FOX NEWS – 2009-11-02

I don’t think that absolute neutrality is possible. It flies in the face of human nature. So it doesn’t concern me that different media outlets or journalists have different biases. It’s up to me as a "news consumer" to filter what I’m told through my own common sense.

But there’s been a lot of discussion lately about whether the US Fox News Channel has crossed a line. Specifically, whether it’s essentially abandoned "journalism" and become a de facto arm of the Republican Party.

The evidence, if you’d like to call it that, is fairly convincing. I mean, they’ve been found to be using materials verbatim – typos and all - from Republican Party press releases, while presenting the information as their own research. And they’ve repeatedly creatively edited and misrepresented dates of speech soundbites to mislead viewers about what liberal politicians have said. A trick they’ve – rightly – chastised filmmaker Michael Moore for using against Republicans.

I don’t think the complaint is that Fox is decidedly not "fair and balanced". I think the complaint is that they claim to be. Yes, I think that if a news organization is going to be a mouthpiece for one party or another – and that means liberals, too – then they should be honest about that. If Fox called itself, say, "the Conservative voice", instead of "fair and balanced", they would gain a lot of credibility and avoid a lot of flak.

Look, I’m a news junkie. And I can tell you that every news outlet, documentary, and blog, large or small, has a bias. Some just hide it a little better than others. I know I’d be happy if outlets were up-front about their biases, and honest with the facts. With those two criteria, I’d be in a position to learn, filter, and form an opinion wisely.

But, you know, the big picture point isn’t whether Fox or CNN or MSNBC is biased. It’s the fact that we are a free society where such open biases are allowed.

I can choose to watch Fox News or not. I can choose to watch the Daily Show’s ongoing criticism of Fox News or not. All I know is, I’m grateful we live in a society where I do have a choice of perspectives on my government and the world. A large population of our planet doesn’t have that privilege.

Of course that is just my opinion.

We would very much like to hear your opinion on this important and divisive subject. You can do that by writing us here at feedback@nakednews.com