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Pew Research asks the wrong polling questions about Fox News

October 29, 2009 9:02 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

And that's why Pew gets such obvious results. i.e. Of course, Fox News is viewed by a plurality of Americans as being "mostly conservative." And yes, Fox News is seen by far more viewers as having an ideological slant.

But those findings, as well as the related questions involved in the survey, strike me as being left-overs from a by-gone era when people actually had a debate about whether Fox News was conservative or "fair and balanced." I don't even think Fox News staffers, busy promoting political rallies in 2009, think that tag still applies.

The debate, in part driven by the White House, has clearly moved on and the critical issue today now centers around the very important question and distinction of whether Fox News is still actually in the news business as it's commonly defined and recognized in the United States. The question now on the table is whether Fox News is legitimate.

i.e. Nobody's even debating whether Fox News is "mostly conservative." A) That fact is obvious. And B) that's certainly not why the White House has made Fox News an issue. It picked a fight with Fox News because it views it as a purely political entity; the leader of the Opposition Party.

Frankly, I'm amazed no pollsters have yet posed the relevant Fox News question to U.S. voters (is Fox News legit?), given how the topic has been at the center of a nearly three-week media storm. Obviously, my hunch is that self-unidentified Republicans would support the notion that Fox News is, and Dems would likely disagree. But what about independents and centrist, what would they say?

Beltway insiders seem aghast at the mere suggestion that Fox News isn't legit, and maybe Beltway polling firms and their media sponsors dismiss the notion out of hand, which is why nobody's asking the key question. Maybe the Beltway press doesn't want to know how Americans really feel. Maybe Beltway insiders, who've gone all in defending Fox News, don't want to be embarrassed if, in fact, sizable portions of the population don't even think Fox qualifies as a news outlet.

And P.S. This Pew finding is very poorly worded [emphasis added]: 

The public is split over whether it is a good thing or bad thing for hosts of cable news shows to have strong opinions about politics; 42% see this as a good thing while as many see it as a bad thing.

But what does that phrase, "hosts of cable news shows" mean? Does it mean Bill O'Reilly? He hosts a show on Fox News but I certainly wouldn't call The O'Reilly Factor a "news" program. Not even close. Or does that phrase mean someone like Fox News' Megan Kelly, who hosts what Fox claims is a straight news show, but clearly displays her "strong opinion about politics."

Again, I wish Pew would go back to the drawing board and do everyone a service and mine opinions about Fox news that really matter to the debate at hand.

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    • Author by ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© (October 29, 2009 10:16 pm ET)
      6 2
      The problem is we have right-wing corporate news, and loony right-wing corporate news.

      And this is presented as the full spectrum of opinion, with attendant pie fights and other fluff.

      Millionaires being paid by billionaires.

      You want your loony right-wing news opinion? BOMB IRAN!!!!

      You prefer your respectable right-wing news opinion (aka the liberal-biased MSM, such as the Washington Post)? I'm sorry, and it pains us deeply, but sadly, we must BOMB IRAN!!!!

      And that's all there is.
      ~
      Report Abuse
    • Author by steeve (October 29, 2009 11:47 pm ET)
      3  
      One good thing about these results is they show that nobody actually watches these stupid channels.

      If they did, they'd have some dim memory of CNN, NBC, CBS et al virulently attacking Gore and both Clintons day in and day out, and vigorously promoting conservative policies that have so obviously led to destruction. They wouldn't have answered "liberal" to these channels if they actually watched them. They only answered "liberal" because they've been told that from outside.

      An uninformed public has a chance of being accidentally right about a few issues. A public "informed" by any part of the national media is engineered to be wrong about everything.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by smarshall1432997 (October 29, 2009 11:55 pm ET)
      2  
      Eric, "GREAT" read once more. Btw, Jon Stewart (Host, The Daily Show) "agreed" with you and Media Matters tonight. Jon did so "AWESOME" in breaking down from FoxNews' own description for their time slots of "news" and "opinion" daily programs.

      We think someone should send FoxNews, Pew Research, ABC's Jake Tapper, CNN's Campbell Brown, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, and the rest of MSM a copy, LOL.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (October 30, 2009 3:43 am ET)
        6  
        who-the-F are the 14% that think Fox is mostly liberal? Did they find some Nazi enclave in South America to survey?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by jdkinpa (October 30, 2009 5:10 am ET)
          1  
          Obviously they were all flipping through the channels back in the day when Alan Colmes was given his 30 seconds for rebuttal. Only explanation that could possibly account for it.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Disputed Zone (October 30, 2009 12:32 pm ET)
            1  
            Maybe they got all 14 members of Amazing Grace Baptist Church, who, on Halloween, will burn books by well-known Satan lovers Mother Theresa and Billy Graham.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by political_left-religious_right (October 31, 2009 5:32 pm ET)
             
          Great point, Col. I would guess that we could shift everything in this poll 14 points to the right (if poll responders can be that wrong about Fox, they can be that wrong about the others). That would give the following:

          Fox (0 L, 61 R)
          MSNBC (22 L, 25 R)
          CNN (23 L, 25 R)
          NBC (22 L, 25 R)
          ABC (18 L, 28 R)
          CBS (17 L, 28 R)

          And frankly, I think that does a much better job of pegging where each channel really lies on the political spectrum.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by puttforever4682 (October 30, 2009 4:58 am ET)
      2  
      I think Fox is getting over by being labeled as conservative. They are reactionary and are far to the right of center which is mainly conservative. Liberals are barely liberal at least compared to other countries in the world.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by oscar the grouch (October 30, 2009 4:35 pm ET)
         
      I wonder if the "Public Perception" is from people who actually watch or people who are "opining" on what they have heard about each of the networks listed. We generally tend to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. Watched the World Series game off and on last night and to my opinion, I felt the broadcasters were tilting to the Yankees, but then again a Yankee fan may see it the other way. The same as the poll results above, they are opinions (what was the demographics of those polled?)
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Disputed Zone (October 30, 2009 6:37 pm ET)
           
        If you click on the top link, you'll find more detailed results, including a breakdown of the results by regular viewers of particular channels. For instance:

        The perception of Fox News as mostly conservative is shared equally by regular Fox News viewers and regular viewers of other TV news networks....

        By contrast, regular Fox News viewers are more likely than those who tune into other news networks to see those networks as mostly liberal.


        Certainly some people are hearing what they want to hear.
        Report Abuse

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