In the journalism game it is often pointed out that bias in reporting is as evident in slanted content as it is in the editorial decisions as to what gets in the paper or on the air. In other words, if you watch Bill O’Reilly interview uber-rightist media critic Bernie Goldberg, you can probably recognize the bias in that coverage. But you won’t witness the inverse bias of lefty media critic Jeff Cohen because O’Reilly won’t invite him in for an interview. The bias that O’Reilly is engaging in is his decision to filter out people like Cohen altogether.
Of course, it is much easier to observe bias when reading or watching a story than it is by having to figure out what has been kept from you. Especially because you often don’t know what you don’t know.
Fox News is adept at the discretionary editorial approach to bias. That’s why they regularly feature folks like Goldberg or Karl Rove or Ann Coulter, but rarely if ever give time to Michael Moore or Paul Krugman. And it isn’t restricted to personalities. Fox News serves as a veritable publicity machine for the Tea Party movement. However, a recent immigration reform rally in Washington that far exceeded the attendance of many Tea Parties was virtually ignored by Fox. Even in stories they deem worthy of coverage, they exercise a selective process for what their viewers are exposed to.
For instance, last February brought record low temperatures and snow storms to much of the east coast, including the Fox studios in New York. Everyone on the network took that as evidence that Global Warming was a hoax that couldn’t possibly be defended by anyone who had gone out of doors. How could climate change science be accurate if it was snowing outside during winter, they wondered on show after show? Of course, climate and temperature are two different things, but that played no part in their analysis. It was simply about the weather at the time.
So why have their been no reports on Fox in the past week that corroborate climate change science considering that the temperature in New York has just hit record highs? Obviously, if it is hot outside, and it isn’t even summer yet, the planet must be dangerously heating up. The reason you won’t see that story is because Fox News only jumps to conclusions that conform to their prejudices.
In another example, Fox News went to great lengths to criticize President Obama’s economic record when he had only been in office less than two months. They dubbed the market decline from inauguration day on January 20, through February “Obama’s Bear Market.”
In the following month of March the market gained over 1,300 points in a record setting advance, yet Fox News found an appropriately derogatory label: Obama’s Bear Market Rally. And now, after a year that saw a 36% rise in the market, Fox News isn’t even reporting on it all. Well, Neil Cavuto did do a commentary on how he was wrong about the administration’s policies, noting that the economy was performing quite well. He itemized actual market metrics that validated the improving environment. But he ended it with a smirk and a nod to the date: April Fools Day. And even though the data he presented was accurate, he turned the whole thing into a joke and scoffed at the notion that he would never say such positive things about this administration. There was no further discussion of the past year’s rapid market ascent.
That, my friends, is selective editing at its worst. If the facts of a story are contrary to your partisan prejudices, just refrain from reporting the story in way, shape, or form. Plus, no one can accuse you of inserting biases into a report that you never made. It’s a win/win for unethical media douche bags.
ohhhhh, so they are just like all the other networks……… just biased the other way…….. funny how you keep ragging one network for its biased but leave all the others alone with their bias. That still amazes me. If someone were to read an article like this, with no other context, one would believe that Fox was the only biased news agancy…. but alas, they are not. They are just biased opposite of your political leanings so you label them evil, and the ones that agree politically with you as ‘good’. I guess maybe you get a warm feeling running up your leg every time you hear the name ‘obama’……typical liberal. The facts arn’t really important, its the political leanings that matter. Its not about bias, its ALL about being biased in the proper direction….
Jeez, you are really getting tedious. I want you know that I appreciate how you changed your tone after a few uncivil comments. I respect that. But now you are repeating the same mantra on every article I post. Let me lay it out for…
I AM A LIBERAL!
I agree that most of the media is biased – to the right. And I don’t bother myself with the few cases where there are left wing slants. I leave that to the conservative media critics, who are handling that just fine on their own. It’s called a free marketplace of ideas.
I wonder if you ever comment at NewsBusters about how they never point out conservative bias in the media. Do you go to Andrew Breitbart’s sites and complain that they are only talking about liberal bias? I suspect that if you did, you would get a virtual pummeling.
So do not be surprised that I focus on conservative bias. I believe that that is much more rampant and dangerous. And since this site is a reflection of my views, that’s how I will cover the matter. OK?
I would find it much more interesting if you chose to discuss the specifics of the points I raise.
but the ‘left’ doesn’t advocate violence……..this is a memo with a attempt at humor at the end… if a conservative had done this, it would be on the news 24/7.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn’t laughing about a teachers union’s memo that hints of his death.
The memo is the latest salvo in a war of words between Christie and the union over wage and benefits concessions.
The Record of Bergen County obtained the Bergen County Education Association memo that includes a closing prayer:
“Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer, Michael Jackson, and my favorite salesman, Billy Mays. I just wanted to let you know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor.”
i never realized that your version of tedium was not that you say the same thing over and over (fox is the devil…fox is the devil…fox is the devil) but when someone ELSE disagrees… thats when it becomes tedious ? thats funny. i see that its not tedious when people get on this site and agree with you, pat your back, and have another swig of liberal kool-aid, it only becomes tedious when someone from a different perspective tries to bring it all into context. (fox may be the devil, but msnbc -all news agencies- certainly ain’t no better)……..i will try to stay away from your fifedom and not challenge you any longer… let some others get their affirmation and you get some kudo’s—- give them some marching orders….
That is a disingenuous complaint and you know it. I do not repeat the same thing over and over. I report on different current events as they arise. But you can’t seem to respond on topic, so you just rehash your memorized theme: “So what? Everybody does it.”
OK. I get it. But what about the substance of what I wrote? If you want to leave, fine. You won’t be missed if all you intend to contribute is old talking points. If you want to discuss issues and disagree with points I’ve made, that’s fine too.
so what you are saying is that …. you go over current events to prove the same old point, is different than me using the same old talking points ? But you try to prove the same old point…. you arn’t relaying news per se, just proving the same old point. How is that different ? If you go to the ends of the world to point out every issues– but use it to arrive at the same point….thats different that just starting at the point you are trying to get to ?
Yes.
Geez. Frozen guy, what I read above, whether it was written by a democrat, a socialist, an independent or a republican is accompanied by REAL LIFE EXAMPLES. Mark cites where FOX is guilty of what he is describing, thus giving credence to his complaints.
You merely assert that all other news media outlets are guilty of the same crime. Using such anecdotal tactics does not make your argument equivalent. The mere assertion of facts is not the same as providing concrete examples. It has long been asserted that the general media is biased left, but I have seen no evidence that that bias reaches even a small percentage of the verified bias of FOX.
To say that CNN, for instance, employs a paranoid fear mongering leftist who accuses Republican leaders of being fascists you would need to show a great deal of evidence. I can show you a single show of Glen Beck on FOX as evidence that this is true of FOX News. Recently, Rupert Murdoch, when asked to name a single democrat on his network drew a blank. Do you seriously make the accusation that this would be true of any of the competing news networks in regards to republicans?
It is one thing to present data, it is quite another thing to parrot a popular meme that has no reality outside FOX news apologia. I have no problem with you coming here saying you don’t like Mark’s politics. But I resent you coming here and simply asserting your “sense” of reality.
This is what makes Colbert so brilliant. His portrayal of conservatives as being driven by their gut, rather than facts and reason (“Reality has a well known liberal bias”) is so funny because it is so true.
but if you only use the selectively chosen news to fit your perspective, you will only have facts that fit your agenda. It is just not accurate to use selective stories (fact check is not required: several posts ago i used chris matthews run for office as a democrat as an example which is fact, but denied twice by the blog author) to slant reviews a certain way… then the baisis of the argument is fulfilled before the research……. i thought it went the other way… do the research, then do the research……..
“They (News Corpse) can’t be bothered with accuracy when there are new smears to spin. Take for example the stock market. The corpsicles complain that back in March 2009 Fox “found an appropriately derogatory label†to describe an advance: “bear market rallyâ€. And they cite several [unsourced examples]* allegedly from people like Cavuto, Peter McKay, and that wild-eyed right-winger “Sheppard (sic) Smithâ€. Says the Corpse: this is just “Fox†joining in “with the crowd that is hoping for Obama to failâ€. That must have been a pretty big crowd, encompassing the market experts at CNBC and Bloomberg as well:”
* https://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=1230
***
J$P: Fox Haters Week in Review!
http://johnnydollar.us/files/100411fhwir.html
Man, is this spammer obtuse. His argument is that because some other people have used the term “bear market rally” that it negates the obsessive and repeated use of it by Fox News, as I documented.
so basically, you ARE what you say THEY (FOX) is….. use the news to portray the side you hope to present to your readers and viewers ? VBut they are ‘evil’, and you are ‘presenting current events to sustain your opinion or views’. Sounds amazingly the same to me…… they just have more viewers and better public relations. I really don’t see the difference. Almost ALL the examples you use, including guests, are on the ‘opinion’ shows (O’reiley, Hannity, Fox and Friends…) and this is an opinion piece……they use selective news, you use selective news…. they are opinion shows, you are an opinion blog…… please explain the difference other than ideology.
Once again, I’m not sure what you’re responding to. It apparently is not this article because I didn’t even mention Hannity or Fox and Friends.
However, there is a BIG difference between what I do and what Fox does. I have NEVER claimed to be either a journalist or balanced. This site has a point of view and is not trying to hide that. Fox News is the one whose own deliberately deceptive motto is “fair and balanced.”
Also, with regard to Fox’s opinion programming, Fox has admitted that the majority of their schedule is opinion, so how do they get away with calling themselves a news network? Especially considering that most of the opinion content bleeds into what they regard as their straight news shows anyway.
p.s. i dislike even conservative spammers………
I have started a new thing with people I know I email them and ask them not to watch fox news for one week ,they can watch any other news channel, it’s a whole differant world out there and after one week they can do as they choose please pass it on .thank you for your time
Interesting idea. But the people who will agree to do it are probably not the FoxPods who worship the network in the first place.
Still, it could help some folks get a more realistic view of the world.