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- meatmcguffin, on 10/12/2007, -15/+87The BBC isn't allowed to be biased by British law as it's run by the UK government and funded by tax payers
It's why the BBC World Service is such a popular broadcast all over the world, as it gives people access to news that's independent from governments.
Against the BBC, fox news is a comedy show - sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -21/+83I am surprised they are allowed to call themselves a News channel. Yes, they do report news, but a little bit biased. I rather watch the BBC News each evening, so the news doesn't look like an Entertainment Show with huge flashing banners, migraine provoking sound-effects, and screaming colors mentioning 'Breaking News' flashing all over the screen.
- CrankyHippo, on 10/12/2007, -11/+49CNN and FOX are some great comedy, now the Daily Show thats the real news.
- chase001, on 10/12/2007, -8/+40A little bit?
- blapierre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31The 24 hr cable news channels are all trash.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -21/+49A victory for America. Less Fox News means less propaganda.
- scottylist, on 10/12/2007, -8/+36If Fox was run by Bush himself it would be less biased than it is now.
- nogami, on 10/12/2007, -11/+37Unfortunately there's nothing in the US laws that requires their news broadcasters to actually present a "fair and balanced" view, and infact, they don't even have to tell the whole story, or even be particularly honest.
Fox news is "info-tainment", not "news". If you want to see what "news" is, watch the BBC (or Canada's CBC). CNN tries pretty hard and has a lot of money, but being inside the US, it's hard for them to be completely objective. Of course, Fox doesn't even try to be objective, they simply pander to the ignorant masses.
Don't get me wrong, I love Fox's entertainment prorgamming - just don't make the mistake of thinking anything different happens at 6pm... - RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -5/+29I've never disliked FOX because of its right-wing bias; that's the market they're targeting - so be it. I do, however, have a problem with its sophomoric new coverage, its fear mongering, and its overall stupidity. The very fact that they employ Geraldo speaks volumes about the network's professionalism...
- Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27Facts can be sad, even when they're really facts (I'm not sure whether they are or not - source? - but that isn't the point).
As for O'Reilly, my favorite talking-point fact regarding him was that after O'Reilly called people who watch The Daily Show "stoned slackers" a couple years ago, The Daily Show shot back with Nielsen stats showing that people who watch The Daily Show are on average more educated than O'Reilly's viewers. (78 percent more likely than the average adult to have four or more years of college education vs 24 percent more likely to have that much schooling for O'Reilly) Jon Stewart for the win.
Source for that (Oh noes! CNN!): http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/28/comedy.politics/ - Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20You know what? It's the damn labels that are killing us. There are nutjobs on "The Right", (Sean Hannity and Anne Coulter come to mind) people who will slander anyone's name if they think it'll boost their ratings or book sales, and who apparently never learned the definition of fascism or what "civil liberties" are. And there are nutjobs on "The Left" who won't accept that sometimes war IS actually necessary, and that our failures in Iraq don't justify a position of immediate withdrawal or the shutting down of every military prison on Earth.
Aside from those nutjobs, pretty much everybody falls somewhere in the middle, but gets forced to "pick a side" between two parties that are BOTH completely out of touch with reality. We need to cut this ***** out. Neither side is killing America - the EXISTENCE of these sides, and their joint effort to destroy anything that doesn't fall to one extreme or another, is killing America. - newjamie, on 10/12/2007, -9/+28No, they take the middle ground on these issues which from an American standpoint is very liberal but is centrist from a British/European perspective.
- Molnies, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19I think Mark Twain said it best:
"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." - whiskeymb, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25to everyone who says that all news channels are bias:
that may be so, but only Foxnews advertises itself as "fair and balanced" which is far from the truth. - loveandrockets, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Two Fox producers covering the Middle East recently quit publicly. They stated Fox has its own political agenda and ignores stories coming from the area that are the least critical of Bush administration policy. They say of FoxNews:
"Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism."
Damn. From their own employees. - the6thReplicant, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21Yes, as an absolute the BBC is biased, but relatively, it is a lot less bias than 80% of the stuff out there. Sorry, but anyone that says that the "BBC hates Bush" (as one of the blog BBC watchdogs has said) must be the type of people who believe in "either you're with us or you're against us" type of rhetoric.
I watch the BBC pretty much everyday and the sort of over the top equal handiness they have to do now, esp after the Hutton report, makes me sick. Now if you want to talk about why the ***** the BBC wants to show "Flog It" (I just realised how rude that can sound) six times a day then we have a pact.
Ciao - cwalk, on 10/12/2007, -17/+33Propaganda is the correct word. Bill O'Reilly is the Joseph Goebbels of our time.
@chase
CNN has a good variety of everything, both bad and good. So I choose CNN.
PS. I'm a pissed off at all news networks for their excessive coverage of Karr and the Ramsay case. - livestradamus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20"It's not that Fox is so much biased to the Right.
It's just that everyone else is almost always so far to the Left, that the move to the Center that Fox delivers makes it seem like it's Right Wing."
That's about the biggest BS I've ever read on digg comments, mind you theres a lot of BS!
You honestly cannot say/think/type that with a straight face. Can you??
The Left is about Center these days, or rather just to the left of the Right. The real liberals are hardly heard from, but they should be heard from! - nogami, on 10/12/2007, -7/+21I have no problem with free _speech_, but I have a problem with a propaganda outlet that lies, and calls it "news".
Sticking your head in the sand is no way to participate and be a member of the global community... - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16It's a sad day when the Daily Show is more factual than fox news.
- simonrward, on 10/12/2007, -18/+31meatmcguffin: Firstly the BBC is not run by the government.Secondly it is not against british law for it to be biased, but against its own charter.
Nevertheless, the BBC is one of the most biased news organisations in the UK. Listen to radio 4, watch the TV channels and you'll see. Plus go to biased-bbc.blogspot.com for reams of examples. - Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16Wait, what? How does the accurate reporting of news (or lack of it) have any bearing on free speech (not "speach")? Nobody's saying Anne Coulter can't sit there and spew ridiculous ***** to oodles of fans just as nuts as she is. That's fine. It's opinion.
The first amendment does not relieve a "news channel" of journalistic responsibility. - Hydraulix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Don't forget about Terror alert elevated! For the past 4 years, the scroll bar at the bottom always has "Terror alert elevated."
http://www.outfoxed.org/ - TheLlamaIs, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16How can you mention The Daily Show without mentioning The Colbert Report?
'Hats off to you America!" - Vermifax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13The news director for Fox News is Bush's cousin (I'm not kidding).
So there, you have it. - Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13When their news reporting is accurate and not opined on in a *news segment* (I've very frequently seen Fox news reporters mix some very slanted words in with their reporting), I have no problem with it at all.
I also have no problem with their opinion shows - that is to say, no problem with the existence of those shows, though I find most of their hosts and commentators for such (Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly) absolutely repulsive. And I'm not exactly a total liberal myself.
The problem is (1) when they deliberately mix the two, or (2) when their opinion shows start behaving like news shows, and people start accepting what they hear on them as news. #2 isn't entirely Fox's fault - they can't stop people from being mindless sheep - but it's a problem they help to aggravate, so it's not like it's a point in their favor. - timdafweak, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17Jon Stewart rulez.. a pity that we in the NL get to see him just once a week on CNN, The Tonight Show - Global Edition...
- Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10A good start, chriskzoo, but you didn't take it far enough. Let me make some edits.
Pretty much. There is probably 20% of the people *in the U.S.A.* that are able to make rational arguments - be it from the republican of democratic side. The other 80% are what I call *easily led sheep* - basically teens that run around yelling "*whatever I don't like* sucks!"
There, that's better. It's the whole damn country. For every liberal who runs around yelling "Bush sucks!" while asking for federal aid for something, there's a conservative who calls themselves a Christian while advocating hate or violence. Mindless polarization over every issue is a depressing epidemic in our country. - the6thReplicant, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Dude I agree 100% percent. It's a shame FOX doesn't agree with you though: Free speech is for those ACLU terrorists.
Ciao - doctorpants, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Arrested Development was a fantastic show, but it had bad ratings.Ratings smatings
Obermann has a great show that calls O'Reilly on his 'untruthiness'. So what if it is lower than O'Reilly. If we base greatness or worthiness based on ratings then one of those idiot reality shows are great.With regard to television, the masses generally aren't a good indication of quality.
What makes the BBC great is that it has no (little?) corporate interests. It's public television. Have you ever seen an interview on the BBC? Then watch one on Fox. There's no comparison.
Forget the ratings and set your ***** detector to maximum scan.. - Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12It had nothing to do with your comment directly, I just enjoy the rivalry between Jon Stewart and O'Reilly. It's fun. :-) I wouldn't call your numbers "updated", since the CNN reported poll was a Nielsen survey, and yours was done by a different group and therefore undoubtedly contained different sample sizes / questions / etc. But I'm not disputing the validity either. Thanks for posting it - I dugg your reply up, just so you know.
As for Fox's leading the popularity contest, Americans like their news to be entertaining and contentious. Fox presents the news that way. That is both (apparent) fact and depressing, hence the "sad" comment. "Popular" and "right" are not known to always go together, you know. - kolobcreek, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12So are you saying that CNN or MSNBC are getting those ratings or is it a slow news quarter?
- nogami, on 10/12/2007, -11/+17That's perhaps the saddest comment I've seen in this entire thread...
- HisTumness, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Get ready for this to be marked as inaccurate despite the fact that it's demonstrably true. Hmm, I wonder who could be behind that?
- nocountries, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11This shows that people have a limit when it comes to obvious bias. Of course there is bias everywhere, even if it's only in the choice of stories to cover, and not cover.
People will tolerate mainstream chanels like CNN, BBC etc but they get a little worried if they feel their news channel is motivated first by promoting an agenda, and only second by reporting the news. It's like being taken in by a sect.
It's good to know that people can see through Fox News. - chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Um, anyone realize that in August '06 everyone was watching Fox news for katrina coverage? As far as the supposed "big increases" on MSNBC and CNN, it's not hard to go up 40% when you have a minimal market share - that's like Apple moving from 5% marketshare to 7% and saying "MS is doomed, we are up 40%!!!"
Seriously, though, Fox still has about the same audience as CNN and MSNBC combined. - piper999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6So...watching Fox News = 'winning the war' and watching other news outlets = 'losing the war'?
Is that what you are reduced to claiming? There really is no answer to this claim because it is so bizarre, irrelevant and blatantly false as to annihilate any point in attempting further discussion with you (which is what you want isn't it?). In other words you are destroying any chance of a serious debate occurring because you feel it is going to fly over your head and you would have to risk being made to feel stupid.
What I'd love to know is why you have to make reference to your high social standing as regards education and income? You're being defensive which makes me think I've upset you and it also makes me think you have an insecurity in this area as well as in respect of your intellect.
Fox News fans I pity you. - Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Well, it's pretty clear just from this thread that a lot of people can't. But yes, it lends some hope to the situation that some can.
- piper999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6The problem here is that Fox News seems to draw its entire viewership from the 50% of Americans who are mentally subnormal.
It's a problem for the rest of us because Fox News is encouraging these people to think they understand what goes on in the world which then encourages these people to vote despite their total ignorance.
The end result is the nightmare of a country run by morons who were elected by morons.
Incidentally, you are a prime example of this category of uncomprehending idiots ranting and threatening people rather than facing up to the fact that what is simple and obvious to the rest of us just causes your brain to hurt and your blood pressure to rise. - piper999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Fox News - Telling stupid people just what they want to hear since 1996.
I guess even the stupid people are questioning why reality is so out of synch with what their favorite news based entertainment channel keeps telling them. - amoirae, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If you're so sick of it, why do you come back and post on digg?
Is it a requirement that you come out from under your bridge and post at least once a day? - SmokedL, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8@dmh11686
"Why is my post sad? Because I presented actual numbers."
From I've seen of the `news` on FOX I really could not call it news and keep a straight face. The facts are so eclipsed by the humongous bias of the way they are reported that I would be more inclined to call in disinformation than news. It's very sad is that such a large percentage of the American people get their news from such a source.
For all those of you out there that watch FOX for news; Please climb out of that hole you are hiding your mind in. If you care to see something that the rest of the western world considers to be reasonably unbiased, watch BBC for news. If you're afraid to go in at the deep end, at least try watching CNN. FOX is not news. - uttles, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12Thanks for that totally un-biased, racially sensitive comment.
- n8236, on 10/12/2007, -11/+15Simply put, Fox news is for Red Necks.
- sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18Apologies for the double-posting. Something went wrong.
- TheSolomon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Exactly. When you show news 24 hours-a-day, your quality *has* to suffer. While there's always something going on in the world, there's *not* always something going on that's new *and* headline-worthy... which is what causes Fox News to, essentially, "make it up." Distorting the truth is fine as long as it keeps dumb asses watching.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Having looked at the Pew report and questions, I have to say that if they are accurate results, it is a sad situation for America in general. For any news show to get less than 100 percent on the 'High Knowledge' category is sad. The questions were which party controls the house, who is the sec of state, and who is the prez of Russia. It should have been called the 'who isn't brain dead' category. I would like to see this survey on a global scale to see just how misinformed we are. A 24% national average is sad. (Hopefully the dig crowd would do better)
As for the CNN survey, some of the questions were redundant, but seemed to be more in depth and more of a test of who was following the election of 04. Its questions were harder, so I would put more weight on that from the knowledge standpoint....but either way the Pew report tells me that we as a society are in a great deal of trouble. - havanese_boy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Comments on digg can be broken down roughly into these categories:
(categories can over lap)
Freaks 40%
Liberals 89%
Apple Lovers 94%
Normal folk 15% (low number is because they look at the stupid comments and go on to the next story and don't waste their time)
what category am I? close to normal, I just had to put this comment to express what may ppl feel about digg comments. - linville, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So, instead of beating CNN + MSNBC _combined_, now they are only 90% of their two major competitors combined. How _will_ they survive???
- UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7"I don't know which is worse blatant opinion on Fox or nonsense on CNN."
Watch the documentary "Outfoxed" (which is biased, of course) and see if you believe similar comments were made on CNN but anti-Bush/pro-Kerry.
I am not talking about the opinion shows, I'm talking about regular news men and women. CNN is not absolutely unbiased but to compare its bias to Fox's is almost laughable. -
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