Fox Offering More News Talk Than News (Sour Grapes Alert)

ContraCostaTime (Bay Area Rag) ^ | April 10, 2003 | Chuck Blarney

[SamAdams76]

AN AMERICAN flag logo adorns the upper left corner of the screen. Dramatic stand-up-and-salute drumbeats pound away under regularly scheduled updates. Gung-ho, self-aggrandizing commentators behave like cheerleaders sans the pompons. Dissenting viewpoints get summarily crushed with the verbal equivalent of bunker-busting bombs.

[smith288]

• Hyper-patriotism: While other networks have, at times, displayed a pro-American tilt (MSNBC also uses a stars-and-stripes logo), none of them have done it as overtly as Fox. U.S. troops are routinely referred to as "we" and "us" and "our folks." The conflict is deemed a "war of liberation," and the on-screen headline adopts the Pentagon's "Operation Iraqi Freedom" moniker. Meanwhile, embedded "reporter" Col. Oliver North issues starry-eyed accounts of his Army bunkmates. This is war covered like an Olympics and it's as if Fox News yearns to be the American equivalent of Al-Jazeera, the Arab all-news network.
  North is with Marines. Fox is using the same moniker as the Pentagon because thats what the war is called. CNN, if I recall, used the "Desert Shield" and "Desert Storm"
• Commentators with an attitude: Fox relies heavily on loud, bombastic, in-your-face personalities who dish up heaping helpings of opinion, which tend to be hawkish and ultra conservative. The undisputed champ is the ever-combative Bill O'Reilly, a man described by one critic as being "so full of hot air, he has to be tethered to his chair." Sean Hannity and Shepard Smith are nearly as excitable, and at times, vitriolic. Like them or not, they're no wallflowers.
  O'Reily is an opinion show and makes no bones about it. It doesn't say "This is fact". Even though Bill is a man with a huge ego, so is Dan Rather...When did ego matter? Sheppard Smith is a young, talented and energetic common man who many can relate to your bud at saturday college football. People like REAL people. Aaron Brown is not this.
• More talk, less reporting: To be sure, Fox News has had several moments of fine reporting. For example, embedded correspondent Greg Kelly and his photographer provided stirring accounts and pictures the day American tanks rolled into Baghdad. And although MSNBC first broke the news about the Saddam Hussein-targeted bomb strike, Fox quickly followed with remarkable details gleaned from inside sources. Still, the commentators rule. Fox does less news and more talking about the news than any other network. (Although it was strangely quiet when Rivera was booted by the Army for drawing a map in the sand.)
  I dont understand. Fox was indeed slow on that story, but they were checking their facts, which is good in such a competitive environment. Then, what is Fox supposed to do when the news comes in? Show straight commercials to fill the time? You have to discuss, comment on it and try to get experts in to talk about the ramifications... geez.
• A bunker mentality: The network comes across as an exclusive pro-military, pro-administration club that caters to like-minded viewers while ridiculing any hint of contradictory ideology. For example, Jeff Patterson, a soldier who opted not to fight in the war, was a recent guest on "Hannity & Colmes," but was repeatedly cut off and interrupted before a sneering Hannity abruptly dismissed him by saying, "You're not a very deep-thinking person."
  Again, opinion oriented show. I have seen Colmes take shots at people and I dont care...its pretty normal when people are set in front of a camera and told to argue politics.
• A well of emotions: No network tugs on the heartstrings as effectively Fox. Regular features include "The Ultimate Sacrifice," in which mug shots of fallen U.S. troops are displayed with their personal information (over more drum beats) and "The Heart of War," which offers chummy, home movie-like video clips of military personnel in nonbattle mode. In their own way, both carry plenty of visceral power.
  God forbid an American news network honors those who sacrificed themselves for the very freedom this guy enjoys...
  
  This guy is a boob.

[johnb838]

Fox is fair and balanced because most of the war stuff is about rough & tough guys killing the bad guys. They have to have babes to make it fair to us men. There should be more. Where did Jennifer Griffin go, for example. And lets not leave Linda Vester out.

One thing though, Bridgit Quinn has got-to-go. The transition from E.D. Hill to her every morning is a big letdown.

[johnb838]

Greta looks better since she had a little work done between CNN and Fox, but I would not call her attractive. I think she'd be fun to hang out with though.

[DCPatriot]

My biggest beef with FOXNEWS?

The stupid banner they feel the need to show me:
1. Who they are with their logo on the left.
2. Their incessant need for drama with the "Operation Whatever..." in the center over red, white and blue.
3. The freaking DOW numbers on the right.
4.The only important ticker-tape running on the bottom.
5. The all important speaker's pretty face on the middle left.

Now, I'm 56 and going blind so's I can't even "see" the remaining 25% of the screen on my 36 inch from 15 feet away!

[muggs]

I'm really surprised the article didn't just come out and call them pro-American. It sounded like that's what Chuck Blarney wanted to do, like he thinks that is a bad thing.

[jagrmeister]

Every time some reporter attempts to discredit FoxNews, we should return the favor by eviscerating that reporter's credibility and expose him as a leftist hypocrite. Fox News is the best thing going for conservatives as far as restoring balance to mainstream media, and left unchallenged, these barbs from leftist "journalists" will weaken Fox News's impact.

Letters should be addressed to:

To: cbarney@cctimes.com
CC: jarmstrong@cctimes.com; bnishizaki@cctimes.com

Here is my letter:

Re: Fox News article (http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5601320.htm)

-"You're tuned to the Fox News Channel, where the slogan of 'real journalism -- fair and balanced' is blurted out over and over as if constant repetition will convince the world that it's actually true"

The above is a selection from Barney's irresponsibly biased article, devoid of facts but high on opinion. From what I gather, Fox News has clearly insulted Barney's leftist sensibilities. But when he's not engaging in puerile insults such as likening Fox News's journalists to " self-aggrandizing commentators behave like cheerleaders", he does his inadvertent best to expose himself as a leftist hypocrite. According to Barney, Fox News's is excessively "hawkish and ultra conservative"- this despite that the guests on "Hannity and Colmes" and "The O'Reilly Factor" are routinely liberal (O'Reilly most recent guest was an anti-war Princeton professor). Barney strains credulity by characterizing Fox News as "talk heavy"- when networks like CNN are deluged with argumentative shows like "Crossfire" and "Evans, Novak", not to mention celebrity-oriented shows like "Larry King". To a leftist, patriotism is "nationalism", highlighting our troops' sacrifice is unseemly, and any network that also includes a conservative voice lacks a "coherent...perspective". And this is the sum of the article. I learned nothing from Barney's piece except that he is a leftist who refuses to check his partisanship at the door.

[isom35]

I agree. Patti Anne Brown would be my choice. Linda Vester
is back, and she is attractive, but to me she always looks
like she's about to cry.

[Revel]

You see the post right before yours? I think we think alot alike about this issue.

[IronJack]

I have to admit, I'm getting a little gagged by Shepard Smith's smarmy one-upsmanship. And it wouldn't hurt Fox to remember that this was a war to liberate Iraq, not to boost FNC's ratings. It really is about our fighting men and women, not journalists or Arbitron figures.

Still, if there's got to be roosters crowing on the dungheap, I'd just as soon it be the Fox cocks.

[SamAdams76]

The only important ticker-tape running on the bottom.

That's actually the one part of the screen that I really want to see and I can't because my TV cuts off about half of it. I've tried all kinds of adjustments to no avail. Yet I can see it perfectly on other TVs.

[antaresequity]

Miss Shock & Awe

[Political Junkie Too]

It looks like Fox News has been turning Laurie Dhue into a mannequin this past week. Every day she's been wearing a completely different style of clothes. One night she was wearing a hot pink poofy sweater, the next day she was wearing a pinstripe suit, then she was wearing a dark pantsuit, and then she was wearing a cream-colored sweater outfit.

What are they doing? Are they trying her out for different looks until they find the right one?

-PJ

[SamAdams76]

Well I find Greta very attractive. And brainy too. I never saw her on the other network so I don't know what she looked like before. I guess she got some kind of face-lift or something. Anyway, she must be at least 45-50 years old so we can't expect her to be the fox she probably was when she was 25. Also, did I mention that her hair was combed out? That's a major plus in my book. And if I wasn't married, she'd be date-worthy in my book. I'd probably take her to the Starbucks at Barnes & Noble where we could discuss some good books over a cup of steaming java.

[kcvl]

'Fox & Friends' On Cable Pulls More Viewers Than CBS's 'The Early Show' On Broadcast... FOX NEWS CHANNEL's 'Fox & Friends' beat CBS's The Early Show for the entire week of 3/31-4/4, research shows -- F&F averaged 2.905 million to CBS 2.796 million total viewers, marking the first time FOX NEWS cable ever topped a broadcast net in lucrative morning daypart... Developing...

---

CABLE RACE
WEDS, APRIL 09, '03

O'REILLY 5.3 [RATING]
HANNITY/COLMES 4.1
GRETA 4.0
AARON BROWN 3.3
LARRY KING 2.9
SOUTH PARK 2.7
CNN 8 PM 2.6
MSNBC 9 PM 1.8
MSNBC 10 PM 1.6
MSNBC 8 PM 1.5

[johnb838]

Yeah, I wish Linda would try smiling. I didn't think of her as about to cry... I think she is as earnest as Vince Brooks, and I like that.

Who's that one... Jane Skinner! Ooh, la la. She's hot. Trouble with newsbabes all you get to see is their pretty face.

Rumor is Shep is light in his loafers.

[Political Junkie Too]

Most liberal stories include such words as "maybe, might, could be, might have been, etc"...seldom does a journalist let a little thing like the FACTS cloud his/her "masterpiece" of drivel.

They also like to say "many" and "some" when they want the news to appear larger or smaller than it really is, or when the "many" and "some" are their collegues in the hallway.

Then there is their misuse of "so-called" to try to discredit the group being discussed.

-PJ

[kcvl]

Who says?

[johnb838]

Actually I thought she was ok before. Thank goodness people have different tastes or we'd all be fighting over the same woman!

[Revel]

Ah...Heather is the babe of all babes.

[johnb838]

Ummm... there was discussion of it in the daily thread yesterday. I can neither confirm nor deny the validity.