Advertisements

In a softy of an interview today Fox News host Neil Cavuto sat down with his boss News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. Cavuto asked his boss about allegations that Fox News isn’t fair and balanced. Murdoch said people love us because we are fair and balanced. My question is why do you love or hate Fox News.

Here is the video from Think Progress:

Advertisements

Cavuto asked Murdock about fair and balanced, and the boss maintained his favorite lie, “If we weren’t fair and balanced, we wouldn’t have the number one network in news — by a very wide margin. People believe we’re fair and balanced, and they love us.” However, if FNC is so fair and balanced why are all of their hosts sympathetic to the Republican cause? Fox News does not feature a single liberal host. This doesn’t seem either fair or balanced.

It has been proven over and over again that FNC is the mouthpiece of the GOP, and in my mind there is nothing wrong with that. MSNBC is the home of the Democrats and there is nothing wrong with that either.

I contend that FNC’s dominance of the ratings is not an indication of their balance, but it is a reflection of their business model. While CNN and MSNBC split non conservative viewership, Fox News has the market cornered on conservative news and commentary. It is a brilliant business model.

I think Murdoch loves the fair and balanced claim because it drives the people who hate FNC crazy. Personally, I don’t love or hate Fox News or MSNBC.

Because I am a liberal, MSNBC suits my tastes, but I satisfy my jones for a newscast with BBC America or PBS. In my opinion, both FNC and MSNBC are entertainment networks that talk about politics. I am capable of getting just as tired of Olbermann’s bluster as I am of O’Reilly’s.

One of the things I have noticed since I started writing about cable news and politics is that viewers tend to project and extrapolate their beliefs about the state of our country based on which cable news network is doing well in the ratings. The cable news networks play a huge role in American politics, and people do feel strongly about them, so my question is why do love or hate Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN?