Seeking Truth and reporting it is at the core of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Along the way, the news industry has sometimes lost sight of this charge. Most recently Fox News has lead the pack for "unbalanced" and "unfair" news.
During this current presidential campaign, Fox News has worked overtime to portray Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barak Obama as a mysterious, strange outsider too young and incompetent to be Commander in Chief and determined to impart his "Muslim" views on the American people.
The network has a history of racism and catering to conservative Americans. According to The Hill newspaper, a Washington D.C. newspaper which focuses on political and Capital Hill news, 88 percent of Fox viewers voted Republican in 2004 (http://thehill.com/mark-mellman/hounding-fox-news-coverage-2007-03-20.html.)
Now this is not to say that all Fox News reporters, commentators, corespondents, analysts or viewers are racist. Many may find the network more informative or even entertaining, but the interviewing styles, selection of guests and analysts show something different. Fox News is more committed to satisfying its mostly conservative audience than reporting both sides of an argument equally. This is especially evident with the current elections.
I have been glued to new stations for the past five to six months in particular because of the elections. Although CNN is my main source, I watch Fox just to compare reporting styles and techniques. For me, it clear but again it's all personal preference.
The network has even gone so far as to attack Michelle Obama, even though Sen. Obama has firmly held that the spouses, children and families of presidential candidates are off limits according to The Huffington Post ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/barack-obama-lay-off-my-f_n_107912.html).
American news in general has become more about sales and viewership than real journalism. Report the facts and let the readers and viewers decide. Reporting the facts for broadcast in particular means asking the tough questions, inviting guests with contrasting view points, giving those guests a chance to speak (Mr. O'Reily) and always remaining as a mediator and journalist, neutral no matter what.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
This is an ongoing problem for Fox News. When they decided to put "Fair and Balanced" in their motto, they had to know that they would come under particular scrutiny. And, really, O'Reilly is not a journalist. He's not even an interviewer, because people who conduct effective interviews typically don't threaten or otherwise verbally abuse their guests.
But, to be fair, CNN has its fair share of unbalanced, as well. See Stephanie's blog about Campbell Brown for a recent example.
Could we go so far as to say that most broadcast news is biased? Maybe not yet, but it's headed that way.
I just love how FOX is the only news station that I can see the name of the program when flipping to the station. And I love how far from the truth it is. They're not fair OR balanced. It creates quite a problem in my household when my fiancee has to watch FOX. I'll just leave the room. I won't watch CNN either. I guess local news companies are restricted by geography, but a national program can't possibly cover all the news in every town, so they limit themselves from that partisan standpoint. It's certainly not an excuse, though.
Post a Comment