep [this guy](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tucker-carlson-women-making-more-than-men-causes-higher-substance-abuse-incarceration/) on the air, _Study after study has shown that when men make less than women, women generally don’t want to marry them. Maybe they should want to marry them, but they don’t. Over big populations, this causes a drop in marriage, a spike in out-of-wedlock births and all the familiar disasters that inevitably follow. More drug and alcohol abuse, higher incarceration rates, fewer families formed in the next generation._ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2241 "2019-01-04T17:28:11Z")
Sitting Florida congressman Matt Gaetz is hosting a show on Fox News today for some reason: [https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/01/04/florida-congressman-matt-gaetz-is-hosting-a-show-on-fox-news-today-for-some-reason](https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/01/04/florida-congressman-matt-gaetz-is-hosting-a-show-on-fox-news-today-for-some-reason) ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/2242 "2019-01-12T01:53:14Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > Rachel’s fucking great. She’s smart, she is trustworthy, and she will often put current events in context with historical events that I’ve not heard of work made the connection with. Hers is the only new show on my DVR. She also, unlike every other show on MSNBC, doesn’t actually do stories on Trump himself. She’ll discuss him tangentially if the topic warrants, like say a story on Michael Cohen’s plea bargain, but she does not report on Trump directly. No discussions on stupid things he’s said or tweeted that day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=111) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=113)