Liberals Step Up Political Assault Against Fox News

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 20, 2004 | JULIA ANGWIN

[TomGuy]

The Libs fear letting the marketplace determine the viewership.

When FoxNews was a struggling 3rd cable news channel, the Libs weren't concerned. Now that FoxNews has nearly 2 to 1 viewership over both CNN and MSNBC combined, the Libs get concerned.

The Libs tried the same with talk radio. Then they started Air America. It isn't flying very high. You can't force people to listen; the marketplace (listenership) determines which radio programs get listened to.

The Libs need to consider: Something is drawing increased viewership to FoxNews. The Libs need to find out what. CNN and MSNBC have been trying to revamp their programming for over a year. People still aren't watching.

Perhaps, just perhaps, most people don't want a listening or viewing diet of hate speech, overt lies, spins, parsing what is is.

[Luke21]

FAIR is a bunch of commies. Their twin clowns, Solomon and the other guy I forget, publish drivel in their column berating the press for not being liberal enough. They are probably financed by Tereza Heinz.

[snooker]

"What do they care? There are lots of liberal media outlets."

It is a real problem. If all the networks tell the same lie, then the lie is the truth. I one tells the truth and all the others lie, big problem. Simple rule of propaganda.

[ken5050]

You should see the FULL page ad they ran in today's NY Times..equating FOX with PRAVDA in the old USSR...amazing that the paper printed it..(NOT)

[familyofman]

"All of this just proves that the media is liberal. When they attack an even handed news outlet for being too conservative, they are admitting liberal bias."

I didn't see any 'liberal media' included in those complaining about Fox. Only a couple of liberal 'issue' groups.

No matter what, nobody has better car chases than FNC!!!

[Lancey Howard]

But this year, the study shows that the cable channels have eclipsed the nightly network news. And among cable channels, Fox News Channel wins the highest ratings.

Well, no wonder the scumbag Democrats are in a panic - - they can no longer lie with impunity.

[Lancey Howard]

Liberals want absolute control over the news. Watch out!!

Liberals HAD absolute control for decades, but now it is unraveling and they can't stand it.

[FrankR]

Actually, FOX news isn't all that Conservative most of the time. What is getting under the liberals' collective skin is the fact that FOX does not slant the news to the left...like all the other networks.

Most adults know what they believe, and aren't going to change anyway. Conservatives flock to FOX because they are so tired of listening to the spin doctors on the other news outlets. The media is 99% liberal, and now they want the other 1%.

I say, screw'em.

[Belisaurius]

Just think, if those dadgummed 'flying toaster' screensavers had never seen the light of day, there'd be no MoRon.org for us to worry about.

It's amazing that the profits from a third-rate PC fad financed so much trouble and BS.

[reformedliberal]

No, they aren't.

Starting w/*Bias* and ending w/the recently released Stanford/UC study on bias, our side has gotten the word out beyond the echo chamber of talk radio and FR on the lamestream media over the past couple of years.

First Uncle Walter admitted media is liberal, then all the media said, "Yeah, we're liberal, so what?"

It is not longer debatable: they are biased. So, now, they have to do the *Everyone does it* routine.

This is going nowhere. FTC can only act if there are substantial instances of consumers being harmed. I recall a quack being cited by FTC for false advertising with several hundred documented cases of harm and the quack simply renamed the product and was back in business quickly.

FTC is relatively toothless and they have said they have no authority.

FNC is run by a liberal who donated big to Gore and supported Kerry w/donations. The Party isn't going to go to the wall against Murdoch. In addition, FNC can nail CNN and MSNBC via their own memos and has publicly so stated. Outfoxed will only be shown on DVD to the faithful, as they used proprietary clips from video feeds that belong to FNC. The so-called employee *whistleblowers* are either not FNC employees or have personnel files that are damning.

This is about discrediting FNC in the eyes of the viewers. Since their conservative viewers are increasing and their liberal viewers decreasing, it adds up to free PR to the base for FNC....which isn't all that right-leaning, anyway.

[Adder]

"And MoveOn.org's legal complaints may not go far."

When has that ever mattered to leftist slimebags? Just make the charge...doesn't matter if its true or not.

We should all tell them to simply STFU.

[Badeye]

"But others say the campaign against Fox News may be misguided. After all, Fox News's top-rated program, "The O'Reilly Factor," only attracts about two million viewers on an average night. "

Only, huh?.....ROTFLMAO!

MSNBC averages about 330,000 viewers, and hides Chris Matthews in a time slot before or after O'Reilly's program because he gets creamed in the ratings.

CNN? Don't have the numbers at hand, but I recall Fox is basically getting double the numbers they do.

I find it amusing the only way the leftwing can disparage Fox's incredible rise is to compare them, selectively, to the mainstream Big Three - ABCCBSNBC - which provides free access without additional "equipment" like a cable hook up or satellite dish.

The best test of Fox New's impact? Canada, home of Socialism in the Western Hemisphere, is so frightened by Fox they won't allow their population to even SEE IT.

[shrinkermd]

As Meyer Lansky used to say, "Every knock is a boost." Ailes will make this a way to enhance viewership.

[gaspar]

MoveOn has opened a hornet's nest. Republicans who bother to quantify the presence of Democrats on the alphabet network news programs will find that their news in unfair and unbalanced when it comes to the presence of Republicans. The RNC should spend a few buck and do the research. It would be worth it.

[YaYa123]

I disagree, and I think the time has passed for the right to claim victimhood in the media game. We have the mainstream media gasping for breath. Newspapers aren't being read, network news isn't being watched, and skepticism of reporters and news organizations is at an all time high. We own talk radio. We are on the internet frontlines, holding our own, and FOXNews leaves the other cables in their dust.

Just think what grand survivors the right has been during the dark years! I loved hearing William F. Buckley describe how the left controlled political debate for decades, and how the right continued to gain prominence and win the national debate. That was done despite the left portraying the right as knuckle draggers.

Now isnt' the time to whine about unfair attacks from the left. We need to continue winning the war of words with truth. That's the most deadly weapon, and the left doesn't have it in their arsenal...we do.

[dasein64]

The RATS apparently believe that bringing FOX down will elevate their biased networks. If so they are wrong. They will not get back the public that has become accustomed to FOX news coverage and programming. FOX fans will no longer settle for liberal biased and slanted programming. If the public had to pay to see the socialist RAT biased alphabet networks, they would soon go out of business or become real competitors for FOX.

[combat_boots]

Who paid for this ad?

[.cnI redruM]

I think sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

http://orsa.blogspot.com/2004/07/time-to-sue-for-big-bucks.html

[Politics4Fun]

I think that a lot of this comes back to fear...fear of Fox News' domination of the ratings for the last several months. It's just sad that they will resort to this sort of behavior of going as far as making a documentary. Will these jealous, liberal organizations grow a spine and try acting like grown ups sometime??

[Jorge]

With FOX's huge increase in viewers over this period, there are still more liberals and independents watching FOX in 2004 than 2000, even though their percentage of the total has fallen.