# 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:** 45
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/881 "2015-03-06T16:46:12Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > There is that and as it was pointed before based on what it was found FOX harping on the Benghazi issue just showed an effort to keep a \*\*manufactured \*\*controversy for political purposes. Same goes for “pants on fire” lies about what climate scientists do, the intention is not to challenge beliefs, but to challenge reality and science. The kind of people that believes that that is fair and balanced does not know about the false balance fallacy. > > [Beware of false balance: Are the views of the scientific community accurately portrayed? - Understanding Science](http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/sciencetoolkit_04) At least with that, one could wave their hands and say this is a very important issue that the mainstream media is avoiding because they are liberal, and foxnews is the only unbiased news source with the balls to blow the lid off it. Note, I don’t agree with this, but it’s an easy argument to make. But, when you specifically ignore a newsworthy event like the jobs report, and only ignore it when it favors one particular political ideology. Not only ignore it, but if you do report it, report it as if it might be a bad thing (Their current lead business story headline is: “Stocks Slide on Heels of Better-than-Expect Jobs Report”). An event that happens like clockwork every month so you know it is coming and exactly when. An event that is almost certainly the most important news event of that day, particularly when the jobs picture has been so shaky for years. Then, you cease being a news organization altogether. There is absolutely no way to defend it, which is why none of our resident foxnews defenders have even tried to wave this one away. ---
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/882 "2015-03-06T17:22:56Z")
aldiboronti does have a point - I like truth and the reporting of facts - sometimes it’s good to get away from facts, and Fox News is a pretty good “no go zone” for factual reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/883 "2015-03-06T20:36:08Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Is Fox News that bad? It depends. > > If you are firmly of the opinion that the other news networks deliver the unvarnished facts, with no liberal bias whatsoever, even in the selection of stories, then yes, Fox News is that bad and serves no informative purpose. > > If however you concede that the other channels do have a liberal bias, to whatever extent, then Fox serves a vital purpose. It gives an alternative view of the world and surely even the most confirmed liberal may tire sometimes of having his own opinions and views constantly reflected back at him. It can be refreshing to have one’s beliefs challenged sometimes. That’s an interesting perspective, but it ignores a couple of contradictions. Fox News’s defenders will dismiss its inaccuracies by pointing out that CBS and NBC have inaccuracies too, and so Fox is no worse than others, but they’ll leave out the fact that Dan Rather and Brian Williams suffered consequences and no one at Fox ever does. (At their best, they’ll cite Rather and Williams as examples of liberal bias, and since no one at Fox News ever gets fired or suspended, that Fox must be a paragon of journalism.) And as to your view that Fox’s conservatism is a needed counterweight to a pervasive liberal bias, if that’s their reason for existing could they ever really call themselves “fair and balanced”? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/884 "2015-03-06T21:03:46Z")
Not only that, but underscoring the entire argument that **aldiboronti** makes is the presumption that there is “liberal bias” in all the other networks. This is absolute nonsense, though conservatives never tire of trying to prove it. The reality is that the “bias” of commercial networks is a bias in favor of their revenues and, by and large, of the dominant power structure. By that I mean that they will generally be biased toward sensationalized tripe that attracts audience share and hence advertising revenue, like the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass rather than news stories about things that matter, and will generally be supportive of corporate interests in domestic matters and US government interests in international matters. The exception is Fox News, which does all of those things, too, but first and foremost functions as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. That function, and that kind of flagrant disregard for facts in blind support of ideology, is stunningly unique in a major news organization and is reminiscent of _Pravda_ in the former Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/885 "2015-03-06T21:19:09Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Not only that, but underscoring the entire argument that **aldiboronti** makes is the presumption that there is “liberal bias” in all the other networks. This is absolute nonsense, though conservatives never tire of trying to prove it. I made no such assumption. If you perceive no liberal bias in some news channels, why then there is none to you and Fox is bad, for ‘nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so’. My own belief, for what it’s worth, is that there is no such animal as unbiased news reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/886 "2015-03-06T22:14:22Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > If however you concede that the other channels do have a liberal bias, to whatever extent, then Fox serves a vital purpose. It gives an alternative view of the world and surely even the most confirmed liberal may tire sometimes of having his own opinions and views constantly reflected back at him. It can be refreshing to have one’s beliefs challenged sometimes. I wonder how many Fox News viewers tune over to MSNBC to be so challenged. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/887 "2015-03-06T23:58:05Z")
We should just set up a bot to make one of these “it just balances the liberal bias of the other networks” every 100 posts or so. Or, people could read a few posts to find out that’s not what we’re talking about, before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/888 "2015-03-07T09:17:37Z")
I turn on Fox News while working out at the gym whenever I am in the mood for a good laugh! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/889 "2015-03-07T16:25:15Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > We should just set up a bot to make one of these “it just balances the liberal bias of the other networks” every 100 posts or so. > > Or, people could read a few posts to find out that’s not what we’re talking about, before posting. Alternatively, put up a bot that scans any new post for the words “balance” and “liberal bias” and retaliate with a boot to the head. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/890 "2015-03-07T17:08:45Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Alternatively, put up a bot that scans any new post for the words “balance” and “liberal bias” and retaliate with a boot to the head. Works for me! 🙂 One has to understand the point of view of the typical Fox News watcher. These people have it tough. They are constantly under assault by an unfair world in which all media outside the Murdoch realm are owned by liberals, public schools are controlled and staffed by liberals (hence the need for home schooling where creationism can be properly taught), colleges and universities are all infested with liberals and liberal thought, Wikipedia is overrun by liberals (hence Conservapedia), Congress is forced to get advice from godless liberal elitist cliques like the National Academies of Science (which believes in both global warming _ **and** _ evolution, for God’s sake), and the whole of Europe has been overrun by godless communists. So how do you convince Fox News watchers that the actual problem is that _ **reality** _ has a liberal bias? A good forceful boot to the head seems like a good start! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/891 "2015-03-07T17:39:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > One has to understand the point of view of the typical Fox News watcher. These people have it tough. They are constantly under assault by an unfair world in which all media outside the Murdoch realm are owned by liberals, public schools are controlled and staffed by liberals (hence the need for home schooling where creationism can be properly taught), colleges and universities are all infested with liberals and liberal thought, Wikipedia is overrun by liberals (hence Conservapedia), Congress is forced to get advice from godless liberal elitist cliques like the National Academies of Science (which believes in both global warming _ **and** _ evolution, for God’s sake), and the whole of Europe has been overrun by godless communists. And yet they completely, passionately, obsessively LOVE AMERICA! Given that they loath most Americans and a good portion of the things in America, I can’t figure out how that works. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/892 "2015-03-07T19:32:38Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > One has to understand the point of view of the typical Fox News watcher. These people have it tough. They are constantly under assault by an unfair world in which all media outside the Murdoch realm are owned by liberals, public schools are controlled and staffed by liberals (hence the need for home schooling where creationism can be properly taught), colleges and universities are all infested with liberals and liberal thought, Wikipedia is overrun by liberals (hence Conservapedia), Congress is forced to get advice from godless liberal elitist cliques like the National Academies of Science (which believes in both global warming _ **and** _ evolution, for God’s sake), and the whole of Europe has been overrun by godless communists. And all those liberals are constantly playing the victim card. It’s just not fair![sup]\*[/sup] > [@](#): > > So how do you convince Fox News watchers that the actual problem is that _ **reality** _ has a liberal bias? A good forceful boot to the head seems like a good start! 😃 They’d be lucky. Few novices experiece so much of Tae Kwon Leap so soon. - Do conservatives still say that about libeals? I may be a generation or two behind on my accusations. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/893 "2015-03-08T06:13:26Z")
[Fox News Officially Freaking Out About Google’s Plan To Rank Sites By ‘Accuracy’](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/03/07/fox-news-officially-freaking-out-about-googles-plan-to-rank-sites-by-accuracy-video/) Apparently, Google plans to ‘someday rank search engine results not by “popularity” but “accuracy.”’ > [@](#): > > In a recent edition of Fox News’ Happening Now, the conservative network hastily put together an out-and-out hit piece on Google. After briefly describing the research paper that the company recently published that expressed the possibility of weighing search result “rank” based around “trustworthy” information, rather than sheer popularity, the show suggests the new way of doing business could result in “censorship.” > > \ > > Fox asks regular guest Marc Morano how he feels about Google’s proposal. Morano is in a place to be uniquely concerned by the move because he is one of the country’s foremost shovelers of junk science about climate change. > > “Let the public decide what’s the truth,” Morano tells a Fox reporter. He’d like that because facts don’t often enter into his equations. > > \ > > Add to that the common belief that “mainstream” media/culture/science is firmly in the liberal camp, and it’s easy to see how some conservatives may worry that Google’s database of “facts” would be skewed against them. Unable to resist putting too fine a point on it, the Fox segment specifically cites the fact that websites that claim President Obama was born in Kenya would be sunk with this new system. Fox ‘News’ really is all that bad, and they know it. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/894 "2015-03-08T15:29:48Z")
excellent posts, Wolfpup, Hentor and Johnny LA! I’d put in a thumbs up smilie if we had one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/895 "2015-03-08T16:30:56Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Why do you guys keep making me defend Fox? It’s a thankless task! Thanks. 😉 > [@aldiboronti](#): > > Is Fox News that bad? It depends. > > If you are firmly of the opinion that the other news networks deliver the unvarnished facts, with no liberal bias whatsoever, even in the selection of stories, then yes, Fox News is that bad and serves no informative purpose. > > If however you concede that the other channels do have a liberal bias, to whatever extent, then Fox serves a vital purpose. It gives an alternative view of the world and surely even the most confirmed liberal may tire sometimes of having his own opinions and views constantly reflected back at him. It can be refreshing to have one’s beliefs challenged sometimes. It’s a job worth doing, which Fox does poorly. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/896 "2015-03-09T21:55:43Z")
> **[Poll: Fox News most trusted network](https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/fox-news-trusted-network-poll-115887)** > > CNN follows with 22 percent, with CBS News and NBC News at 10 percent. Fox News is the most trusted network. Split votes among the alternatives and all that, but sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/897 "2015-03-09T22:30:30Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Fox News is the most trusted network. Split votes among the alternatives and all that, but sheesh. Viewers of other networks are just viewers; Fox viewers are more slaveringly, fiercely loyal than a rescue dog that suddenly finds itself being fed medium-rare filet mignon every day. If a particular “news” network is going to tell these yokels that they are smart and beautiful and everything they believe is true, and their enemies are all dumbasses who know nothing, while all the other news outlets (commonly referred to as “the rest of the world”, or just simply, “reality”) have all been telling the yokels that _ **they** _ are the dumbasses, well … who you gonna love, baby? 😛 In a sense all the other networks are to a large degree interchangeable – they basically report news. Fox News is … different. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/898 "2015-03-24T02:16:49Z")
I was in a doctors office today and was treated to Fox News as I waited (as if I didn’t already feel bad enough). They did a story about a “drunken mob” attacking a synagogue in the UK. Who participated in this mob was never stated. But someone yelled “kill the Jews” and several people were arrested. They paired this story with one about the UK cracking down on Islamist extremists, specifically mentioning attacks on Jews. The inference couldn’t have been more obvious. My bullshit meter was naturally pinged by the “drunken” part of the mob. Drunken Muslim extremists? So I checked out the story when I got home. Turns out it was a bunch of drunk “thugs” who got in a fight with some guy outside the synagogue and tried to follow him when he ran inside. No Muslims anywhere. But I’m sure their audience believes it was just another terrorist attack. Outright lie? No. And it was easy to find the real story if you looked. But I doubt that fact checking ever crosses their viewers’ minds. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/899 "2015-04-03T13:48:12Z")
The jobs report came out today, and it was worse than expected. So, unlike months when the numbers are better than expected, [Foxnews.com](http://Foxnews.com) decided to report on it this month with the headline: “US creates just 126,000 jobs in March, big miss” ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/900 "2015-04-03T13:55:03Z")
I guess that wasn’t alliterative enough. They changed it to: “Big March Miss: U.S. Created Just 126,000 Jobs” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=44) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=46)