Fox News Channel

Launched in 1996, Fox News has in recent years consistently earned higher viewer ratings than the other cable news networks. It is owned by News Corp., which also owns Fox Broadcasting Co. The media empire of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch also includes the conservative New York Post and The Weekly Standard. Roger Ailes, the chairman, CEO, and president of Fox News Channel, is a former aide to President Nixon, a consultant to President Reagan, and worked for George H. W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.

Fox News' programming features numerous on-air personalities who have furthered conservative misinformation, including Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor, who labels himself "a traditionalist"; Sean Hannity, who with Alan Colmes co-hosts Hannity & Colmes; and Brit Hume, host of Special Report, which is largely presented as straight news, though Hume injects his conservative perspective into much of the program's coverage. As a July 2004 Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting study has documented, Special Report regularly features one-on-one interviews with subjects who are conservative far more often than liberal or moderate. The show also includes a discussion panel that often repeats Republican talking points. The morning program Fox & Friends features three hosts with conservative perspectives. Carl Cameron, the network's chief White House correspondent, and congressional correspondent Brian Wilson have both often presented ostensibly straight news programming with a slant that favors conservatives. Fox's other daytime programs (The Big Story with John Gibson, Fox News Live, and Your World with Neil Cavuto) and its marquee weekend news show (Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, which also airs on Fox Broadcasting Co. affiliates) also are presented as objective news sources, yet Media Matters for America has compiled substantial research indicating the network's coverage most often favors the conservative viewpoint and often blatantly misinforms viewers.

Fox's featured programs (Fox & Friends, The O'Reilly Factor, and Hannity & Colmes) often advance misinformation that furthers the conservative position on an entire slate of issues. Besides the network's self-identified conservatives, Fox's "straight news" anchors and reporters continually amplify misinformation that favors the conservative viewpoint and on occasion have even admitted their own conservative perspective.

Here are some of examples of Fox News' consistent practice of presenting news in a way that favors the conservative position:

Fox News doctors AP reports to mimic White House terminology [2/23/05]

"[O]n the Fox News Channel programs Special Report with Brit Hume and Hannity & Colmes, only the polls that provided good news for Bush-Cheney and the least positive results for Kerry-Edwards were reported." [7/9/04]

Fox 'Supreme Court Analyst' declares it's 'our job' to make sure Bush nominee isn't 'vilified by the left' [7/1/05]

"Although Fox News Channel purportedly refused to run the latest attack ad from discredited anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth because it 'accuses Kerry of treason, a crime punishable by death,' the network gave the ad plenty of free airtime during network news coverage." [9/24/04]

"On the August 6 edition of Fox News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume, the 'Fox All-Star Panel' attempted to put the best possible spin on disappointing job numbers for July, discussing the new data using almost the same language as the Bush administration and the Republican National Committee (RNC)." [8/10/04]

"[Tom] Adkins has used each of his regular appearances on Your World [with Neil Cavuto] to launch vitriolic attacks against Democrats under the guise of economic analysis. Fox News Channel offers no information about Adkins to indicate why the network thinks he is qualified to provide such analysis." [8/3/04]

"Fox News Channel devoted an entire segment of the September 28 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume to an interview with the president of a conservative front group who attacked Senator John Kerry while pretending to analyze the voting preferences of 'this year's crucial target voter,' the so-called 'security moms.' " [9/29/04]

"Fox News Channel general assignment reporter Major Garrett falsely suggested that Democrats were perpetrating voter fraud in Philadelphia." [10/25/04]

"Fox News Channel aired one hour and 16 minutes less of speeches from the [Democratic] convention live than did CNN and one hour and 47 minutes less than did MSNBC." [8/2/04]

"Fox News Channel anchor Greg Jarrett practically pleaded with his Republican guest, Craig L. Fuller (chief of staff under former Vice President George H.W. Bush), to repeat a Bush-Cheney '04 attack on the Democratic National Convention." [7/26/04]