In Defense of Fox
By Erick Posted in 2008 — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Let's be direct on this. The left had the media for the longest time and largely still does. The left controls the New York Times, which is the official organ for the rest of the media to begin building their message. And that message is always left. Routinely, partisan Democrats get jobs in the media as objective reporters. And now MSNBC has gone one step further to give us an official mouthpiece for the left.
Humorously, the media cites Fox News as the right-wing alternative. Yet, as any person on the right notes, it's not that Fox is right-wing. They just actually give both sides of the issue and don't slam doors when journalists with conservative pedigrees come calling for jobs.
But, the full out assault on Fox has started. Critics on the left are using every opportunity to paint Fox as both a mouthpiece for the right and, even funnier, for Rudy Giuliani -- you know, that ultra-conservative hate monger.
Consider these points:
Read on . . .
1. Critics charge that Giuliani’s intervention to get the local Time-Warner to carry Fox News is evidence of his ties to Fox/Ailes.
· BUT: contemporaneous NYTimes reports noted that Fran Reiter, the Deputy Mayor for Economic Planning and Development, “said the city felt obliged to act because the News Corporation recently agreed to maintain its United States headquarters and base its news channel in New York, which would generate 1,475 new jobs.” It was a standard, mayoral attempt to lobby for more jobs for the city.
2. Critics charge that “Giuliani officiated at Ailes' wedding”.
· BUT: Mayor’s of New York Officiate hundreds, even thousands, of weddings. (Tony Randall, a NYFD Firefighter, etc) Mayor Bloomberg is doing it, too. It’s very common for Mayor’s to do this for socialites and other public figures.
3. MSNBC has been trying to push this story on-air.
· BUT: It’s not hard to guess why: “Officials at MSNBC emphasize that they never set out to create a liberal version of Fox News. “It happened naturally,” Phil Griffin, a senior vice president of NBC News who is the executive in charge of MSNBC, said Friday…“
4. Judith Regan and media outlets (ABC) are alleging that Giuliani and Ailes constitute some sort of “Conservative Cabal”.
· BUT: If Fox and Roger Ailes are so “far right” and “conservative”, why would they push the most liberal Republican candidate? Rudy Giuliani is a liberal Republican. Are critics now claiming that Fox News is working against conservatives?
· BUT: The NYTimes attacks the Giuliani/Ailes relationship, but Times Watch points out that they almost totally ignored the similar relationship between ABC Executive Producer Rick Kaplan and President Clinton.
5. Critics charge Fox News with putting Giuliani on Fox News too much.
· BUT: as Tigerhawk points out, the NYTimes evidence does not back up their charge, and Giuliani’s time is mostly attributable to his appearances on Hannity and Colmes…a show which handles its own booking. Despite that, the NYTimes own graphic about the disparity showed Giuliani getting only slightly more time on Fox than some competitors, and less than some Democrats get on MSNBC and CNN. Yet, there were no complaints about the channels who gave Democrats more face time than Fox gave a Republican.
· BUT: this graphic of GOP Presidential candidate appearances on Fox News speaks for itself.
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In Defense of Fox 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
He completely caved in. Do you think if a Republican had complained about coverage that he would have tossed softballs like that? The democrats are not friends of free speech at all. I remember listening in real itme when Congressman Gene Green was on the radio here in Houston literally threatening a radio station on the air over their not covering issues as he approved. Fox is the nail sticking up - it is not a left or right thing, it is about democrat control of media.
in that graphic?
You have a pesky typo above, Eric. The plural is "Mayors," not "Mayor's."
And let me take this opportunity to commend the new spellchecker that has appeared within these comments. I don't know if you have done it or if it's an upgrade to Safari.
The "Third Worst Person in the World" and aiming higher.
According to TVNewser and the Hotline, Rudy is the fifth most frequent guest on Fox:
• Tom Tancredo (candidacy declared April 2, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 36.
• Mike Huckabee (candidacy declared Jan. 28, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 33.
• Sen. John McCain (candidacy declared April 25, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 24.
• Mitt Romney (candidacy declared Feb. 13, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 24.
• Rudolph Giuliani (statement of candidacy with the FEC, February 5, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 20.
• Fred Thompson (candidacy declared Sept. 5, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 14.
• Ron Paul (candidacy declared March 12, 2007). Appearances on FNC year to date: 12.
Sources: National Journal's Hotline; Factiva transcripts; Nexis transcripts; CQ Politics; FNC guest archive
honestly think Fox is fair and balanced? I don't watch TV news because it IS biased and vacuous, but I seem to recall that as of May (last time I watched) Fox tries to be right-wing. They don't hide their bias behind PC platitudes, but the spin is more obvious than CNN's.
All far leftist bias, all the time.
What more do you guys want? :>)