Cavuto's “Fair And Balanced” Speech Coverage? Not So Much
Written by Terry Krepel
Published
During his Fox Business coverage of President Obama's speech to the nation and the Republican response, Neil Cavuto described his show as being “fair and balanced -- a Republican, a Democrat, liberal, conservative.”
Unfortunately, Cavuto didn't live up to his slogan. By our count, the number of conservative or Republican guests Cavuto had during that hour was double that of liberal ones.
In between Obama's address and the Republican response, Cavuto had on fellow Fox Business anchor David Asman, and Fox News correspondent Peter Barnes. Asman attacked Obama for being “unbelievable.”
After the Republican response, Cavuto hosted Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler, followed by Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah and Republican Rep. Dan Burton.
In the next segment, Cavuto brought on conservative activist Grover Norquist, followed by Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar.
In the final segment, Cavuto hosted Republican Rep. James Lankford, followed by a panel discussion between liberal professor Caroline Heldman and fund manager Scott Martin, who rehashed talking points about people in the top tax brackets being “your small business people.” Even Cavuto responded, “I love you dearly, but that's another talking point.”
Cavuto's final guest count for the hour: Six conservatives or Republicans, three liberals or Democrats, and Barnes as the lone neutral reporter.
Cavuto concluded by saying that he hoped he'd offered a “very fair and balanced view of what's at stake.” If that was his objective, he was unsuccessful. This hour of cable news -- like so many on Fox News and Fox Business -- was decidedly unfair and unbalanced.