# 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:** 74
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1461 "2017-05-26T19:21:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In fairness, the sheriff did charge him, and doesn’t have much say in what goes on after that. But for a first-offense misdemeanor assault he’s probably looking at probation at the absolute worst. IMO the lies told in the aftermath warrant a harsher sentence than a slap on the wrist. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1462 "2017-05-26T19:31:36Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > IMO the lies told in the aftermath warrant a harsher sentence than a slap on the wrist. Particularly if any of his changing stories conflict with what he told any investigating deputies in the immediate aftermath. Though in many jurisdictions, false reporting to law enforcement is also a misdemeanor. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1463 "2017-05-26T20:24:41Z")
> [@Salvor](#): > > Yes. > > Read the comments, the viewers and conservatives are worse. > > ps, Gianforte the slammer is going to win. I think it might have boosted his chances. I’ve been thinking about [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks) a lot lately. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was an American politician and Member of the US House of Representative from South Carolina, serving from 1853 until his resignation in July 1856 and again from August 1856 until his death. > > Brooks, a Democrat, was a fervent advocate of slavery and states’ rights. He is primarily remembered for his May 22, 1856 assault upon abolitionist and Republican Senator Charles Sumner; Brooks beat Sumner with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech in which Sumner verbally attacked Brooks’ second cousin, Senator Andrew Butler. Brooks’ action was applauded by many Southerners and abhorred in the North. An attempt to oust him from the House of Representatives failed, and he received only token punishment in his criminal trial. He resigned his seat in July 1856 to give his constituents the opportunity to ratify his conduct in a special election, which they did by electing him in August to fill the vacancy created by his resignation. He was reelected to a full term in November 1856 but died five weeks before the term began in March 1857. > > Sumner was seriously injured and unable to take his seat in the Senate for three years, though eventually he recovered and resumed his Senate career. > > Brooks’ act and the polarizing national reaction to it are frequently cited as a major factor in the rising tensions leading up to the American Civil War. I’ve heard, although I couldn’t confirm with a quick googling, that Brooks broke his cane in the attack on Sumner. IIRC, Brooks then received a large number of canes as gifts. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1464 "2017-05-26T23:21:32Z")
> [@](#): > > The sheriff is one of his campaign contributors. I don’t think we should cede Montana to the Reich Wing. seriously, is the civil war II already happening? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1465 "2017-05-27T04:21:31Z")
I was cruising cable and stopped at Fox long enough to see some talking head barely able to contain his absolute Glee that Greg Gianforte (R-Montana) had body slammed a journalist from The Gaurdian. I fully expect a journalist to either get pummeled or shot at an upcoming Republican political rally. ---
**Author:** ![Settimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Settimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Settimo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1466 "2017-05-27T21:58:57Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Tucker Carlson had a surprising take on this story. > It began with a sentence describing the assault and saying it was wrong, and then 40+ minutes of talking about how the “violent left” is way, way worse. There’s a name for this “they’re worse” principle-bashing. For any not familiar, it’s called [“whataboutism”](http://www.npr.org/2017/03/17/520435073/trump-embraces-one-of-russias-favorite-propaganda-tactics-whataboutism). It’s a favorite high-school-lunch-table propoganda technique, used extensively in Russia. Faux News uses it with great glee and abandon. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1467 "2017-05-27T23:52:29Z")
> [@Settimo](#): > > There’s a name for this “they’re worse” principle-bashing. For any not familiar, it’s called [“whataboutism”](http://www.npr.org/2017/03/17/520435073/trump-embraces-one-of-russias-favorite-propaganda-tactics-whataboutism). It’s a favorite high-school-lunch-table propoganda technique, used extensively in Russia. Faux News uses it with great glee and abandon. To Quoque > **[Tu quoque](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque)** > > Tu quoque (/tjuːˈkwoʊkwiː/; Latin for 'you also') is a discussion technique that intends to discredit the opponent's argument by attacking the opponent's own personal behavior and actions as being inconsistent with their argument, so that the opponent is hypocritical. This specious reasoning is a special type of ad hominem attack. The Oxford English Dictionary cites John Cooke's 1614 stage play The Cittie Gallant as the earliest known use of the term in the English language. > The (fallacious) tu ... ---
**Author:** ![Settimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Settimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Settimo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1468 "2017-05-28T03:08:14Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Tu Quoque ``` Ah, yes, that as well. A propaganda twofer. *Tu quoque* amounting to something like, "What Gianforte did was not morally wrong, because the other 'side' has committed similar acts of moral wrongness." I intuited the sense of that in the Fox flim-flamming, without having a nice Latin-sounding name for it. The upshot of course, our media tacitly encouraging a laxness in values/morals (here, with respect to violence). ``` ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1469 "2017-05-28T14:56:28Z")
I tuned in one evening last week out of curiosity. The Trump Russia breaking news cycle was in full swing, so of course Fox had been running non-stop coverage of the Seth Rich murder conspiracy. Then the man’s family shut it down, so I was like -what will they cover now? And they were talking about Trump Russia, but the flow was…This is a big win for Hillary…Hillary must be loving this…Hillary is in her hut in the woods, cackling her her heart out ( yes, that last one was real, I assume that “hut in the woods” and “cackling” are witch references) but in all fairness they didn’t talk about her pimpimg out Hansel and Gretel from the basement of her hut.). But I couldn’t quite figure out why they took that angle. I guess they were trying to rile up the base against the investigation without addressing the truth of the story – just… this is going on and Hillary likes it so we have to be against it,maybe? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1470 "2017-05-31T10:35:27Z")
[Fox News: New York Times boycotted Obama surveillance story. Fox News: Oops, maybe not.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/05/30/fox-news-new-york-times-boycotted-obama-surveillance-story-fox-news-oops-maybe-not/) Fox news reports incorrectly, corrects, then corrects again acknowledging that their original story was pretty much the opposite of what actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1471 "2017-05-31T14:22:14Z")
> [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > [Fox News: New York Times boycotted Obama surveillance story. Fox News: Oops, maybe not.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/05/30/fox-news-new-york-times-boycotted-obama-surveillance-story-fox-news-oops-maybe-not/) > > Fox news reports incorrectly, corrects, then corrects again acknowledging that their original story was pretty much the opposite of what actually happened. Egads! Faux News summary: “NYT didn’t even cover this jaw-dropping story!!!” “Correction: They wrote like 9 words about it on page A21. LAME!!!” “Correction: OK, they broke the story and carried on page A1. But, no one knew about it until now so they basically didn’t cover it. LAME!!!” ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1472 "2017-06-02T16:37:40Z")
I know Fox’s bias been pretty well established by now but hopefully, we can still find some amusement in it… Out of six news organizations RSS feeds, five of them are dominated by discussions of the U.S. pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. Fox, however, has chosen to lead with the breaking news “Wisconsin gets official state cheese”. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1473 "2017-06-02T17:17:02Z")
> [@RadioWave](#): > > I know Fox’s bias been pretty well established by now but hopefully, we can still find some amusement in it… Out of six news organizations RSS feeds, five of them are dominated by discussions of the U.S. pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. Fox, however, has chosen to lead with the breaking news “Wisconsin gets official state cheese”. Is Scott Walker allowed to hold two offices at once? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1474 "2017-06-02T22:55:19Z")
My in-laws visited for Memorial Day, and they would keep changing the station to Fox News, then I would change it back to MSNBC when they went out for something. It was always the same — MSNBC would be talking about stupid things that Trump, or a high official in his administration, actually said or did. Fox News would be talking about stupid things that some imaginary liberals secretly want to do, or else stupid things said by some nobody with no power and no fame in a man-on-the-street interview, as if he were the guy that all liberals take direction from. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1475 "2017-06-06T08:08:51Z")
This is from January but I just saw it. The Fox story: [Double Standard? Obama '09 Cabinet picks slid through; Trump’s face hold-up](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/09/double-standard-obama-09-cabinet-picks-slid-through-trumps-face-hold-up.html) The truth: [Obama Has Waited Longer For Cabinet Confirmations Than Any Other Recent President](https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/obama-has-waited-longer-for-cabinet-confirmations-than-any-other-recent-president/) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1476 "2017-06-08T17:54:20Z")
How [three networks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/comey-hearing-chyrons/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.10e30b3a6683) handled the Comey testimony. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1477 "2017-06-08T18:27:49Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > How [three networks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/comey-hearing-chyrons/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.10e30b3a6683) handled the Comey testimony. That is an awesome bit of reporting, one that might not have happened if not for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (and the data collection methods they devised, is what I’m talking about here). ---
**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:** [June 8, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1478 "2017-06-08T21:11:20Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > How [three networks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/comey-hearing-chyrons/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.10e30b3a6683) handled the Comey testimony. That’s awesome. The Washington Post, which I never really knew much of before Trump booted them from conferences, is my new favorite newspaper. That link has simple, true facts shown in a way that is undeniable in exposing another example of Faux’s bullshit “journalism”. (Scroll down the page for the timeline.) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1479 "2017-06-10T03:57:26Z")
This month in Fox’s infamous history… > **[Fox News Was Blasting Obama's Mustard Use 8 Years Ago](https://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-donald-trump-russia-investigation-dijon-mustard-scandal-fox-fake-623643)** > > How did we get here? > [@](#): > > Fox News was attacking Barack Obama for using Dijon Mustard at this point in his presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625/1480 "2017-06-10T04:25:59Z")
Did anyone review video recordings to see if our new prez bowed (or curtsied) to any foreign rulers on his last trip overseas? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=73) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fox-news-really-all-that-bad/636625.md?page=75)