The Project for Excellence in Journalism just published the results of their study of news coverage for the second quarter of 2007. Continuing the trend from the first quarter, Fox News had far less coverage than its cable competitors. Proving that it simply doesn’t consider the war in Iraq a priority, Fox’s coverage trailed CNN and MSNBC by about half.
Percent of Newshole Devoted To Iraq War on Cable News
Apr. 1, ‘07 – Jun. 29, ‘07
| Network | % Iraq War News |
| CNN | 17.8 |
| MSNBC | 15.1 |
| Fox News | 7.9 |
Last quarter Bill O’Reilly responded to the relative neglect by Fox of what is indisputably the top story in the country by saying that…
“CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions.”
He further justified Fox’s deficient coverage by asking:
“Do you care if another bomb went off in Tikrit? Does it mean anything? No! It doesn’t mean anything.”
The callous disregard for human life exhibited by O’Reilly’s comments is more than evident and requires no response. But the fact that he employs such revolting language to defend his network’s journalistic malpractice reveals the lengths to which he and Fox will go to avoid providing their audience with a truthful account of events in the world.
By failing to properly cover the most important issues of the day, Fox is demonstrating why studies show that Fox viewers are so woefully ill-informed. They can’t decide – if Fox will not report.
