False advertisement bugs the daylights out of me. It assumes that either the consumer is unimportant or stupid. I believe myself to be neither.
Today, I’m focusing on FOX News Channel. There are two main slogans that they use that I’ll focus on: “Fair and Balanced” and “We Report, You Decide”. Now, I’ll admit that I watch Fox above the rest, although I catch a fair amount of others (CNN, PBS/NPR, NBC). The reason I started watching it was I felt Soledad and Miles O’Brien in the morning, was like watching Democrat TV. As a person that really doesn’t think ANY political party has all, or even most of the answers, they really turned me off. FOX News was only one channel off, so I started watching. The morning crew was a lot of fun, and it wasn’t political season, so they were just talking news, sports, whatever. The more I watched, however, I realized that the reasons that I disliked CNN, were some of the same reasons I found myself yelling at my TV.
So I started looking at “Fair and Balanced” and “We Report, You Decide”. FOX News has Hannity and Colmes – a neo-conservative and an ultra-liberal that square off on issues. Very balanced, right? Well aside that they had to pick Colmes who is quite ugly, and not all that great of a debater (Bob Beckel would have been much more appropriate), they also gave Sean Hannity his own show. How is this fair OR balanced?
They have Bill O’Reilly. He’s a true hardballer, who gives almost no one an easy interview. He hammered the Exxon CEO far harder than he touched up Obama. Yet, this IS the “Culture Warrior” who talks down about the liberals and liberal media. So even though he’s fair, how is that balanced?
During the primaries, several high-profile Democrats admitted that the most fair, and balanced coverage was on FOX. I said to myself “OK, but how’s it going to be in the general election”? Not so good. Fox used to be good about putting people on with differing points of view. They still do this to some extent, but now when you watch, it is often one person from the “right” talking, and answering softball questions. They discount Obama, and speak about McCain in high terms… strategizing about how to win, how the Mainstream Media has championed Obama (which they have from the start), and making sure to repeat over, and over again Obama’s negatives.
On top of all of this, many of the people on FOX openly admit that they support the right wing predominantly. Steve Ducey on Fox and Friends actually went on at length to describe that they advocated for the right, and that’s what made them the highest-rated new station. His thought was that due to this, CNN and others slid to the left to grab those viewers.
How then, do you then claim to be “Fair and Balanced”? It seems quite the opposite, and is quite insulting. Here’s what they should be saying “Fair and Balanced, if you are a Republican”, or “We Report, Tell You How You Should Think, You Decide”
Filed under: False Advertising, Opinion, Politics, Presidential Election Tagged: | Colmes, Democrat, Fair and Balanced, False Advertising, Fox, Hannity, Indepedent, left, McCain, moderate, News, O'Reilly, Obama, rant, republican, right, talking heads, truth, We Report, You Decide
[...] False Advertising? FOX News Channel [...]
It is indeed bothersome. But it is only a further evidence of how this ads are proven to work time and again, even when people claim that they had enough
I agree with you there. To nit-pick a little more though – it could mean a full spectrum of news, not necessarily the political spectrum. I don’t know, Olbermann goes from politics to Britney Spears to rodents on water skis – one could argue he covers a broad spectrum of topics. To me the word “fair” does it – it’s just not ambiguous, in my opinion. It assumes that whatever you cover, you cover fairly. I won’t argue though, because I agree that both networks are equally biased.
Ian,
A full-spectrum would be all-encompassing meaning covering all points, so it is equally ambiguous. You’re nit-picking here. It’s like trying to choose who was the better ruler… Hitler or Stalin.
Hmm.. yes, MSNBC leans left. Keith Olbermann–no doubt about it. It’s ironic that both these slogans “Fair and Balanced” and “A Fuller Spectrum…” are thrown out there, for these clearly biased news sources. It’s like Ford cars: “Built Ford Tough.” Mmm Hmm. Now I’ve owned Fords in the past, so I’m only going by my own experience.
Agreed, MSNBC is to the left what FOX is to the right. But I do think “Fair and Balanced” is more powerful rhetorically. I think that if I overheard a woman say: “I like that Olbermann fellow, he gives a fuller spectrum of news,” then I would be confused more than anything.
Whereas “fair and balanced” has definite connotations when it comes to the news. “Fair and Balanced” as used by FOX is for all intents and purposes commensurate with its denotation, which, in my mind, makes it less ambiguous and more powerful. You could insinuate that fair and balanced means something else; however, the word “fair” is hard to mistake for anything else.
From an amoral/rhetorical standpoint, FOX has done its homework and come up with a more marketable/powerful slogan. It’s a much better slogan from that standpoint than most other news networks, especially MSNBC. If you can appreciate marketing simply as a tool to bring in and captivate an audience, then you’d have to appreciate FOX’s guile.
Ian,
I lump MSNBC right in with FOX News. “A Fuller Spectrum of News”? To whom is right! MSNBC is decidedly slanted to the left, so their spectrum is only “fuller” if you’re left wing, much like FOX is “fair and balanced” more for those on the right. But if something is full, how can it be ‘fuller’? Unless it’s just really full of it…
I think you hit the nail on the head with FOX though. I agree that there are other stations out there that are biased, but what gets me about FOX is not their bias, but their slogan that purports the opposite.
MSNBC’s more ambiguous slogan “A Fuller Spectrum of News” is much less offensive because at least an intelligent person can ask “Fuller compared to what?” and “What spectrum?” In another words it’s less offensive precisely because its ambiguity renders it meaningless. It’s the kind of empty slogan we’ve come to expect from the media.
I was getting a haircut the other day and overheard an old woman talking about Bill O’Reilly’s appearance on that horrible morning show known as “The View.” I heard her say that Bill O’Reilly was “Fair and Balanced.” Now, he may or may not be (and perhaps compared to the cast of “The View” he is), but what bothered me is that this woman simply parroted back FOX’s slogan. The obvious question is: does she think he’s fair and balanced because she’s listened to him and formed an opinion based upon her own analysis or does she simply believe it based on FOX’s pervasive slogan?
In fairness, there are other equally-biased news outlets, such as MSNBC, and I hope to expose those as well. Gone is the integrity of Cronkite and the like, who moved mountains to reported mere fact and information, and truly allowed the viewers to decide their respective opinions.
Very well said. Fox News’ attempt to claim “fairness” is appalling to me–and it is indeed an insult to your intelligence and mine. It is one of the most biased news sources out there. Bias is difficult to avoid, true, but Fox brings it to a whole new level.