Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Bias at Fox News?

I know, your faith in the media has been shattered by the mere thought, right? I am aware that I pointed out an on-air slip of the tongue yesterday. But there's an actual admission of their bias in print. Scott Norvell, London bureau chief for Fox News:

Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind.

Fox News is, after all, a private channel and our presenters are quite open about where they stand on particular stories. That's our appeal. People watch us because they know what they are getting. The Beeb's institutionalized leftism would be easier to tolerate if the corporation was a little more honest about it.
I know what you're thinking - Michael, next you're going to tell me that the earth is round and the president is a liar. We know those things! Why don't you write about some actual news?! But come on, people! As this Slate article points out, they go out of their way - as far as suing the Wall Street Journal in one instance - to tell people that they're "fair and balanced." This might be meaningless insofar as the public's understanding of what they do. But symbolically, their admission of right-wing hackitude means the world to me.

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