If Fox Is Partisan, It Is Not Alone

New York Times ^ | November 1, 2009 | John Harwood

[lbryce]

The Obama White House’s de­ci­sion to chal­lenge Fox News ap­pears driv­en equal­ly by strat­e­gy and frus­tra­tion. It is also a test case for poli­ti­ci­ans in both par­ties.

That is be­cause par­ti­san frag­men­ta­tion through­out Amer­i­ca’s news media and their au­di­ences has grown sig­nif­i­cant­ly. Fu­ture Re­pub­li­can pre­s­i­dents will have to de­cide, as Team Obama has, how to buck or ac­com­mo­date that trend.

Fox News has at­tract­ed the most at­ten­tion be­cause of its “fair and bal­anced” chal­lenge to its com­peti­tors and its suc­cess. But the au­di­ences of its com­peti­tors have tilt­ed shar­ply in the other direc­tion. (This re­porter is chief Wash­ing­ton cor­re­spon­dent for CNBC and hosts “The New York Times Speci­al Edi­tion,” a pro­gram on MSNBC.)

Press crit­ics worry that the rise of media po­lar­iza­tion threat­ens the founda­tion of credi­ble, com­mon in­for­ma­tion that Amer­i­can pol­i­tics needs to thrive. Will Fel­tus, a Re­pub­li­can speci­al­ist in voter tar­get­ing, does not.

If it com­pli­cates the choic­es fac­ing lead­ers in Wash­ing­ton, Mr. Fel­tus argues, it also de­cen­tral­izes po­li­t­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion in a way that is both in­evi­table and healthy in the in­for­ma­tion age. “I feel no hand-wring­ing about it,” Mr. Fel­tus said. “Peo­ple are smart enough to un­der­stand what color filter is over the lens.”

[lbryce]

This article has got to be the worst, most convoluted piece of NYT political garbage in memory.

Being that I observe the world, reality from my particularly right-wing conservative perspective, point-of-view I could not help but notice the egregiously convoluted, tortured theme, approach the New York Times takes on this article, re-reading it several times to make sure I realized how prejudicial their reporting on this really is.

First of all, you've got to consider the source, author of the article as the cause for the cognitive dissonance that starts up almost immediately, followed by mocking reference to Fox's tag line in quotation marks. Further on into the article what is the Fox Network mantra, in the overwhelming success it has had, the NYT refers to as "media polarization".

There's more but I just don't have the stomach to go on.

[rlmorel]

It is quite funny, actually. To hear them piously and pompously discuss this matter. as if Fox News is what brought it to the forefront. This cartoon, by one of the finest political cartoonists alive today, Eric Allie, illustrates the point perfectly:

[rlmorel]

"... the rise of media polarization threat ens the foundation of credible, common information that American politics needs to thrive..."

This, coming from the NYT?

[101voodoo]

They cite no sources for their claim of extreme bias in Fox News and others named, referring instead to “surveys”. This is contra to the Harvard study and the PEW RESEARCH study which proves FNC is far more balanced then any of the other news sources. You have to dig through this but the info is there.

http://people-press.org/report/543/

snip

A joint survey by two institutions revered by journalists, Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, proved that newspaper and network TV coverage of the current presidential race has been overwhelmingly sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans. In newspapers, the ratio of positive to negative stories about Democrats was more than 5-to-1, while for Republicans negative stories outnumbered positive ones by 50%. On network evening news, twice as many stories about Democrats were positive, while twice as many stories about Republicans were negative. Democrats also get more coverage overall.

http://futurenews.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/harvard-pej-study-proves-media-bias-essentially-accusing-old-media-of-fraud-why-aren%E2%80%99t-old-media-leaders-defending-themselves/

[SkyPilot]

What a terrible article.

The news media has a been a liberal cesspool for 50 years.

Where the hell was this guy?

He is only ticked off because FOX is an alternative to their crap, and also because FOX is kicking their behind in every rating category.

[mikey_hates_everything]

Press crit­ics worry that the rise of media po­lar­iza­tion...

Fox showed up in what, 1996? The libs have had a 40 year head start.

[BunnySlippers]

BUMP

[Fetid Facts]

From the article:
“Peo­ple are smart enough to un­der­stand what color filter is over the lens.”

Unfortunately for those who get their political information from television, there’s no balance in the colors. For those who have cable access, it’s Fox News against ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, MSNBC—a 6-1 advantage for the Dems. It’s 7-1 when you consider all the idiots who see Comedy Central as a source of political news. For those without cable access, it’s a 4-0 advantage.

For those that are politically naive, whether young, stupid, ignorant, or just not paying close attention, it’s easy to get indoctrinated by the left-leaning media and conclude that almost all the smart honest people are backing Democrats.

It’s also very easy for these people to see the alphabet channels as being impartial as they regularly invite RINOs to provide “opposing” views.

I guess if I were a leftist, I wouldn’t see a problem with the current state of partisan political coverage either.

[lbryce]

Fellow Freepers! Do not despair! it is only a matter of a short while until we rejoice, live to see the final headlines of a propaganda organ every bit a match
for Pravda, (quite ironically, the word "truth" in Russian) to join their philosophical mentor, the Soviet Union, to be relegated to the dustbin of history, as well!!

[sergeantdave]

The propaganda press has ben hiding behind the “objectivity” skirt for decades. When one of the leftist/Marxist press whores does an objective and balanced story, it becomes major news in the blogosphere. That should tell the mediots something, but they’re too stupid to see it.

[Valin]

Thank you.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Want the truth from the NYTimes rival, the New York Post?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/crushing_the_media_7BDcPTVkbpbpG3Hc3xaCHM

[Condor51]

If Fox Is Partisan, It Is Not Alone
NYT: John Harwood
(This re­porter is chief Wash­ing­ton cor­re­spon­dent for CNBC and hosts “The New York Times Speci­al Edi­tion,” a pro­gram on MSNBC.)

Ah, so he works for the NY slimes and is on CNBC & _pmsNBC.

No wonder I never heard of him.