American Politics Journal

FOX Watch
A FAIR Assessment: No Balance
By Morrie Friendly

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 -- If you're a confirmed political junkie with a TV and any semblance of critical thinking, it usually doesn't take long to pick up on the patterns on "public affairs" programming, be they Tim Russert's ambush-and-attack interview tactics on Meet the Press or George Will's penchant for chiming in as early as possible with a wordy and ridiculous comment during the This Week roundtable.

The same goes for the weekday shows on the cable news channels: Geraldo's chummy manner of turning guests on each other during Rivera Live on CNBC, Judy Woodruff's attempt to balance the somewhat Smirk-favorable reporting on CNN's Inside Politics with no-nonsense interview segments, and the relative absence of elected Democrats from Special Edition on FOX News Channel as compared with their Republican counterparts.

And it looks like I'm not the only one who's noticed this last point.

Late last week, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting released statistics on FNC's flagship political program showing that in a five-month period, 50 of 56 political guests interviewed on Special Edition, which is hosted by right-wing "journalist" Brit Hume, were Republican -- and only six were Democrats. FAIR also concluded that 65 out of 92 commentators on Special Edition leaned conservative in their views.

That doesn't sound too fair or balanced, now, does it?

Interestingly, the AP story that detailed FAIR's assessment made it a point to label FAIR as a "liberal" group early on in their report. Of course, right-leaners have already geared up their knee-jerk "whining lefties" boilerplate, but have to face a the reaction of many moderates and liberals: FAIR would not be raising this issue if FOX News Channel were not a de facto "talking drum" for the once-GOP-dominated Congress, the Dick Cheney-Andy Card regime presently occupying the West Wing, the Republican National Committee, and a variety of conservative propaganda "stink tanks."

The bloom is coming off the "fair and balanced" rose -- but FAIR's findings are hardly the first evidence. That came from FNC grand high leader Roger Ailes himself, who pretty much admitted in the recent New York Times Magazine that his operation is far from impartial, tipping his hand with the unsupportable claim that the world leader in cable news, CNN, is "left-biased."

Worst of all for FNS, a cable-industry report obtained by American Politics Journal indicates that the cable news operation has essentially reached the end of their growth curve in the United States -- and has failed to draw the most affluent, educated and influential target viewership away from CNN.

Now, the media and political worlds are starting to catch on to the smoke and mirrors over at FOX News Channel. The FAIR report comes as only another sign that there is trouble on the horizon for FOX, despite conservative efforts to dominate the Beltway and media outlets, because people are watching -- and debunking their core assertion of fairness and balance.