Saturday, November 17, 2007

Fox News = Faux News?

I reluctantly admit that I watch the Fox News channel on occasion, primarily the Saturday block of business shows. But, I’ve come to refer to the Fox News channel as “Faux News” because there really isn’t much hard news covered. It’s mostly talk and commentary, and it comes across as smoke, mirrors, and fakery. What they pass off as news is really conservative, too far right leaning opinion. As far as them saying they are “fair and balanced”, they are far from it. I find it both amusing, yet sad, when they invite someone with clearly left leaning ideals on any show, in order to use them as a whipping post.

With the upcoming presidential elections, Fox is pulling out all the stops in their quest to get another Republican in office. This has even seeped further into the business shows, where topics of discussion are tailored in a way to drag down a Democratic candidate under the guise of talking about the stock market. (A topic may be something like “How Hillary Clinton’s laugh is bad for business.” I made that question up but I’m not far off the mark.) In fact, some of the guests (frequently Ben Stein or Wayne Rogers) are bold enough to say, “what does that have to do with the stock market?” essentially laughing in the face of Fox and the show hosts. Fox’s Saturday business shows have become less and less about business, and more about promoting the Fox agenda. Because of this, I find it almost insulting that they seem to think their viewers need to be repeatedly hit on the head with Fox’s opinion. Just give me the news and related information; I can form my own political opinions, thank you.

Their new Fox Business Channel is following a similar path. I haven’t watched it much. I find it hard to tolerate the too-far right leaning conversations. Strangely, the last few times I checked the channel, they were talking about entertainment news and celebrities. It seems an odd focus for a channel who is supposed to have the eye on business.

So for my business news on a daily basis, I’m sticking with CNBC. And for my hard news, Fox (Faux) News is now last on my list.


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