The Bobcat Nation

Your opinion is Fox News "Fair and Balanced"?

It definitely depends on the hour

I think the news they report is generally fair (as they probably get that from the AP like everybody else).

Their talking heads (most of their content) are undeniably a cheer squad for the Republican Party, however. But that's their target audience, so it makes sense.

Bay Area Cat wrote:I think the news they report is generally fair (as they probably get that from the AP like everybody else).

Their talking heads (most of their content) are undeniably a cheer squad for the Republican Party, however. But that's their target audience, so it makes sense.

And I would suggest that CNN is the chear squad for the left. Fox has a far more diverse group of shows and hosts than any other cable news network. MSNBC would be the only one close.

What talking heads are you speaking of. I know you hate O'Rielly but he is not Fox News.

Ponycat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:I think the news they report is generally fair (as they probably get that from the AP like everybody else).

Their talking heads (most of their content) are undeniably a cheer squad for the Republican Party, however. But that's their target audience, so it makes sense.

And I would suggest that CNN is the chear squad for the left. Fox has a far more diverse group of shows and hosts than any other cable news network. MSNBC would be the only one close.

What talking heads are you speaking of. I know you hate O'Rielly but he is not Fox News.

O'Reilly
Hannity (Colmes is inept)
Smith (if he is still there -- I'm never home these days when he's on)
Cavuto (manages to turn business news into almost exclusively politics)
Gibson (one of the dumbest talking heads on the planet, incidentally)

And then there's poor Greta ... relegated to doing months on end of coverage on the developments of whatever pretty white American chick is missing somewhere in the world. She's not biased as far as I can tell ... she just covers pathetic topics way too often.

Bay Area Cat wrote:

Ponycat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:I think the news they report is generally fair (as they probably get that from the AP like everybody else).

Their talking heads (most of their content) are undeniably a cheer squad for the Republican Party, however. But that's their target audience, so it makes sense.

And I would suggest that CNN is the chear squad for the left. Fox has a far more diverse group of shows and hosts than any other cable news network. MSNBC would be the only one close.

What talking heads are you speaking of. I know you hate O'Rielly but he is not Fox News.

O'Reilly
Hannity (Colmes is inept)
Smith (if he is still there -- I'm never home these days when he's on)
Cavuto (manages to turn business news into almost exclusively politics)
Gibson (one of the dumbest talking heads on the planet, incidentally)

And then there's poor Greta ... relegated to doing months on end of coverage on the developments of whatever pretty white American chick is missing somewhere in the world. She's not biased as far as I can tell ... she just covers pathetic topics way too often.

Please add Britt Hulm to that list

Bay Area Cat wrote: O'Reilly
Hannity (Colmes is inept)
Smith (if he is still there -- I'm never home these days when he's on)
Cavuto (manages to turn business news into almost exclusively politics)
Gibson (one of the dumbest talking heads on the planet, incidentally)

And then there's poor Greta ... relegated to doing months on end of coverage on the developments of whatever pretty white American chick is missing somewhere in the world. She's not biased as far as I can tell ... she just covers pathetic topics way too often.

I'd agree with you 100% on your take on Gibson, but we may be giving Geraldo too much credit, and Anderson Cooper on CNN is doing his best to get into this group.
I disagree with you on Cavuto. It's the only business show I can stand to watch. Leans right
Smith probably leans right but mainly just reports news.
Greta is left leaning, but you don't give her enough credit
Brit Hume ??? but his Fox all stars always consist of a righty (Barnes, and Kristol) a lefty (Juan Williams or Mara Laison) and a moderate usually Kondrake
There legal guy (Napalatono) is the definition of Libertarian

The weekend I don't know a lot about but Meyers is moderate, and Cal Thomas is a traditional conservative (not a Hannity) and Kasich, former Republican legislator but very moderate and should be on prime time, and Ollie North's War Stories is one of the top 5 programs on TV IMHO

Overall it gives things a conservative spin but you very rarely are given only one side even if the left side gets shouted down on occasion (a good thing in my opinion )

I think why Fox gets such a bad rap as being the "conservative" news channel is the fact that most news organizations show a liberal bias.

catamaran wrote:I think why Fox gets such a bad rap as being the "conservative" news channel is the fact that most news organizations show a liberal bias.

I couldn't agree more

catamaran wrote:I think why Fox gets such a bad rap as being the "conservative" news channel is the fact that most news organizations show a liberal bias.

That's interesting, I think CNN gets such a bad rap as being the "Liberal" news channel is the fact that most news organizations show a conservitive bias. I guess it all depends which side of the street you are on.

I guess that makes Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather the bastions of conservative thinkers

catamaran wrote:I guess that makes Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather the bastions of conservative thinkers

No but fair and more balanced than ANYONE on Fox News

mslacat wrote:

catamaran wrote:I guess that makes Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather the bastions of conservative thinkers

No but fair and more balanced than ANYONE on Fox News

When was the last time FOx News got caught reporting a story based on fake documents.

I'm frankly exhausted by the endless and mindless conservative/liberal debate.

The information is out there, now more than ever, for everybody to make up their own minds based on the facts available (even if you have to dig through some garbage punditry to get down to the base facts). Some people take the lazy route, join a "team" and just mindlessly parrot what the pundits tell them to while others (and I really hope I can use the term "most") actually think for themselves.

If one thinks for themselves, they will generally find that neither "team" has much going for it, and both teams are corrupt and don't deserve blind support.

Joining a political party makes sense ... there are ideologies that tend to track to people's views on various issues. However, too many people care more about the party than the issues themselves or the country as a whole. No thinking person is going to agree with their party 100% of the time, yet some are willing to bend over backwards to justify obviously flawed behavior by turning into a team sport as opposed to wanting to root out flawed behavior by everyone ... not just those on the other team.

So all pundits ... mostly a waste of time in my mind. Tossing out "conservative" and "liberal" as though it means something ... a total waste of time. Thinking for oneself completely isolated from keeping track of who is liberal/conservative/democrat/republican/etc ... the only legitimate way to go.

Ponycat wrote:

mslacat wrote:

catamaran wrote:I guess that makes Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather the bastions of conservative thinkers

No but fair and more balanced than ANYONE on Fox News

When was the last time FOx News got caught reporting a story based on fake documents.

Well.... You have the case earlier this year when Fox did a big expose on a couple ex-democratic congress member were breaking the law by lobbying congress with in a year of leaving office. it turns out neither were lobbying, and Fox had to do a retraction

..... or you have the case a few months back when Fox reported on a nasty terrorist cell working out of a certain home in a certain neighborhood. They featured the house, gave the address, and the family was a family of color but they were simply...... a family.

Two quickies in the last 6 months. Point is every news orginazation will make mistakes, with the amount of content they put out it is inevitable, it is what they do when they make a mistake do they hide it or come out and air there dirty laundry in the open.

I guess at least they came out with a retraction. Dan Rather is in a bunker somewhere still trying to prove the fake documents are real enough

Bay Area Cat wrote:I'm frankly exhausted by the endless and mindless conservative/liberal debate.

Since when have you ever not been into....endless and mindless debate my friend

mslacat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:I'm frankly exhausted by the endless and mindless conservative/liberal debate.

Since when have you ever not been into....endless and mindless debate my friend

I'm trying to shake that habit ... but too many mindless people keep endlessly making comments that I can't help but respond to.

But when it comes to the rhetorical "Conservative!" and "Liberal!" talking-point driven race to the bottom ... I seriously can't stomach it anymore. I like a good debate on substantial issues ... but the moment someone tries to use the words "liberal" or "conservative" as a derogatory term (it's like short hand for "I have no idea what I am talking about, so I am going to accuse you of being a liberal or a conservative, even though I don't really know how those terms relate to this issue) in the place of a logical argument or a reference to an on-point comment ... I lose any desire to even try to speak rationally to them. It's just a waste of time.

Bay Area Cat wrote:

mslacat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:I'm frankly exhausted by the endless and mindless conservative/liberal debate.

Since when have you ever not been into....endless and mindless debate my friend

I'm trying to shake that habit ... but too many mindless people keep endlessly making comments that I can't help but respond to.

But when it comes to the rhetorical "Conservative!" and "Liberal!" talking-point driven race to the bottom ... I seriously can't stomach it anymore. I like a good debate on substantial issues ... but the moment someone tries to use the words "liberal" or "conservative" as a derogatory term (it's like short hand for "I have no idea what I am talking about, so I am going to accuse you of being a liberal or a conservative, even though I don't really know how those terms relate to this issue) in the place of a logical argument or a reference to an on-point comment ... I lose any desire to even try to speak rationally to them. It's just a waste of time.

LIBERAL

If I wasn't such a wuss and had more mental problems, I would totally go off on you and call you names and threaten you with full bold bulletin board machismo.

But instead I'll just laugh and say, "Yeah [higher pitch] ... yeah [lower pitch] ... yeah [lowest pitch].