Posted on 09/03/2004 5:34:42 AM PDT by OESY
n an ordinary news day, CNN is like a sip of iced tea. Fox News is a gulp of Jolt Cola.
It is the favorite news source of conservative-minded viewers, but Fox's anti-liberal sensibility is not its only draw. Even on matters as uncontested as the weather, Fox News's heart ticks to a faster, louder beat; it is a network that presents the news with pizazz and a frisky tone. ("Back to you, guys" is how reporters in the field address the anchors in the studio.) And its top commentators express a righteous indignation - mostly at the mainstream media, Hollywood liberals and the Democratic Party - that envelops loyal viewers in a warm, cozy duvet of rage.
This has not been an angry week for the network, however. Fox News's ratings soared during the Republican National Convention; for the first time ever, more viewers watched the convention on Fox than on ABC, CBS or NBC. On Wednesday night, more people watched Zell Miller and Dick Cheney on Fox than on ABC and CBS combined.
And ever since Rudolph W. Giuliani's speech on Monday, Fox commentators have looked radiantly at home, like John McEnroe in the old days the first time he made it to the press skybox to give commentary at the United States Open. A smiling Shepard Smith began a question to Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts about whether he, Mr. Miller and Mr. Cheney had gone too far with their attacks on John Kerry this way: "And man, what an attack night it was!"
After President Bush spoke and the convention ended, CNN and MSNBC covered Mr. Kerry's midnight rebuttal speech live. Fox News stayed in Madison Square Garden.
The Fox sensibility is most obvious on the opinion shows. Neil Cavuto interviewed Pat Boone yesterday, and was interested in whether his support for the president and conservative causes had hurt his show business career. Mr. Boone replied that indeed it had. He said that it was "in" for Hollywood celebrities to go to prison, and complained that when Robert Mitchum got out after serving time in a marijuana case, "he was bigger than ever."
The difference between Fox and other cable networks was clearest at the beginning of the war in Iraq, where it was gung-ho from the start, then lashed out at other news organizations when the seemingly easy victory turned sour. Its choice of special correspondents, Geraldo Rivera and Oliver L. North, was also distinctive.
But for the most part, Fox reporters report by the book, and the convention coverage has not proved any different: Wendell Goler, a White House correspondent, reported yesterday morning about Mr. Bush's endorsement by New York firefighters on Wednesday, then noted that Mr. Kerry had won the support of their national organization.
Fox anchors and commentators have more license to speak their minds, but they do not all march in lockstep. On Tuesday night, after Laura Bush and her twin daughters took the podium, Mort Kondracke, executive editor of the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call and a Fox regular, said Jenna and Barbara Bush "came off frankly as ditzes.''
Certain topics, however, are irresistible, and none more than Mr. Kerry's war and antiwar activities. Wedged between anti-Kerry Swift boat ads (they run on all the cable shows, most of all on Fox), Fox News did a report yesterday about a mistake in his Navy records: the "combat V" designation, which can accompany the Bronze Star, was also typed after his Silver Star citation, a redundancy since the Silver Star is solely for valor.
The Kerry campaign dismissed the story as a "35-year-old clerical error." But recalling that a Navy admiral, Jeremy M. Boorda, committed suicide in 1996 after reporters learned that he had wrongly worn a V for valor, a Fox reporter, Major Garrett, cited a Boston Herald newspaper article in which Mr. Kerry had said it was "very wrong" for Admiral Boorda to have worn a ribbon he was not entitled to.
"Clearly," Mr. Garrett said in closing, the senator considers the issue "serious and legitimate."
Before the convention began, all the cable news stations reported on protests and police concerns about security.
A Fox news anchor, Laurie Dhue, did a report - based on an article in The New York Post, which like Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch - about members of the Weathermen, the 1970's revolutionary group. Ms. Dhue made it sound as if crazed anarchists were about to overrun the city. "And the paper says they're in the Big Apple," she said. "Plotting to disrupt next week's events."
On Wednesday, the Fox talk show host Sean Hannity interviewed Jack F. Kemp, a former presidential candidate who is now a conservative columnist.
"I think the more people know about John Kerry, the more they realize just how radical he really is, and it is not helping him," Mr. Hannity said. Mr. Kemp replied: "I don't disagree. I think he is left. I don't know if he's radical."
Mr. Hannity swatted away his doubts: "He's the No. 1 liberal in the Senate, more than Ted Kennedy. That's pretty liberal."
Fox News has many excellent reporters and its share of scoops, but its bristly anchors sometimes bring to mind the old joke about Claire Booth Luce's audience with the pope. Mrs. Luce could be heard passionately hectoring her host, who weakly protested, "But madam, I too am a Catholic."
Brit is the BEST news anchor on TV. He found a real home at Fox.
I guess I don't disagree with anything in this article, but what point is the author trying to make?
Am I just dense, or is it too early, or what?
The point the author's trying to make is that fall is coming and we must all be ready to don our "cozy duvet of rage" and vote for Pres. Bush on Nov. 2.
Here, have some more Jolt.
Okay - that's my new tagline.
I love my duvet of rage.
It's pretty comfy with my mattress of indignation and pillow of vitriol.
New slogan for Fox News (borrowed from Jolt Cola): "All the info and twice the pizazz"
"Wendell Goler, a White House correspondent, reported yesterday morning about Mr. Bush's endorsement by New York firefighters on Wednesday, then noted that Mr. Kerry had won the support of their national organization."
The NYT objects to this statement? They can't stand that there is a news channel out there reporting BOTH sides.
They must REALLY have their panties in a wad after Bush hit them between the eyes in his speech.
During Boston it was necessary to send the nurse in to check the pulse of the speaker to be sure he/she was still alive.
Even slick willie failed to deliver....just more of the same old same old from the dems.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Not ONE word on the fact FOX is the #1 rated channel on cable or broadcast TV!
LOVE your tagline! Zell will go down in history as the man who told it like it was, and that's quite a tribute.
I thought FOX went briefly to the Johns and then bumped back.
And didn't even MSNBC switch off the Johns after it appeared the Main John was drunk?
I watched CSpan and mostly MSNBC this week. I was very annoyed with Fox having SO MANY dems on. I didn't want to hear from Terry Mac and the other hacks during the RNC. I did switch over to Fox to hear a bit of the wrap up each night.
If one didn't watch on CSpan they missed a great convention, especially the debate between Barney Bush and Fifi Kerry on the tax cuts. LOL. It was precious.
I love it!
LOL. Mattress of indignation.
Cozy duvet of rage would be a great name for a rock band, screen name or tag line.
They all seem to want to bring on liberals just so they can shout them down and they seemed more concerned with their own programs than they did with the convention. Usually, I cannot take Chris Matthews too long but his coverage was exceptional and though he still had his liberal talking points and MSNBC moved their set outside so they could get the liberal protestors on the air, he gave J.C. and others plenty of time to respond or make their own points. Scarborough was disappointing but all in all, when I tune in to watch the convention, I found MSNBC had the better coverage and since I am not the type to jump back and forth, I stayed with MSNBC.
Sorry FOX, I wanted to watch but... Hell, maybe it's just that every thing seems dark. The sets, the graphics, the demeanor of the show hosts... Maybe ya'll need to lighten up?
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