Fox: “We report. You decide.”
“Fair and Balanced”
CNN: “America’s Most Trusted News Source”
You decide. Which “news” sources is the neutral one that presents information just the way it is, casting nonbiased influence over the public? To think that the answer to this question is even possible is absurd. Despite cable news networks’ claims to be opinion-neutral in its news reporting, the media is the culprit that distorts and filters original news messages and content via different distribution channels (online, TV news platforms, newspapers, magazines, etc.).
In fact, they are frequently criticized and ridiculed as two biased names in news, consistently delivering “pure synthesized propaganda” (Dubach). Fox, also known as FauxNews and FoxNoise, is a branch of News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch (Daily Kos), which demonstrates its conservative leaning across the network. In fact, Robert McChesney, author of “The Problem of the Media”, criticizes that “Fox has substituted real journalists with ‘celebrity pontificators’ because it’s just plain cheaper” (Dubach). On the other hand, rival CNN’s liberal bias is embedded in the tone of its reporting’s. To analyze how each network is infusing its left or right-wing opinions and propaganda into its reporting, I present the following case study on the reporting of opinions on the Iraq War as juxtapositions so that you, the readers, can see for yourself:
As giants in the news reporting industry, Fox News and CNN are no different.
Differences in views of the Iraq War
Fox:
CNN:
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In March 2007, both CNN.com and FoxNews.com conducted public opinion polls on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the War in Iraq. While CNN, reporting on the findings of its own polls, reported on its negative perspective of the invasion of Iraq, Fox’s stories, reporting on a poll conducted by the London Times, avoided criticisms. CNN titled the article, “Poll: Confidence in Iraq war down sharply”, a stark contradiction to Fox’s “Poll: Only 27 Percent of Iraqis Say Country Is in Civil War”. From the titles alone, the reader can already tell the polar opposite directions and approach that each news platform would take. CNN outright reported as a statistic that Americans are remarkably “less confident and proud of their country’s involvement in Iraq” (Holland). In contrast, Fox reports that the Iraqi public exhibited “a striking resilience and optimism…[and] do not believe they are embroiled in a civil war”. Fox’s evident conservative bias was clearly manifested as it combated the negative opinions of the American public by indirectly telling Americans what they should [not] think.
As you can see,
News networks create avid followers that think a certain way (with some kind of political bias). Moreover, viewers who already possess certain biases are subject to the selective attention bias, falling under the human trap of only looking for information that suits what they already believe. In this way, they create even more bias in their knowledge of news information, creating a never-ending cycle that keeps on repeating. I challenge you, that the next time you see or hear a news reporting, to compare that with another news source and learn how to avoid being subjected to the opinions of news networks and make up your mind by yourself. It’s tougher than you think.
the same event or piece of information, through the different medium it was presented, became distorted and partial to a particular opinion.
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