# 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:** 54
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1061 "2016-07-04T12:11:05Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just watch FoxNews for awhile, and you’ll understand. 😉 > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It’s called listening. Just listen to CNN or NBC, or ABC, or NPR and just listen to the slant. They never say anything negative about Obama or Hillary while Bush when he was in office could do nothing right. > > They slam conservative groups like the tea party but what about their liberal counterparts? You hear the word “right wing” alot but what about “left wing”? > > Why is the word “progressive” always referring to liberal ideas? Who decides what is progressive? Oh yeah, the media. > > And ever watch Saturday Night Live or the Colbert Report? They may have a slight joke on democrats and especially Obama but they never draw blood. > > So just watch and listen. You’d have to be blind not to see bias in the media. Aha. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1062 "2016-07-04T12:12:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Three comments to that. > > 1. As already stated, the poster apparently hasn’t read the preceding thousand or so posts. > > 2. As already stated, mainstream media have never made any such ridiculous claims. > > 3. The above poster recently started a thread about how vaccines are linked to autism, since moved to the Pit where it belongs. Now I don’t know where he gets his information, but here’s a great example of why he might favor Fox News: > > [Fox Provides Platform For Discredited Doctor To Claim CDC Is Hiding Evidence That Vaccines Cause Autism](http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/04/21/fox-provides-platform-discredited-doctor-claim-cdc-hiding-evidence-vaccines-cause-autism/210015) > > Nothing like providing a little “balance”, eh? Since the mainstream media won’t typically cover the ravings of a disgraced, unethical proven fraud who’s been stripped of his medical credentials, leave it to Fox News to provide the necessary “balance”! A mind is like a parachute. It works much better when its open. You should try it before working to censor others. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1063 "2016-07-04T12:30:45Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > A mind is like a parachute. It works much better when its open. > > You should try it before working to censor others. Untrained amateurs with ill-maintained parachutes don’t live long. edited to add: And an improperly tethered parachute is called a “shroud”. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1064 "2016-07-04T12:40:24Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It’s called listening. Just listen to CNN or NBC, or ABC, or NPR and just listen to the slant. They never say anything negative about Obama or Hillary while Bush when he was in office could do nothing right. I am sorry, but you don’t know what the Hell you are talking about. I listen to NPR every day and there are stories daily that are critical of Obama and Hillary. And CNN? Are you kidding me? > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > They slam conservative groups like the tea party but what about their liberal counterparts? You hear the word “right wing” alot but what about “left wing”? I hear both right wing and left wing on these stations. What, precisely, are you listening to? > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Why is the word “progressive” always referring to liberal ideas? Who decides what is progressive? Oh yeah, the media. No, unlike FOX News, most other media outlets don’t define the meaning of words. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > And ever watch Saturday Night Live or the Colbert Report? They may have a slight joke on democrats and especially Obama but they never draw blood. To a conservative, any criticism of a conservative idea or action, however warranted, is below the belt. FOX News lies to support its agenda, it is egregious, it is demonstrable, and everyone knows it. For you to call that balance is sad and wrong, but as a FOX News listener, I suspect you don’t care much about the truth anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1065 "2016-07-04T12:43:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Untrained amateurs with ill-maintained parachutes don’t live long. > edited to add: And an improperly tethered parachute is called a “shroud”. Parachuting causes broken ankles. Therefore it is best not to use a chute. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1066 "2016-07-04T13:02:15Z")
> [@Johnwaynelsd25](#): > > Fox news is basically the ultra right wing Republican channel. It’s embarrassing to watch, but the news feed of fox preys on poorly educated, ultra religious old folks and misinformed, gun crazy pro war youth who just want their parents approval. And for the record, MSNBC is pretty bad on the other end of the spectrum. I am sorry, but I cannot let this bothsiderist nonsense go. Give me an example of MSNBC sanctioning lying as part of its business practices. Even in the Keith Olbermann days, MSNBC was no where near as biased on the liberal side as FOX is on the conservative. There is no coordination between MSNBC and the Democratic party as there is with FOX and the Republicans. You can’t even really say MSNBC leans left anymore so I don’t know where you’re getting that they are pretty bad on the other end of the spectrum. You lose whatever credibility you may have when you equate FOX News with any other news outlet. FOX is in a sphere all its own; nothing compares to it; nothing comes close. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1067 "2016-07-04T13:51:44Z")
There are no real leftists on TV news, the entire structure skews center to far right. This is a real man of the left, is he on mainstream TV, NO! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MEkuHy29rU) ---
**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:** [July 4, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1068 "2016-07-04T13:52:26Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Why is the word “progressive” always referring to liberal ideas? Who decides what is progressive? Oh yeah, the media. Well it can’t be applied to “let’s keep bashing the gays”, “let’s keep harassing trans folk”, “let’s keep having all the guns”, “let’s keep torturing people” or “let’s dial it back a notch on them workers’ rights”, can it ? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1069 "2016-07-04T17:29:44Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It’s called listening. Just listen to CNN or NBC, or ABC, or NPR and just listen to the slant. They never say anything negative about Obama or Hillary while Bush when he was in office could do nothing right. > > They slam conservative groups like the tea party but what about their liberal counterparts? You hear the word “right wing” alot but what about “left wing”? > > Why is the word “progressive” always referring to liberal ideas? Who decides what is progressive? Oh yeah, the media. > > And ever watch Saturday Night Live or the Colbert Report? They may have a slight joke on democrats and especially Obama but they never draw blood. > > So just watch and listen. You’d have to be blind not to see bias in the media. It would appear that I was correct that you have never actually paid attention to non-Fox news and get all your beliefs from Right wing radio shows or Right wing religious leaders. Provide evidence of your claims or recognize that you are making people laugh at you for displaying silly beliefs with no basis. On “liberal counterparts” to the Tea Party, [here is an analysis of news articles about Occupy Wall street](http://www.kon.org/urc/v11/fan.html): > [@](#): > > The media response to OWS can be organized into three groups. One group of journalists noticed the U.S mainstream media ignored and failed to report the event. Another argued OWS was not well organized with a clear message. Yet, the last group refuted that the protesters actually pursued “sustainability” and “consensus” rather than “victory” and “one-pointedness.” Here is a _Washington Post_ (not _Washington Times_) story on [criticism of Obama](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/10/07/in-panettas-critique-of-obama-five-fundamental-truths-about-presidential-leadership/). You whine that Colbert was not harsh enough on Obama. Quote the attacks on GWB from Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, or Coulter. You have a belief, unsupported by evidence. You are welcome to it, but we are welcome to point at it and laugh. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1070 "2016-07-04T17:35:21Z")
while I don’t like the way they cover Bill and Hillary Clinton and the sensationalism they take part in a lot, like the missing white girls. However, I don’t think they’re all bad; they’re the only one of the 3 cable news channels that doesn’t try to white wash Muslim terror jihad, and does show the other side of the story with regard to the overhyped campus rape “epidemic,” things like the Zimmerman trial, and a few other things. However, the only shows I watch on that channel semi-regularly is the Kelly File and O’Reilly. I cannot stand Hannity, nor is Greta even worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1071 "2016-07-04T17:38:11Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You whine that Colbert was not harsh enough on Obama. No-it’s even sillier than that. He’s claiming “The Colbert _Report_” _is_ not harsh enough on Obama. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1072 "2016-07-04T18:54:56Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Even in the Keith Olbermann days, MSNBC was no where near as biased on the liberal side as FOX is on the conservative. My semi-annual post on bias. Yes, MSNBC is as biased as Fox (to a first approximation, anyway). But there’s nothing wrong with that, because: - MSNBC freely admits that it is left-wing; it doesn’t claim to be “Fair and Balanced” — although IMO, it is at least fair. - The bias on MSNBC (disclaimer: I don’t watch 24 hours a day; I’m comparing the primetime MSNBC big guns, i.e. Matthews, Hayes, and Maddow, with the primetime Fox big guns, i.e. O’Reilly, Kelly, and Hannity) comes in the form of story selection and emphasis. Period. They devote a lot of time to Republican stupidity and obstructionism. If that’s all Fox did with Democrats, then I’d have no problem with it. But Fox goes way beyond story selection and emphasis. It does all of the following, which MSNBC does not: - it gives large chunks of time, and sometimes even actively promotes, complete bullshit, like Obama being a non-citizen, or Hillary either snoozing through Benghazi or telling the military to stand down, or climate change being a hoax. - When it’s not promoting complete bullshit, it creates bullshit by deliberately taking remarks out of context. For example, they spent months on “You didn’t build that,” without ever playing the sentence before it that made it clear that Obama was talking about the public infrastructure, not a private business. To this day, they are still claiming that Obama and HRC continued to talk about the anti-Muslim video for weeks after it was known that it wasn’t the main impetus for the Benghazi attack, without mentioning that they were not referring to Benghazi. So you have poor benighted Fox News viewers like [this guy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18800580&postcount=297), who is convinced that Obama and Hillary are obvious liars. - it spends an inordinate amount of time publicizing absolute nobodies, and portraying them as influential mainstream Democrats. Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, Ward Churchill, ACORN, the New Black Panthers, have all had hours and hours of coverage on Fox News as if they were spokesmen for the DNC, but in fact, they are pretty much unknown except to faithful Fox News viewers. Christ, Alinsky died in 1972. MSNBC typically goes after true Republican bigshots — governors, Congressmen, very influential spokesmen like Bill Kristol, etc. - MSNBC will play a clip, with context, of what some Republican said, and then attack what he said (and if it’s an obvious one-time flub, they’ll just laugh about it, instead of insisting that’s what he really meant). Fox News (and Limbaugh and other right wing talk shows) will play a clip without context, and then rather than attacking what someone said, will spend the next hour attacking what they think he secretly meant when he said it. One example that comes to mind is when Obama, a former law professor, talked about the Constitution being a “charter of negative liberties,” which [he explained in the same sentence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jr9mLB3yKs) as simply meaning that it says what government can’t do to you, rather than what it has to do for you. But Hannity, Beck (who had a Fox News show for several years) and others spent months explaining how he meant that the Constitution was a bad thing, and he wanted to get rid of it. - I may be wrong about this one, because I watch Fox News frequently but not every day, but I can’t remember them ever criticizing a Republican for something that wasn’t so bad that they had no choice. 15 years later, they seem to admit that invading Iraq was a mistake, but they still put most of the blame for the current mess on Obama for pulling out our troops, even though he was only complying with the agreement negotiated by GWB just before Obama took office. MSNBC, on the other hand, has had story after story about Democratic politicians who either broke the law, or did something stupid. They’ve devoted untold hours to Hillary’s email server fuckup. They devoted hours last week to how stupid it was for Bill Clinton to meet with Loretta Lynch. I honestly don’t see how anyone can equate Fox with MSNBC. MSNBC makes mistakes, but they are inadvertent, and it corrects them. Maddow often does it in the same show – some producer will tell her during a commercial break that she got something wrong, and she’ll correct it after the commercial. Fox News will persist in repeating allegations and bullshit that have been known to be false for months, or even years – like most of what they’re saying even now about Benghazi. I can’t believe that they don’t know they are lying. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1073 "2016-07-04T20:30:37Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It’s called listening. Just listen to CNN or NBC, or ABC, or NPR and just listen to the slant. They never say anything negative about Obama or Hillary . . . You’re wrong. NPR did stories on the email server scandal, and reported the critical report that condemned Clinton’s practices. They also covered the micro-scandal of Bill Clinton meeting Loretta Lynch, and had interviews with Republican Congressmen condemning it. You failed your listening roll. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1074 "2016-07-05T02:59:50Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Blatantly, indeed!! I think I know who one commenter means with “Malkim X” but who do they mean by “G. Sorous”? YKW, never mind. I think I can answer that. “G. Sorous” is the alias of a Kenyan rebel warrior believed to be the real father of Obama’s children, but who was forced to back off the claim when Hillary tried to have him killed. “Malkim X” is not actually a person, it’s a secret vaccine additive that makes people extremely stupid, which the drug companies are now adding to all vaccines. It’s the successor to Malkim IX that was somewhat of a failure and only caused people to go around wearing rubber chickens on their heads. Malkim X is far more effective, and its victims end up watching Fox News constantly, amassing guns in order to protect themselves from the government, and voting a straight Republican ticket at all times. The facts are all on Hillary’s email servers but are only being revealed on Fox News because of extreme liberal bias everywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1075 "2016-07-05T15:33:01Z")
Full acknowledgement of the following Fox News web headline: [ > [@](#): > > BREAKING NEWS: FBI director will not recommend criminal case against Hillary Clinton in email probe ]([http://www.foxnews.com/](http://www.foxnews.com/)) The negatives are there (which should be reported thoroughly), but I fully expected Fox to lead off with them. This is as of 11:30AM 7/5/2016. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1076 "2016-07-05T15:51:31Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Full acknowledgement of the following Fox News web headline: > > [URL=“[http://www.foxnews.com/](http://www.foxnews.com/)”] > The negatives are there (which should be reported thoroughly), but I fully expected Fox to lead off with them. This is as of 11:30AM 7/5/2016. Now it reads: “FBI won’t recommend charges for Clinton despite ‘extremely careless’ handling of sensitive emails” implying that the FBI is not charging even though they should be charging. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1077 "2016-07-05T15:58:29Z")
I was a volunteer during the Obama campaign of 2008. A bunch of us gathered election night to watch the returns. At one point, when it became obvious that Obama was winning, someone yells, “Put on Fox”. We did and were mightily amused by the anger/depression/and disbelief bordering on outright denial. What I saw that night should convince anyone that if an objective thought entered the headquarters of Fox News, that it would die of lonliness. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1078 "2016-07-05T15:58:48Z")
Just popped over to check and came here to post that update. Looks like someone got a chance to review the headline and sent the appropriate memo. (In before: _But isn’t that a factual headline?_) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1079 "2016-07-05T16:02:54Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Just popped over to check and came here to post that update. Looks like someone got a chance to review the headline and sent the appropriate memo. > > (In before: _But isn’t that a factual headline?_) I assume there is some sort of automatic headline generator for breaking news, and then Foxnews has to go in a few minutes later to manually edit it. I’ve noticed this over the past few years with the jobs numbers; all the news outlets, including Fox, will have nearly identically worded headlines, but within 30 minutes, Fox will either delete the headline altogether or change it to make it sound bad. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1080 "2016-07-05T18:36:36Z")
Fox is to the Republican party what Pravda was to the Communist party. And I think the “hot” anchorwomen thing is intentional because men are known to think less critically when listening to a beautiful woman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=53) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=55)