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I used to remember the days when we had only CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN for news -- meaning that you saw and heard only the left wing spin on things. When Fox News arrived on the scene, it was a breath of very fresh air. To borrow a line from The Sopranos, the people who are complaning about Fox News are like the woman who has a Virginia ham in her arm and is complaining because she has no bread.

Having said that, I do have some criticisms of Fox. O'Reilly is essentially unwatchable most of the time, there are way too many stories about celebrities, there are too many "local" stories, and of course there are way too many Fox News Alerts. On the other hand, nothing beats the Bret Hume/Tony Snow hours, Hannity and Colmes is often interesting, the weekend news shows are often interesting, and their reporters and guests are generally outstanding. Perhaps the very best reason to watch Fox News is Kiran Chetry. :)

I agree with some of the sentiments previous posters have stated. Others things I'd like to add:

O' Reilly: I started watching him in 2000 and initially liked his no-nonsense style (I even bought both of his books), but his constant interrupting and occasional shouting got grating and hardly constitutes intelligent, rational discussion. Far too often, his "talking points" turns into a pissing contest against anybody who criticizes him, and while I'm no fan of George Clooney, Bill Moyers, or Michael Kinsley, O' Reilly constantly harping on them and others isn't entertaining. The interrupting has rubbed off on other anchors, especially David Asman, who can't go three seconds with interrupting a guest.

The "Fox News Alerts": There must be about 10,000 per day, some of which are for stupid car chases or stupid comments from the Canadian cabinet. I don't mind them reporting on this kind of stuff, but is a "Fox News Alert" with the accompanying sound and graphics necessary?

Fox News' Ratings: Maybe it's just me, but the "We're the #1 rated channel in all of cable news" mantra that Fox peddles endlessly is highly annoying. Just let your programs speak for themselves and not gloat, because you'll look bad if CNN ever retakes the ratings lead.

That said, I prefer Fox over the other news channels, and while Fox IMO does have a conservative bias, they're more fair and balanced than CNN. Tony Snow and Brit Hume are consummate professionals, I enjoy Cavuto's show, and most of their females anchors do a very good job.

Nothing bothers me more than seeing us:

1) Get Greedy- you don't think Fox is conservative enough? In other words, it occasionally rubs you the wrong way so you're going to turn your back on the best thing that's happened to conservatives in terms of fairness in the media? This is a very serious mistake. We can only win elections by winning over moderates and independents. They will not flock to unabashedly conservative outlets like National Review of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page. Nor will they turn to Limbaugh- talk radio attracts partisans. The mainstream will watch television. It's important for FoxNews to maintain the semblance of balance to have the greatest effects on the moderate/independent. Too partisan and it will drive them away. We need FoxNews so our side can occasionally make our case to the mainstream. So I'm pleading with you not to ditch Fox based on some small offense. Just remember that offense is 10x more frequent on virtually all other news sources. It's important to keep their ratings up and give them our support. FoxNews may only attract a few million people but it is growing and more importantly, influencing other cable news stations and having its reports find their way into print media. Most importantly, we should petition News Corp. to broadcast aspects of FoxNews onto the main Fox station which reaches ten times as many viewers.

2) Become Curmudgeons- I'm addressing the type that complain "FoxNews has conservative bias so I'm not going to watch.". First, FoxNews does a better job of balance than other cable news. Second, FoxNews is an excellent counterbalance to the predominantly liberal media. So, you don't like it, fine. But keep your mouth shut because you're just giving ammunition to the enemy by mouthing off about its bias whie ignoring the context that it is one center-right outlet in a sea of liberalism. Many of us are fighting this political battle to change hearts and minds, which ultimately determines political outcomes. The media is a large part of this. So aiding the enemy by bashing these efforts is stabbing your own team in the back.

There is only one network that shows how mean-spirited and unpatriotic the Democrat politicians are and how hateful the rank and file liberals are, including those who phone in pretending to be disgruntled Republicans and those calling on the "Other's Line" pretending to be independents. That network includes the C-SPAN I and C-SPAN II channels. C-SPAN exposes those America hating liberals 24 hours per day, 7 days per week in their Congressional coverage and in their call-in segments.

You ever wonder where the phrase "No comments from the peanut gallery" comes from?

I don't know [I briefly searched] but the upshot is that one should refrain from critizing a given subject when only observing from the sidelines [the gallery].

Of course all of us here on the 'net observe that rule....not :)

So we here have the same situation.

FOX is the best we got going for sure; yeah, they pounce too soon now and then - but they're still my No. 1

Go live at CNN if you like, although MSNBC is getting better day by day, their Iraq coverage is really good.

[PS] I sort of think Shep garbles the 'prompter on purpose sometimes, it's a hoot, did you see the J LO clip?....he meant to say J LO wouldn't get a curb job [she's from Brooklyn], meaning she wouldn't be booted out from her old neighborhood cuz she's famous....but instead he said she wouldn't get a blow job....what a riot