Question for Bill Shine: Is Fox News "the voice of opposition" or "not ideological"?
SUMMARY: According to The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, "Fox executives maintain that the channel's reporting is ... not ideological," and "Senior Vice President Bill Shine says that 'our reporters, people like Major Garrett, have been asking tougher questions' than their rivals." But Fox News has said that it is going further with the Obama administration than merely "asking tougher questions" than their rivals; Shine has recently characterized the network as "the voice of opposition on some issues."
In his March 30 Washington Post column, media critic Howard Kurtz wrote, "Fox [News] executives maintain that the channel's reporting is aggressive but not ideological," adding, "Senior Vice President Bill Shine says that 'our reporters, people like Major Garrett, have been asking tougher questions' than their rivals, such as scrutinizing efforts to increase White House involvement in the 2010 Census." But Fox News' strategy in covering the new administration is not limited to " 'asking tougher questions' than their rivals"; Shine recently suggested that Fox News could serve as "the voice of opposition on some issues" with Democrats in power in Washington.
A March 23 report on NPR's Media Circus featured clips of Shine saying of Fox News: "There were a couple of people who basically wrote about our demise come last November, December, and were, I guess, rooting for us to go away. ... With this particular group of people in power right now, and the honeymoon they've had from other members of the media, does it make it a little bit easier for us to be the voice of opposition on some issues?"
From Kurtz's March 30 Washington Post column:
Fox executives maintain that the channel's reporting is aggressive but not ideological. Senior Vice President Bill Shine says that "our reporters, people like Major Garrett, have been asking tougher questions" than their rivals, such as scrutinizing efforts to increase White House involvement in the 2010 Census.
As for the commentators, Shine says Hannity still has some liberal guests and that Beck has "a very populist message -- he's mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. There's anger and fear out there and he's giving people an outlet for that."
From the March 23 edition of NPR's Media Circus:
DAVID FOLKENFLIK (NPR media correspondent): How has the Fox News Channel fared in the age of President Obama? Quite well, thank you, says Bill Shine, Fox News' senior vice president for programming.
SHINE [audio clip]: There were a couple of people who basically wrote about our demise come last November, December, and were, I guess, rooting for us to go away.
FOLKENFLIK: Ratings estimates from Nielsen show audience levels are up; crazy high for a news channel, and among the highest of all basic cable channels. And Shine says that's because Fox has taken a skeptical eye to the new administration.
SHINE [audio clip]: With this particular group of people in power right now, and the honeymoon they've had from other members of the media, does it make it a little bit easier for us to be the voice of opposition on some issues?
FOLKENFLIK: Let me answer that for him: Sure it does.
right not ideological....which is why they have karl rove, billo the clown, glenn beck and the mannity spewing their garbage only on fixed news.
Don't forget, Huckabee, Coulter, Corsi, and others that normally appear on there more or less on a very frequent basis.
I wouldn't mind them asking "tough questions", but they're not really asking tough questions, they're just belittling whatever it is that the Obama administration is doing, and they don't have a counterpoint on to the questions that they are asking.
If they're going to ask the "tough" questions, shouldn't they, at least, get someone on there to respond to said tough questions?
If they hadn't spent the last eight years lobbing softballs and bouquets at the Bush administration, I wouldn't mind them asking "tough questions" now.
But Fox News' "tough" question is an actual news organization's "loaded" question, so screw 'em. They've made their own bed, let them lie in it when the administration doesn't go on their shows now.
oh yeah, I would call it " destructive opposition ". Like Hannity pushing relentlessly for geithner to be fired and not providing a debate forum to explain why.
Did Fukenflack ask any tough questions of this clown at all?
are you kiddin' .........they went on about " 3 trillion dollar deficit Obama is going to saddle us with " pretending Bush never existed and all this is because of the " democrats.
beat ya to bringing up karl rove
owe ya an ice cold one next bbq.
lol done
Shine says Hannity still has some liberal guests and that Beck has "a very populist message -- he's mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. There's anger and fear out there and he's giving people an outlet for that."
So, "some" liberal guests as offsets to Hannity's ideological rants = "fair and balanced". No surprise there, but Beck's channeling Howard Beale exposes Fox's strategy for all to see. Take a minimally educated, perpetually uninformed, paranoid radio hack and let him "divine" the public pulse. I suppose like "Network", Fox will soon be lining up the soothsayers, tarot cards, and palm readers behind their body language expert.
"Fair and Balanced" should read "Fairly Unbalanced"
tbone building off of what you said...remember when Hannity and Colmes were talking with Robert Gibbs after the one debate and Hannity got schooled about Andy Martin, and Colmes unable to contain his laughter?
Their ratings shouldn't surprise anyone. The right is apoplectic about Obama and Fox provides the anodyne in the form of a big warm hug and a kiss, i.e. Fox tells them what they want to hear, all day, every day, with clowns sitting in as news analysts.
"not ideological"..........geez they can't even tell the truth about their own station.
They have "liberals" on their shows.........you mean from central casting at the Network ?
They rarely have any "liberal" worth a salt on and the ones that appear are "strategists" - for whom is anyones guess
well colmes was pretty good i think
I'd like to see Vannity go up against Thom Hartmann. One "Well, Jefferson once wrote in a letter to Madison's wife..." and Vannity's head would explode.
Questions for Bill Shine:
How does it feel being a whore for right wing wackoism?
How do you sleep at night?
Is the money really that good?
Why do you even pretend to be a legitmate news outlet?
Do you feel even one shred of obligation for consistently reporting events accurately instead of just perpetual spinning?
Do you even care that you are feeding an uninformed electorate and appealing to their worst instincts and beliefs?
How much worse is FOX going to get?
Did you see that Faux News has opened a opinion site!! I know, I know the obvious question what will be the difference? It is called Fox Nation?!?!?
and here is your answers
"it feels great"
"i sleep ok because i check my soul and conscience at the door"
"the money is terrific"
"but we are fair and balanced, our slogan says so"
"i consistentaly report what is given to me, no spin juts like bill o'reilly"
"we are informing the american people"
"we have the higest ratings, i can't see how you would think it would get worse"
And of course, Howard Kurtz interrupted the FOX spiel, and asked a hard-hitting question, challenging the spokesperson's assertion that FOX isn't ideological.
Bwahaha. As if!
I remember well Bush 41 referring to Roger Ailes as " Our boy ". it don't take no edumacation to figure that one out....hahahaha
Did anyone catch the interview with the Mafia guy last week ?
They bring this guy in as an expert ? So now the Obama administration
is officially mob-like.
Did you catch the hosts sitting there acting as if this guy was some sort of political scholar. It was mind blowing.
And the best part about Fox is that, it isn't even owned by an American.
Good point magnolialover