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Kiesewetter, J. (2000, May 28). In 20 years, CNN has changed the way we view the news. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from Enquirer: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/05/28/loc_kiesewetter.html

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Some thoughts

Media Bias

Media bias is a very real topic in the media industry and journalism. Quality journalism is often based on the notion of objectivity, of the need for journalist to present both side of the story. Being fair and neutral is also part of the ideal to strive for. Yet the idea of objectivity in the journalistic sense is a difficult task to achieve, simply because that personal opinion and feeling will almost always find its way into a new story. Even the simple task of choosing the words to use could also affect the tone of the story and reflect the writer’s views and thoughts.

Media consolidation & corporatization

The Media industry is slowly shrinking, with media companies becoming bigger as they absorb their smaller rivals and add them to their assets. There are certainly problems in this consolidation of media power into the hands of the same few companies. With so many newspapers and television stations having the same owners, it could results in the lack of diversity in content. The media conglomerates in the form of Disney, News Corp, Viacom and Time Warner, own a wide range of business. These business ranges from newspapers to satellite television station to movie studios. With interests in such a diverse range of industries, there will surely be conflict of interest. In such cases, how will the journalist be expected to react? These are some of the issues that need to be address.

Rupert Murdoch- Commander in Chief

In the previous posts, we have seen what others had said about Fox News, that it is a partisan network voicing out for the Republican Party and toeing the party line. That it had corrupted journalism with its brand of news reporting. Now we will take a look at what does all these have to do with Rupert Murdoch. From his start with just the one newspaper that his father left him, Rupert Murdoch has been acquiring media properties ever since. This has resulted in him being the owner of 175 newspaper, 100 cable channels, 40 television stations, 9 satellite television stations and 1 movie studio. The company which he is a major shareholder and chairman of, New Corp is one of the biggest media company in the world. News Corp, even though it is a publicly listed company, is still very much in the control of Murdoch and his family.

“The Fox News Network is an ideological reflection of its master. The conservative cable newser may bend over backwards to present itself as common people reporting for other common people, but its true mandate s to make a ruling regime’s whims and dictates seem palatable to those it was meant to exploit.” (Kitty, 2005)

This particular passage in the 200 book based on the Outfoxed documentary basically sums up the influence of Rupert Murdoch on Fox News. And let not forgot that he still have his trusty General in the form of Roger Ailes to help him carry out his directives. Therefore, the issue of ownership influencing the editorial is a very real one with Rupert Murdoch, News Corp and Fox News.

Outfoxed

Outfoxed

You cannot talk about FNC and its conservative views without mentioning Outfoxed, which is a documentary produced in 2004 about the Fox News Channel. Outfoxed is an attempt to examine Fox News and has used the various programs in FNC to achieve this.

Below are extracts from Outfoxed which show how FNC has put a conservative spin on their content.

Outfoxed is produced and directed by Robert Greenwald whose liberal views have lead to critics questioning his objectivity. Questions on the lack of contact with FNC and also the use of former FNC employees in the documentary has also lead to criticism that Outfoxed is a liberal media propaganda.

Internal memo

Another item that must be mentioned in the discussion of the alleged bias in Fox News is of course the memo that Senior Vice President, News Editorial Senior Vice President, News Editorial for FNC sent out to its staff. These memo from John Moody contained directives on the angle to take in a news story and also specific item to focus on. This has in effect, set an agenda for the reporter and show host to work according to. And many of these memos can be seen to be adopting a pro Republican message for the reporter to follow.

What I feel here is that such acts are clearly in violation of the notion of objectivity in journalism and news reporting. If this is not being biased, I do not know what else is.

Fox News in-your-face.

The Fox News Channel had been accused of having a media bias in favour of the political right and the Republican Party. This is the main criticism of FNC, with other charges being that it is degrading the standards of journalism and that it is more entertainment than information. Another charge that critics have thrown at FNC is the use of opinions in place of hard actual facts in their news program. There is a blurring of line between reporting and opinions, often making it difficult to know when the facts end and the opinions starts.

Criticisms and allegations of media bias are not only confined to Fox News. CNN was also the target of such allegations. The CNN was also accused of both liberal and conservative bias before. Accuracy in Media, in particular holds the view that the CNN is a pro liberal network. Yet, such accusation, in my view, only served to show that CNN might not be tilted in either direction, and instead is moderate. This might make sense, seeing that they could capture a larger audience if their reporting is not slanted towards the political left or right. By being moderate, they do not risk being alienated by either side.

The unmistakable in-your-face style of reporting so evident in FNC is best represented by one of the channel‘s star, Bill O’Reilly. I believe that the next 2 videos would do a better job of illustrating that. We can see how Bill O’Reilly treat those who hold views that opposed his own.

FNC, then, is the only news network where the guests are treated that way by the host. And you do have to admit that it makes good television.

It is also worth noting that the guests who get hammered in his show are almost always liberals or hold different views on politics as O'Reilly.

Cable News Network

CNN

Cable News Network, or better known by its initial CNN, was found in 1980 by Ted Turner. It is the first news network to broadcast news on 24 hours non-stop format. Since its creation, the network has been successful in reaching out to the American audiences and building up its ratings, until Fox News managed to surpass them in the viewership ratings. One of its first successes was being the first news network to have live coverage of the launching and explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Another event that brought CNN to the forefront of news coverage is the first Gulf War in 1991. During the initial hours of the war, CNN was the only news network that is able to communicate with the outside world from inside Baghdad. CNN reporters managed to produce live reports from Baghdad even as the bombing start. CNN was also the first network to deliver the news of the September 11 attacks.

CNN is currently under the management of Turner Broadcasting System, which itself is a division of Time Warner. The current Time Warner is a result of mergers between 3 different companies. In 1990, the merger of Warner Communication, Inc and Time, Inc formed a new company, Time Warner. In 2001, America Online bought Time Warner and this result in the current Time Warner being one of the largest media conglomerate in the world.

Fox News- Who's the Boss?

The Fox News Channel is an American cable news network which belongs to the Fox Entertainment Group, with the Group itself being owned by News Corporation, one of the largest media conglomerate in the world. Created by Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation, Fox News Channel was launched on October 7, 1996 and had since went on to become the news channel with the largest number of regular viewers in the United States. Roger Ailes, a former media strategist for Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan and George Bush Sr, was hired for the job of CEO, and has been there ever since.

Rupert Murdoch

A man of controversies, Rupert Murdoch is the owner and chairman of News Corporation, the 2^nd largest media conglomerate in the world after The Walt Disney Company. News Corp owns numerous newspapers in countries all over the globe. Other than newspapers, News Corp also has assets in the broadcasting, publishing and entertainment industry. Rupert Murdoch started News Corp with just one newspaper in Adelaide, Australia and has gone on to acquire more newspapers in Australia before expanding into the U.K and subsequently the U.S market.

Roger Ailes

As mentioned, he had been the media advisor and consultant on the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan and George Bush Sr. And he is good at his job, with the result of helping them win their campaigns. He subsequently went back to working in the television industry and became the president of CNBC and created America’s Talking, a cable channel on NBC. This channel was replaced by MSNBC, which is the result of the partnership between Microsoft and NBC. Ailes was then hired by Rupert Murdoch to help create Fox News Channel.