Fox Sux
Posted on | May 27, 2007
We know that viewers of Fox News tend to be among the least informed on current events—that’s a given. The Project for Excellence in Journalism suggests a correlation to fluff-versus-news ratios, says Media Bistro:
What’s more important: Iraq or Anna Nicole Smith? Depends on which network you’re watching.
According to PEJ’s first quarter News Coverage Index, “MSNBC and CNN were much more consumed with the war in Iraq than was Fox.” (See the chart to the right.)
In daytime, FNC devoted 6 percent of its time to Iraq, and 17 percent of its time to Anna Nicole. For CNN, the mix was 20 percent Iraq, 5 percent Anna; for MSNBC, the mix was 18 percent Iraq, 10 percent Anna.
“Fox also stood out for its lack of coverage on the firings of the U.S. attorneys, compared with the other channels. The story, which gained real momentum in mid March, consumed a mere 2% of Fox’s total airtime. CNN devoted twice that percent (4%) and MSNBC four times (8%),” the report says…
Fox might be comfortingly lightweight in its alleged journalistic endeavors, but at most it should be only a part of a balanced diet of news coverage. In 2005, FNC chief Roger Ailes went on the attack:
The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism study found that in covering the Iraq war last year, 73% of Fox stories included opinion from anchors and reporters, compared with 29% on MSNBC and just 2% on CNN. But Ailes dismissed Pew as a “liberal lobbying organization.” He said, “Most polls today are not taken to provide information to the public but to get press for the organization taking the polls. I took a poll of Pew, and 98% of my organization found that they were biased.” The crowd of 300 roared.
…Project director Tom Rosenstiel said the study “was not a poll. It was a content analysis designed by a four-university research team and executed at the University of Alabama”…
Ailes said Fox News has no agenda.
Other than keeping us ignorant and obedient, that is.
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