Fox News: fair and balanced

[Belmont31R]

Theres no way to compare countries because they all interpret data differently.




For instance....one of the SSG's I was with was marrried to a German national. She was on maternity leave, and because she was a German national they paid her something like 2k a month to sit at home with the baby. They have so many programs and whatnot the unemployment rate is always artificially reported as being MUCH lower than it would be here. But even with all thier programs the unemployment rate in Europe has more or less always been higher than the US as its been reported, and our GDP is barely lower than all of the EU despite the EU having a population advantage of almost 200 million.

[Heartland Hawk]

This discussion is why I get a lot of my news from STRATFOR. Owned and run by ex DOS and CIA types, they don't really have an agenda (that I can tell).

[ChicagoTex]

Interesting way to do it might be to do a survey where you offer people so much money or the ability to move to a country and see what kind of responses you'd get.

That's actually a cool idea.

[usmcvet]

They all do things to manipulate the truth. Some do it more than others. FOX being the best of them all in telling the truth (if there is such a thing).

In the end, people have to dig the facts up on their own and determine what is true and what isn't.


C4

I agree with Grant. We all need to look at what's presented with an open mind and be an informed consumer.

I watch my local CBS for local news and watch Fox for the rest of my news. I was on vacation last week and watched a little CNN and the news from a NY station. I was disgusted by how the NY station sensationalized every story and added so much BS to every story. The CNN news I watched was actually pretty good, I was surprised.

[opmike]

Perhaps I'm getting a different feed of the networks than the rest of you, but the only way I see a person thinking Fox's trash is any better than the other trash, especially MSNBC which I wouldn't mind removing from my lineup, is if they happen to be more in line with what you already agree with.

Are we sure we're being objective, and not letting biases creep into our views of these networks? What method of analysis is one using when one says that network X is more truthful than network Y? Is there some data out there I haven't read through? How does one even come up with a standard of "truth" for which to compare them to? Many of the contentious issues brought up on these shows aren't so clear cut and dry as one network saying homeopathy is a valid approach to medicine, and another saying it's a crock.

I frequent a myriad of forums with members of various leanings, and there is a very strong correlation between the political and social philosophies that are held by the majority of a given forum, and their opinion on the television news networks. As similar discussion on a forum like SDMB, for example, would have Fox finishing rather poorly.

I've heard enough valid criticism, and seen enough bullshit from Fox, CNN, MSNBC, et. al. that I'm suppose I'm a pretty cynical when I see various groups praising one and deriding another.

[montanadave]

Perhaps I'm getting a different feed of the networks than the rest of you, but the only way I see a person thinking Fox's trash is any better than the other trash, especially MSNBC which I wouldn't mind removing from my lineup, is if they happen to be more in line with what you already agree with.

BINGO!

[rickrock305]

Perhaps I'm getting a different feed of the networks than the rest of you, but the only way I see a person thinking Fox's trash is any better than the other trash, especially MSNBC which I wouldn't mind removing from my lineup, is if they happen to be more in line with what you already agree with.

Are we sure we're being objective, and not letting biases creep into our views of these networks? What method of analysis is one using when one says that network X is more truthful than network Y? Is there some data out there I haven't read through? How does one even come up with a standard of "truth" for which to compare them to? Many of the contentious issues brought up on these shows aren't so clear cut and dry as one network saying homeopathy is a valid approach to medicine, and another saying it's a crock.

I frequent a myriad of forums with members of various leanings, and there is a very strong correlation between the political and social philosophies that are held by the majority of a given forum, and their opinion on the television news networks. As similar discussion on a forum like SDMB, for example, would have Fox finishing rather poorly.

I've heard enough valid criticism, and seen enough bullshit from Fox, CNN, MSNBC, et. al. that I'm suppose I'm a pretty cynical when I see various groups praising one and deriding another.

Exactly.

[SteyrAUG]

Are we sure we're being objective, and not letting biases creep into our views of these networks?

I think so. I don't recall a lot of Hannity and Colmes type programs on other networks. So I think they "try" and be balanced. That said, there is bias and agenda, I know because I had to stop watching FOX a long time ago since some of shows are run by complete ****tards who only piss me off. But unlike most networks, I think FNC makes the attempt.

Personally I wish we'd get completely NON EDITORIALIZED news. No opinion, no conjecture - just tell me what happened today. I don't need a guy in a suit to explain to me 9-11 was a bad thing, I can figure it out. Just tell me who did what and when and let me form my OWN opinions.

No Opinion Network (NON News), now that I'd watch. We can even have cute blond newscasters like Fox since their opinions and perceptions of events won't ****ing matter anyway.

[RogerinTPA]

You guys do know that there is a difference between news segments that run throughout the day, as well as opinion based segments (Oriley/Beck/Hannati) right? The news segments on FOX are more accurate that the liberal news media outlets. The opinion based shows are just that, their opinions on the same news, except cherry picked, plus whatever they choose to dwell on.

[SteyrAUG]

You guys do know that there is a difference between news segments that run throughout the day, as well as opinion based segments (Oriley/Beck/Hannati) right? The news segments on FOX are more accurate that the liberal news media outlets. The opinion based shows are just that, their opinions on the same news, except cherry picked, plus whatever they choose to dwell on.

I know the difference. But honestly, all news is editorialized.