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Friday, November 20, 2009
Who Ya Gonna' Call When You Want Actual News?
| Fox News | MSNBC |
| Claims "fair and balanced" coverage | Calls itself "the place for politics." It's more: it's a source for actual facts, supported by identified sources and sometimes audio or video or the subject |
| Try to imagine a FOX morning show hosted by Ron Reagan, Jr. (it ain't gonna happen) | Runs three-hour daily show featuring Joe Scarborough (a conservative from Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution.") |
| Bill O'Reilly | No angry white male talk show host that yells and frequently interrupts people. One host frequently has live interviews with people who disagree with her. Amazingly, many of those people come back for future interviews. Reason: they are treated with respect and allowed (encouraged) to present their ideas. |
| Frequently surreal, where opinions run rampant, without any facts to support the opinions, and no guests to actually present opposing ideas (or facts) | No prime-time show that is akin to watching A Clockwork Orange while taking LSD. |
| The closest they have to allowing a lesbian to comment on policy is Lindsey Graham | Diversity - real diversity |
| The Xenophobia Network | Not the network where Lou Dobbs ultimately ends up. |
| Covered some trivial cases of voter registration fraud (not election fraud) by community-organizing group ACORN | Covered the global economic collapse and a presidential election. |
| Glenn Beck. Steve Ducey. Shawn Hannity. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer. These people ooze ignorance, and they're not afraid to use it. | Entire line-up has Bachelors' or Masters' degrees; one has a PhD |
| Losing advertising because of biased programming | Gaining advertising (and market share) It's intersting that several right-wing special interest groups are placing ads on MSNBC during prime-time. My conclusion: those groups recognise that MSNBC fans are open-minded and might be persuaded by a good message |
| Organized anti-government tea parties comprised of people who have health insurance to try to guarantee that people with no health insurance remain uninsured | Keith Olbermann (MSNBC news show host) Organized free health clinics across the country to draw attention to the millions of people without health coverage. Note: at last count, Olbermann's viewers sponsored those free clinics to the tune of $1.7 million. Olbermann himself donated $25,000 to kick off the fund raiser. Interestingly, the bulk of the people who used the services at the first of the free clinics (more are scheduled) were not poor deadbeats who wanted something - anything - for free. They tended to be people with jobs (some with multiple jobs), but could not afford medical insurance or otherwise get needed medical care. |
Note in the above section the term "organized." FOX creates events and then report on them as if the events were truly grass-roots efforts. | Has journalistic integrity. |
| Panders to audience by telling them what they want to hear. | Presents facts, even those that might be uncomfortable to hear. Encourages discussion of more than one side of an issue. |
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