Fox Leans Left
I am very surprised at the lurch to the left by Fox News. Once the election results came in, Fox seems to have begun trying to cover at least some of the news with much more of the same slant as the rest of the MSM.
Of particular note is the coverage of the war in Iraq and the preparations for elections. While there may be simply a new set of editorial standards, the range of articles now featured by Fox seems to reach squarely into the territory owned by the NYTimes. One recent article about a soldier refusing to return to combat carries the title "Soldier Won't Return to Iraq" and focuses on the concientious objector status claimed by the 10 year veteran. The article is very friendly to the anti-war objections raised by a former combat soldier.
Granted, Fox has had its share of balance in the past - but it has been fairly obvious (at least to its left-most leaning critics) that Fox has traditionally leaned toward support for the Iraqi war and toward support for more conservative issues. (This has been part of Murdoch's genius - attempting to fill a void left gaping by the rest of the MSM.) Fox seems to have recently adopted a new strategy, however.
With the election safely over, Fox has started selecting several articles a week that clearly step over into the typical NYTimes areas of interest that are critical of the U.S. war effort. These left-leaning articles rarely contain earth-shaking or important, breaking news, but rather contain more human interest coverage of individual or world opinion that paints the U.S. in an unfavorable light. There may have been an occasional pander to the left prior to the election - but rarely would Fox choose to run with articles with so much raw, individual opinion against the war effort. Well, those days appear to be gone now.
It would seem that Fox has started to believe that its credo "fair and balanced" means that an occasional below-the-belt cheap shot is essential. And here I thought that fair and balance had to do with analysis of facts. I fear that this pandering will never earn it the respect of the major networks (if that is what they are trying to achieve) - and it will only alienate its base.
There are better ways to show fairness and balance. Those ways usually begin with calling a spade a spade.
Of particular note is the coverage of the war in Iraq and the preparations for elections. While there may be simply a new set of editorial standards, the range of articles now featured by Fox seems to reach squarely into the territory owned by the NYTimes. One recent article about a soldier refusing to return to combat carries the title "Soldier Won't Return to Iraq" and focuses on the concientious objector status claimed by the 10 year veteran. The article is very friendly to the anti-war objections raised by a former combat soldier.
Granted, Fox has had its share of balance in the past - but it has been fairly obvious (at least to its left-most leaning critics) that Fox has traditionally leaned toward support for the Iraqi war and toward support for more conservative issues. (This has been part of Murdoch's genius - attempting to fill a void left gaping by the rest of the MSM.) Fox seems to have recently adopted a new strategy, however.
With the election safely over, Fox has started selecting several articles a week that clearly step over into the typical NYTimes areas of interest that are critical of the U.S. war effort. These left-leaning articles rarely contain earth-shaking or important, breaking news, but rather contain more human interest coverage of individual or world opinion that paints the U.S. in an unfavorable light. There may have been an occasional pander to the left prior to the election - but rarely would Fox choose to run with articles with so much raw, individual opinion against the war effort. Well, those days appear to be gone now.
It would seem that Fox has started to believe that its credo "fair and balanced" means that an occasional below-the-belt cheap shot is essential. And here I thought that fair and balance had to do with analysis of facts. I fear that this pandering will never earn it the respect of the major networks (if that is what they are trying to achieve) - and it will only alienate its base.
There are better ways to show fairness and balance. Those ways usually begin with calling a spade a spade.
posted by NorthShoreHI at 2:23 AM
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