Unfair and unbalanced
Mainstream media should adopt FOX’s winning mix of diverse opinions
By Jim Laris 07/24/2008
A couple weeks ago, my fellow ink-stained wretch Larry Wilson tweaked my tweaker when he wrote in his Star-News column that he would “never” watch FOX news. Wow. Even though I know most liberals don’t like Fox (OK, they hate Fox), Larry kind of ratcheted it up a notch when he used the N word — never.
To me that’s pretty strong. Over-the-top. Misguided. And wrong. I guess Larry and the libs don’t want to see any other point of view. They’ve already got all the national mainstream broadcast stations — NBC, ABC and CBS. And they’ve got the cable guys CNN and MSNBC. And they have 99 percent of the major market newspapers in the country — The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, etc. etc. And, of course, they have Time and Newsweek to kind of put that finishing left-leaning flair on their non-assailable viewpoints.
Have you ever noticed that people of the liberal persuasion never (there’s that word again) say anything negative about any other TV station or newspaper or magazine. It’s always FOX. And not only is it FOX, it is only FOX. If, every once in a while, liberals would say, “Did you hear that crock on CNN?” I could maybe give them some deserved slack. But that never happens. Nope. Never happens.
Hell, I don’t think FOX is perfect. (I’m the only one I have ever found who is perfect.) FOX has their share of bias and bullshit. And yes, they lean to the right. And yes, sometimes Bill O’Reilly can be an arrogant jerk. And that Shepard Smith guy makes me puke. If he were any more insufferable he’d have to be speaking directly out of Ted Baxter’s butt.
However, in my humble opinion, they do not spout the Republican agenda, as is so often blindly claimed by the left. As we know, the libsters don’t even watch the damn station. I guess they don’t want pesky old reality to interfere with their opinions.
What about these pesky little non-agenda facts: Bill O’Reilly is a big tree-hugging environmentalist and he’s against the death penalty. And O’Reilly bashes Bush quite often about Iraq, and Sean Hannity and O’Reilly crucify Bush on immigration. There are many, many other points that FOX disagrees with the Republicans on.
But the thing that I really like most about the station is that they allow opinions from the other side all the time. Nightly, in fact. There’s a continual tension of opposing viewpoints on FOX. Really heated arguments between top Democratic people and FOX guys. You can say what you want about FOX, but “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity and Colmes” are on the cutting edge of opinion journalism. They have the guts to say things the mainstream media have ignored for decades. They broke news stories like the Jeremiah Wright story and the Jesse Jackson wanting to cut Obama’s nuts off story.
Liberals appear on FOX all the time. The only thing that is different is that finally some of their liberal opinions are being challenged. And that’s probably why they don’t like FOX. Hell, they’ve had a monopoly on ideas in this country for 30 years or more. Finally, one damn station comes along and has the guts to stand up to them and the libbies start pissing all over themselves.
What the liberals ought to be asking is how did FOX get to be so important? How did they come to dominate cable television news? They have something like four times the viewers of CNN and MSNBC — combined! It’s not even close.
I think the mainstream media missed one of the biggest stories of the last 40 years. And what is that story, Virginia? Basically, they didn’t recognize why Rush Limbaugh became so popular. They were too busy laughing at Al Franken “Big Fat Liar” book titles to see what was really happening.
What was really happening was that a huge part of America was getting fed up with the liberal media and their influence on the country. They just couldn’t take all the sexual craziness and anything-goes abortion policies and the nonsensical immigration ideas, and the downright hostile positions of the left on our military, and the constant tone-deaf roar of the left to eliminate any religious or moral standards. And the deterioration of our schools and the incessant whining of victims and the whole socialism trend. It was just too much.
And many Americans — generally half the country — had nowhere to turn for their information. So what happened? Rush Limbaugh happened. He, almost singlehandedly, turned AM radio into a right-wing medium where people on the right could be heard. Limbaugh saw that there was a big damn hole in information and he filled it.
And FOX saw what Rush had done and more importantly, saw that there was, and is, a huge audience out there for people who do not want to toe the damn party line.
So FOX had the guts to give people another viewpoint, another take on things. And they succeeded and now all the liberals are crying. As Don Henley would say, “Get over it.”
Oh, and also, FOX has all those cool blonde babes, too.
Jim Laris is the former owner/publisher of the Pasadena Weekly. Contact him at jimlaris@mac.com.
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
Other Stories by Jim Laris
Related Articles
Comments
This is a beautifully written piece, and I want to thank you for it. The other day I turned over to the liberal channel on Sirius just to see what they were saying. You get the impression that their primary source of pride as a radio station lies in their ability to now use the "f" word.
The endlessly repeated idea that The Media is somehow "Liberal" overall is moronic and absurd.
It never made sense-Disney? Viacom? GE? Murdoch?
No facts to back up this myth in 08. The Nation's newspapers endorsed Bush over Gore in 60+ percent of its' newspapers. A media freeze on even the discussion of Impeachment of Bush-despite expertise of Constitutional scholars while months of stories in media calling for Clinton's Impeachment.
Parroting of republican talking points on "surge" as opposed to who has profited off the war, reasons for war, cost of War, Nation's vote against war in 06 being ignored etc.
Weeks of stories on Obama' preacher-other manufactured controversies over supposed Character issues each election of Dem' candidate-but stories of Bush the "straight-shooter" McCain the "straight-Shooter" Virtually none on John Hagey.
Swift boat stories, countless other dishonest stories reported as fact. Could go on and on, and biggest lie of all Conservative after conservative all over the Media talking about the "Liberal Media"
Really? Where?
Let's look at TV political commentators as an example that brings Jim Laris's point home.
The primary reason that "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" has such piss-poor ratings is that it's a boring, one-trick pony. All of Olbermann's guests agree with his point of view. There's never any discourse among people representing all sides of an issue. There's nothing original and nothing of interest. The Libs love it so because it's the same-ol', same-ol' each and every time -- they can all repeat the same tired old mantra every day of the week that enables them to keep their heads in the sand and prevents them from thinking for themselves and forming their own opinions. (By the way, Olbermann's man-crush on Dyn-O-Bama is becoming creepy.) And when Rachel Maddow sits in for him it's an even bigger snoozer.
Now let's take "The O'Reilly Factor." It is the highest rated cable news/commentary program in the nation (nearly triple that of Olbermann according to Nielsen ratings) because O'Reilly continually challenges people's thinking and bring guests to the table with opposing points of view. Yeah, it gets a little hairy sometimes and yeah, he can get pretty passionate about an issue, but that's what makes for great TV.
Figure it out, Libs! It's not exactly rocket science.
Funny stuff there. Mantras, Heads in the sand?
You mean like "The surge" Islamo-Fascists. Lol
You're funny. Opposing viewpoints? You're serious.
Intellectual discussion. You mean like "shut up,just shut up and other bullying.
The reasons "Libs" and other Thinking people Like Olbermann as u say it is cause it is the only place where people who understand what has happened to the country over the last 10 years can speak, Tens of Millions of people who care about the Constitution, phony wars etc. can have their views heard. The real question is Why "Conservatives" don't even understand how Un-conservative this admin. is. They should be aghast as anyone-but for Brand-name Loyalty where if u call yourself a Republican or Conservative-there is no such thing as doing something wrong. That's heads in the sand
Way to form an argument, Seth: Go straight for the childish "I know you are but what am I?" defense. Go to my blog and study up, then try again. www.pasadenaclosetconservative.blogspot....
I'm not trying to form an argument The idea that the Media requires the same intellect of Republicans and democrats, and that they help out the Dem' candiadate or that the Boogeyman "Liberals" hold any actual power or ever have is so absurd beyond reason. Most "Conservatives" could not even actually define what they Mean by "Liberals" or the "Liberal Media" they are parroting what has been repeated by Limbaugh, O'Reilly et al. They don't even know what has happened to the Country. How no "Conseravtive" espoused the views of W Bush before 2000, and they have pretty much ruined the country for the rest of my life, taken away your rights as much as mine, and they don't even know it.
Sad
Sorry for the typos there btw. I'm sure u will get your wish btw. McCain will get elected, and the Media will play along with more "Swift Boat" type stories, never ask the one simple question that should be asked of any candidate running for office which is simply: Do you support the current attacks on the American constitution and the illegal acts of the current administration, will you defy lawfully issued subpoenas as well, and attack our basic system of Government's check and balances and separation of powers or not. Don't worry that question will never be asked. Just like no follow up questions when Bush actually said " I only go to War as a last resort?
Don't worry McCain will "win" like Bush "won"
The other day I sent you an e-mail response to your 7/24 column. I didn't expect
an answer, or that you could answer the series of questions I posed. This is to
be expected as the idea of "The Liberal Media" is endlessly repeated against
all actual reason and logic.
Putting aside their obvious complicity in the Wars, and the Criminality of the current
administration, the fact that the Major Media companies contribute large sums of
Money to The Republican Party, and their involvement in fake stories like the Swift
Boaters. Maybe in the interest of good faith you will answer one simple question
of mine.
If as you say in your column "The Liberals have 99% of the Major market newspapers"
Can you then explain why over 60% of the Nation's newspapers endorsed George
W. Bush for president over Al Gore in 2000?
As i side not-I would add the Democratic party probably never had a greater advantage
in candidates then that year-even in that year 60% or so endorsed the Republican
nominee.
Facts.................... for those who like em
This article, based on a survey of 800 editors and publishers (193 responses), provides a useful picture of newspaper endorsements. For example, the survey found that 4 of 5 responding editors and publishers believed that "endorsing candidates 'is an important responsibility of newspapers.'" Overall, at least 3 of 4 papers made an endorsement in the presidential race, but the percentage was closer to 2 of 3 for small newspapers, defined as those with less than 50,000 circulation. The survey also found that a higher percentage of smaller papers endorsed Gov. Bush (3 to 1 for Bush) than did larger papers. Medium, 50,000-100,000 circulation papers went 5 to 3 for Bush, while large sized papers (circulations greater than 100,000) went 5 to 4 for Bush.
In other words that claim is either Uninformed or a Lie. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and go with Uninformed.
Seth: What? The "big three" left their network nightly news desks and followed Dyno-Bama to the far reaches of the earth so they wouldn't miss a thing. Stop hiding behind statistics and make an original argument based on intelligent, adult thought. I'm trusting you to step up!
When u answer the question How "Liberal" can the Media be if they endorsed the Republican nominee in 2/3 of the newspapers vs a sitting VP in a time of peace and prosperity and why Obama is made to apologize about the "surge" but Why Bush or McCain is never made to apologize about The Wars, I might consider engaging u further. Thanks
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, Seth has backed down and left the building. Any other takers?
Yeah, I "backed down" because u couldn't answer simple questions. Right
Go back to your blog, and bully some more, and call some more names. Don't worry yourself over little matters like Facts or Truth
Jim,
Fantastic article. This is what I've been trying to convey on Digg for the last few months. But as a professional writer you said it much better than I ever could.
In fact, liberals have coined "Faux" News as a derogatory term similar to "Neo-Con".
Like you, I agree that very few of them have ever watched Fox. I also brought up the fact that:
-Juan Williams, a liberal and NPR contributor, is a regular on Brit Hume
-Geraldo Rivera, a liberal, has his own 1 hour show
-Rupert Murdoch recently made comments on his leaning towards Obama
-and as you mentioned, they almost always have counterpoint guests. In yesterday's debate about oil shale, they had a conservative contributor from Fox Business and a private citizen who was an environmentalist.
My favorite game with my wife is to say "I bet Keith Olbermann is going to be bashing Bush" before I randomly click to MSNBC. Sure enough, 90% of the time it's another news story bashing Bush.
The only way Liberals will stop Fox and the strong conservatives on AM radio (Rush, Rantel, Hannity, Ingram, Levin, etc) is through their so-called "Fairness Doctrine". It's obvious that liberal enterprises like Air America cannot survive in the free market economy, so they either need govt funding or legislation to keep them going.
The people have spoken. Fox is the clear winner.
You don't like it? Change the channel. After all, isn't that what America is about? Free choice?