The whiners at Fox are apoplectic over the craaaaazy notion that they might be a "biased" against progressives, but it's no big shocker. In a normal world, saying "Fox is biased toward Republicans" would be no more controversial than saying "Daily Kos is biased toward Democrats". Of course they're both biased. But just one of those media outlets has the integrity to be honest about it.

Witness this. Variety writes a story talking about Fox's bias problems and efforts to land two more CBC debates (yup, the issue isn't dead just yet). The story included this line, which was deleted in an update to the story:

Fox is working overtime to sponsor a debate between Democrats, seen as critical to maintaining its 'Fair and Balanced' mantra and credibly covering the 2008 election.

Why was it deleted? Because a Fox flack probably called threatening unless the line was pulled. But it's the truth. And why is it so important to Fox to pretend it's something it's obviously not? Because it's hurting its bottom line. From the Project for Excellence in Journalism's State of the News Media 2007 report, we find that Fox has been unable to translate its (now flagging ratings) into real ad dollars:

While the numbers are impressive -- particularly Fox News's financial milestones -- they do not come without questions. First, Fox News was expected to overtake CNN in profits in 2005 as well, but fell short, so the accuracy of projections remains a question. The second is more long-term. With all channels losing audience in 2006, has the cable industry as a whole -- beyond just news -- begun a downward curve? The number of cable households that are subscribers has barely increased in years, inching just 1% or so every year in the last five. With no new audience, advertisers aren't paying what they used to. Cable networks are no longer able to get the significantly higher rates they are accustomed to, and ended up with only a 2% gain in the 2006 advertising "upfront" period. In addition, the slowdown in advertising revenue and growth means each network or channel spends more on self-promotion to maintain its position.

Stoller mulls what that all means.

In all likelihood, Fox News has a less profitable and less influential demographic base than CNN, which is why their larger audience isn't translating to higher profits. Their partisan branding problem is probably something that's always made them nervous and something they've always papered over with an aggressive 'Fair and Balanced' branding campaign (Air America, which is overt about its ideology, has trouble with advertisers).

Witness this community's efforts targeting advertisers showing up on Ann Coulter's site. The last thing an advertiser wants is to be on the receiving end of negative publicity of that sort. So many of the biggest advertisers avoid any partisan site. Some who don't are careful to advertise on both sides of the "aisle", so to speak, to head off complaints that they're being partisan.

So if Fox News is strongly branded as a partisan media outlet it hurts its bottom line. So it's important for them to get Democrats and the CBC and their retinue of useful Democratic idiots to provide ideological cover. That's why the network is so adamant in protecting its "fair and balanced" fiction. It's why numerous Fox personalities have blown gaskets, calling us things like "Nazis" and "Stalinists" -- immediately giving us cheap "Goodwin's Law" victories. And it's apt, because they can't defend themselves on the merits.

These past few weeks have been a disaster for Fox. Their carefully cultivated "fair and balanced" branding efforts have taken a serious hit. The Democrats are pulling their cover, and the CBC is under intense pressure to do the same. News story after news story have reinforced the notion that Fox News is a partisan outlet, regardless of their protestations to the contrary.

Their bottom line is at stake, and a cornered animal is the most dangerous of all. So expect them to amp up the ridiculous rhetoric to even shriller heights. But fact is we're winning. And ultimately, what we demand is quite reasonable:

Fox News should be up front an honest about its biases. That's it.