Question for Bill Shine: Is Fox News “the voice of opposition” or “not ideological”?

Written by Christine Schwen

Published

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.