# Why does anyone actually watch Fox News?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 22, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843 "2008-06-22T22:36:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/1 "2008-06-22T22:36:06Z")
Seeing fox news on the Television, with the loud mouthed anchors, blatant political slant, and hyperactive captions moving on the screen, why does anybody actually watch it?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/2 "2008-06-22T23:23:26Z")
The same reason racists go to racist websites, and Christians watch preachers ranting about sin, heaven and/or the End Times; in order to feed their own delusions.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/3 "2008-06-22T23:29:44Z")
It used to be where CNN was the default newscast in places of public accommodation; airport terminals, business hotel continental breakfast areas, and so on. I encounter Fox News in the same context now, but usually in small towns and more “Confederate” venues like truck stop restaurants.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/4 "2008-06-22T23:38:13Z")
They need to hear the constant, comforting reiteration of their own viewpoints without the interference of nuance, fairness, honesty or balance. They also like the shows where a righteous, conservative crusader screams and yells at some lily-livered liberal. It’s the same reason they listen to right wing radio, really. They have a very low tolerance for other opinions. It’s the same compressed, tribalistic, intellectually fearful condition which causes them to be xenophobic, homophobic, Christo-centric, etc. Basically, it’s all just mental weakness and anti-social isolationism.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/5 "2008-06-22T23:49:52Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#):
>
> They also like the shows where a righteous, conservative crusader screams and yells at some lily-livered liberal. It’s the same reason they listen to right wing radio, really. They have a very low tolerance for other opinions.
All the bluster, fearmongering, and confrontation also serves, in an odd way, to comfort the target viewer by reinforcing his conviction that it’s a jungle out there, and that only the strong survive. The target viewer, having by definition survived (at least enough to watch and pay for cable TV), is thus confirmed as a strong, fit, tough individual.
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### Author:  [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/6 "2008-06-23T00:01:15Z")
At first it was because a lot of people didn’t know they were liars. I think up until Olbermann started, no one in the mainstream press was calling them on their BS.
It was just The Daily Show, a couple of radio shows, and that’s about all I can recall.
Some of the stuff that they say doesn’t seem obviously false unless you know they have a history of lies. People aren’t used to fact checking “news” shows on just about every story.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/7 "2008-06-23T00:17:19Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/8 "2008-06-23T00:22:19Z")
Sky News in the UK seems to be trying to emulate the format of Fox. They now have a “For Queen & Country” tag when they have bits about Iraqistan.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/9 "2008-06-23T00:30:22Z")
Once you discount all the liberal paranoia and Nazi propaganda, you can get news stories and slants on news that you don’t get from CNN or MSNBC. The only way to get a “true” balance is to watch/read them all. I read FOXNews online because they cover things CNN doesn’t, and vice versa.
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### Author:  [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/10 "2008-06-23T00:58:07Z")
The simple answer is that they perceive FOX to have less bias than other news.
The better question is, why are so many afraid of FOX? The answer, of course, is that they fear and hate any viewpoint counter to their myopic own, and fail to see the bias in their own “trusted” news sources.
You know, since we’re making things up and all…
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/11 "2008-06-23T01:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
The simple answer is that they perceive FOX to have less bias than other news.
The better question is, why are so many afraid of FOX? The answer, of course, is that they fear and hate any viewpoint counter to their myopic own, and fail to see the bias in their own “trusted” news sources.
You know, since we’re making things up and all…
[/QUOTE]
Since this isn’t the pit, I’ll just say this must be a whoosh.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/12 "2008-06-23T01:05:24Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
The simple answer is that they perceive FOX to have less bias than other news.
[/quote]
Which, of course, is a completely false and uninformed perception.
> [@](#):
>
> The better question is, why are so many afraid of FOX?
Who’s afraid of it? I monitor it rather frequently. I seek out right wing media far more often than left wing. I don’t need to hear my own opinion repeated back to me, I’m more interested in what the other side is saying.
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### Author:  [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/13 "2008-06-23T01:07:41Z")
I watch Fox News when there is a sensationalized story that I am interested in. I can count on Fox not to cut to the Israelis and Palestinians or something when some celebrity has just been found dead or there is a good car chase going.
That and the girl I took to my Senior Prom is a correspondent and I will never stop getting a kick out of seeing her in Baghdad or Moscow.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/14 "2008-06-23T01:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
The better question is, why are so many afraid of FOX? The answer, of course, is that they fear and hate any viewpoint counter to their myopic own, and fail to see the bias in their own “trusted” news sources.
[/QUOTE]
Ah yes, we don’t like it so therefore we must _ **FEAR** _ it! Booga-booga-booga!
I’m completely open to a variety of viewpoints. Unfortunately, Fox doesn’t represent a “variety”; it is wholly predictable in the stance it takes on just about every news story.
That people watch them doesn’t bother me. That people will watch that news exclusively and believe every word and position it takes–no matter how ridiculously extreme or pandering or false it might be–so uncritically and without reservation _should_ probably scare me. But it just depresses me instead.
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### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/15 "2008-06-23T01:23:27Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
The simple answer is that they perceive FOX to have less bias than other news.
The better question is, why are so many afraid of FOX? The answer, of course, is that they fear and hate any viewpoint counter to their myopic own, and fail to see the bias in their own “trusted” news sources.
You know, since we’re making things up and all…
[/QUOTE]
I honestly believe you think this way. So, YouTubeducation!
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL--ms)
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/16 "2008-06-23T01:29:53Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
The simple answer is that they perceive FOX to have less bias than other news.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with this. Everybody I know who watches Fox (it’s not an acronym, dear, by the way) watches it primarily because they believe it’s the only news show free of liberal lies. For Fox viewers, the news is not a medium for information, but rather a form of entertainment whose appeal stems from confirming and elaborating upon what they already believe to be true. It’s OK if Fox bends the truth now and then because it’s for America, it’s only entertainment, and they have to counteract CNN, who wants the terrorists to win.
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### Author:  [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/17 "2008-06-23T01:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Which, of course, is a completely false and uninformed perception.
[/quote]
Do you dispute that it’s the reason? I dispute your claim that other news sources are UNbiased, but that’s the not the issue under debate here. The question is, Why does anyone actually watch Fox News? I guarantee the reason I gave is a more valid reason than most of the others here, including, but not limited to:
[QUOTE=Diongenes the Cynic]
They also like the shows where a righteous, conservative crusader screams and yells at some lily-livered liberal.
[/quote]
> [@Der Trihs](#):
>
> The same reason racists go to racist websites, and Christians watch preachers ranting about sin, heaven and/or the End Times; in order to feed their own delusions.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Who’s afraid of it? I monitor it rather frequently. I seek out right wing media far more often than left wing. I don’t need to hear my own opinion repeated back to me, I’m more interested in what the other side is saying.
[/QUOTE]
The key to unlocking my phrasing is, of course, the final line of my post. It’s OK, **ArchiveGuy** didn’t get it either.
Looking again at the OP, I have to ask the same question about Keith Olbermann. Loud-mouthed anchor? Check. Blatant political slant? Check. Hyperactive captions? Check. Olbermann watchers must be weak-minded delusional racists, then. Or something.
As a side note, I’m real curious why, since you admit to watching right-wing media more often than left wing, and gave reasons, why you didn’t list **those** reasons instead of being insulting?
**ZebraShaSha** , what did that have to do with the question about why people watch Fox News?
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/18 "2008-06-23T01:45:08Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
Looking again at the OP, I have to ask the same question about Keith Olbermann. Loud-mouthed anchor? Check. Blatant political slant? Check. Hyperactive captions? Check. Olbermann watchers must be weak-minded delusional racists, then. Or something.
[/quote]
Does every show on MSNBC spout the same party line? Do you hear the same exact talking points regurgitated by Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews and (RIP) Tim Russert? Not a chance.
You may not agree with K.O., but there are other commentators, other opinions, other perspectives on the same channel that demonstrate that while those news channels may not be Unbiased (a straw man of your creation; nobody claimed they were in this thread), they aren’t pure arms of propaganda for one singular viewpoint the way Fox quite consistently demonstrates itself to be.
And I “got” your last line, but preferred to give you the benefit of the doubt that you were honestly responding to the debate and not simply being disingenuous for pointless “effect”. Obviously, my mistake.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/19 "2008-06-23T01:46:27Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
Do you dispute that it’s the reason? I dispute your claim that other news sources are UNbiased
[/quote]
I never made such a claim. I merely observed that the perception that FNC is _less_ biased is laughable. Fox is considerably _more_ biased than any other American News organization.
> [@](#):
>
> but that’s the not the issue under debate here. The question is, Why does anyone actually watch Fox News? I guarantee the reason I gave is a more valid reason than most of the others here
Yes, the false and uninformed perception that everything but Fox is part of an evil, secularist, liberal conspiracy is part of the reason its loyalists watch it, but that perception itself is born of weak-minded fear, bigotry, xenophobia, and the personal feelings of inadequacy that arise from intellectual deficiency.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-actually-watch-fox-news/453843/20 "2008-06-23T01:48:57Z")
Sometimes Olberman goes over the top into Fox style demagoguery, but at least he doesn’t misrepresent objective facts the way Fox routinely does.
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