Fox News Are Biased
News media are organization that represents the voice of the people. However, some of the media are biased in the way they deal with information. Fox media has been on the front line in criticizing liberal bias. This has caused unresolved differences between the news media and liberals who turn down invitations for debate. GPO organization think tanks together with wall street journal and Washington times form an extremely powerful news channel. Fox has denied acts of being involved in favors’ dealings. Some of the Democratic Party leaders ignores the invitation and criticize some of the events sponsored and arranged by fox media (Schaefer & Birkland, 2010). Presidential candidates coming from the Democratic Party who turned down invitations by fox news include John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Fox decided to exclude republican candidates, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul, in a debate in the year 2008. Larry king, a CNN reporter, referred to fox as a brand of the republican. However, He claims that he does not have any problem with the media that says good things about him (Aarts, Blais, Schmitt, & European Consortium for Political Research, 2011).
Fairness and accuracy in reporting watchdog (FAIR) found out that fox journalist favors republican in the event they host guests for a debate. This has caused many critics on issues of fairness for the media. The paper explains fox media criticism of liberal biasness. In addition, the company CEO, Rupert Murdoch, is actively involved in changing of information gathered. In some instances, he has been accused of changing data provided by other media and making his own mindless views to some journalist information (Aarts, Blais, Schmitt, & European Consortium for Political Research, 2011). This presents an opportunity to take advantage of the news being broadcasted to achieve financial and political goals and agenda. Thus, these actions by its leaders make the whole process unfair. It is a crucial move in making progress in the society.
Body
In the year 2010, fox was attacked by the political class associated to the Democratic Party. Brave and Greenwald shows the root cause of the attack, which they explained the cause as being brought about by news biasness (Aarts, Blais, Schmitt, & European Consortium for Political Research, 2011). In a political party meeting in the year 2004, fox news reporter of the meeting gave an advantage to the republican over Democratic Party on the network. It fuelled a lot of debate among the people in the community.
Greenwald and brave found out the following:
Fox News’s evaluations of all of the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates combined was 51% positive and 49% negative, while the network’s evaluations of the Republican presidential candidates 51% negative and 49% positive. The study, however, did find that Fox’s coverage was less negative toward Republican candidates than the coverage of broadcast networks The notion that I can testify before a House Committee about war profiteering because I made a film about it, that we can truly engage some of the lies, distortions and bullying of Fox News, or that with “The Real McCain” pieces we can start to truly effect how he’s looked at by the world at large is an amazing, powerful and humbling experience (Greenwald & Brave New Films, 2010).
They found out that fox news had some differences in the way they treated the political parties. In the year 2008, the percentage evaluation of the candidates for presidential seat who vied on the ticket of democratic party were 51% positive and 41% negative against republican candidates who had 51% negative and 41% positive(Greenwald & Brave New Films, 2010).
Furthermore, Groeling conducted a test that aimed at examining the fairness deal amongst the reporting media in the country. It originated from the presidential election coverage by individual media throughout the election period.
Groeling explains:
There is certain resemblance to the news on the Big Three [networks] and CNN. We do not think all corporations are bad, every forest should be saved, every government-spending program is good (p.231). We are going to be more inquisitive. I have found over the years that the best way to be friendly to any politician is to be honest. Having said that, I have hardly been hostile to Bush in recent columns. Yes, I have criticized him this year, but no serious reader could possibly believe Gore has gotten the best of the exchange. Just check out the two most recent columns. A piece on “specifics” notes that Gore offers virtually no specifics to voters and the few he mentions are nuts (p.232). There is plenty of grist there for Bush fans and the Bush campaign. The most recent defends Bush in the Adam Clymer affair (GROELING, 2010).
Groeling found out that the idea has changed over the time. When being started, the company stressed on balanced and fair dealings with all the stakeholders where it’s main focus was to protect animal species, protect individual from harassment by government agencies and air out some of the social unrest that happens in the community (p.232). In addition, they formed part of the great team of read the news that includes CNN. They promised honesty in delivering its news to the public. However, this changed eventually leading to more emphasize on outcomes where the news broadcasted were done to suit the specific needs of the company (p.234). During presidential campaign for bush, fox made activism approaches to campaign for him (GROELING, 2010).
Consequently, Seth explain that fox journalist have wide knowledge of playing their cards well than everybody else in the industry. In the event of critics, the company defends itself so well in an attempt to show the public that it does not run the conservative affairs.
Seth says:
“When it comes to Fox News Channel, conservatives do not feel the need to “work the ref…The ref is already on their side. Since its 1996 launch, Fox has become a central hub of the conservative movement’s well-oiled media machine (Seth Ackerman, 2013). Together with the GOP organization and its satellite think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan outlets–such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush Limbaugh’s–forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified(Seth Ackerman, 2013). Fox knows how to play this game better than anyone (Seth Ackerman, 2013)”.
According to Seth, fox news is misleading in the sense that they tend to focus on one side of the country’s politics. They act as sef a central organization for the conservatives. Working alongside Wall Street Journal editorial page, Washington Times, and conservative talk-radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh’s. Therefore, the network plays hard role in promoting stories of the republican. Furthermore, the channel is closely linked to biased prints media that spreads news that tend to achieve hidden agenda (Seth Ackerman, 2013).
Other writers include Snyder & Benjamin who values fox claims of being a fare network through their coverage of the rising spring movement. Between 2008 and 2013, the Arabs countries were going through a lot of pain from outside and local attacks. The uprising comes as a result of leadership struggle between its leaders and struggle for democracy. Fox held the biggest percentage of viewers during prime hours. However, they lost command and viewers for some programs that resulted from the method used to cover news from Arab countries in the year 2011. These viewers fled to other networks that were clearer and were less likely to take sides (Seth Ackerman, 2013). This situation saw the company made good growth that has been experienced before reduction in terms of percentage market share. Fox News Channel was started on the premise that something was wrong with news media–which somehow, bias found its way into reporting and it is not just the way you tell a story that can get in the way of the truth, but choosing what to say.
Snyder and Benjamin explain that fox channel was started to feel the gap that existed in the media industry (Snyder & Benjamin, 2013). In the past, the company has changed its business model where biased news are the major component in its broadcasting activities. The company leaves out some information in their news so as to achieve their goals. Thus, the public as a biased network views the company. This has not only affected the market for news but also the original purpose of establishing the media.
The news reporter and host make the situation even worse by setting up debate that includes more members from one party. This caused debate in the public about the fair share the company is according the political parties in the country. These factors make the company face a lot of criticism from the public. Fox on the other hand has defended its moves so well in such a manner that it has continually made promises to fight against biased reporting activities.
Conclusion
Fox media is biased in its business of representing different groups. It is evident through a variety of activities carried out by the media. Representation in the debates is one of the activities that show some discrimination element in the system. In most cases, presidential candidates have ignored invitation to the events sponsored by fox media because they feel bad after the debate. This is because the host seems to focus more on one side while supporting the other side throughout the debate session. Media channel informs the general public about the happenings and news as they develop around the world. News coverage is also another aspect that represents the issue of fairness. Strategy adopted by a media channels affects the way business is carried out. Most viewers have criticized fox media as being subjective in their coverage. This has led to claims of biasness
References
Aarts, K., Blais, A., Schmitt, H., & European Consortium for Political Research. (2011).Political leaders and democratic elections. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Greenwald, R., & Brave New Films. (2010). Fox attacks! United States: Brave New Films.
GROELING, T. (2010). Who’s the Fairest of them All? An Empirical Test for Partisan Bias on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 22(1), 231-234. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.02668.x
Schaefer, T. M., & Birkland, T. A. (2010). Encyclopedia of media and politics. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
Seth Ackerman. (2013, February 1). The Most Biased Name in News — FAIR. Retrieved from http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/the-most-biased-name-in-news/
Snyder, & Benjamin. (2013). How the Arab Spring Movement Has Been Covered by CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. SURFACE, New York: Syracuse University.