The voices on cable news are deafening (or at least muted on my television). Their slants and biases stretch and destroy traditional definitions of journalism. From these shows, mediatainment, an entire new genre of television has emerged.
Fox News Channel has largely been noted by many as the largest culprit in the industry, despite their ‘Fair and Balance’ slogan. Since they do little to hide their romance with the current Presidential administration, its obvious that their slogan is dubious. ‘Fair and Balanced’ is as much a lie as the recent State of the Union (see weapons of mass destruction and Niger).
At this juncture I could continue complaining about the President or the cable networks. I could complain that their were no weapons of mass destruction ever found. I could complain that there was never any proven ties to Bin Laden. I could complain that our fickle nation forgot that our government never found any of the “evidence” they claimed existed to unilaterally preemptively attack Iraq. I could complain that instead of feeling guilty about the State of the Union lie, the National Security Adviser to the President argued on CNN, “It is 16 words, and it has become an enormously overblown issue." I could complain that lying to gain support for a war is much larger than lying about stealing cookies from a jar. I could complain, but then I digress.
To refocus, Fox News isn’t “fair and balanced.” It’s important to note that I am not misusing these quotes. Rather I am trying to protect myself from a frivolous lawsuit, similar to that which Al Franken was forced to endure throughout August. The grounds of the suit were for trademark infringement, because Franken titled his latest book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Fox had the audacity to even argue, “[The book] is not of the same caliber as the stellar reputations of FNC's on-air talent." Unfortunately some do not agree with that ironically biased quote of their own supposed media brilliance. Luckily the judge disagreed too, sighting the case as frivolous.
One more problem can not be overlooked about Fox News Channel’s claim to have qualified hosts, most notably Bill O’Reilly. At a recent book convention in California O’Reilly relies on insults and babble, rather than trying to have an intelligent debate with none other than Al Franken. However, little can be expected from the Fox on-air talent whose previous job experience is working for the tabloid show Inside Edition.
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Copyright 2004, Kevin Semanick