Media Bias in Political Reporting: A Case Study of the White House and Fox News

[math_04]

Well, President Obama has attacked an unnamed TV station for constantly attacking his administration. hmmm...i wonder which network it is

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2009/20090616181219.aspx

 

[OAQfirst]

“It’s very hard for me to swallow that one,” Obama said. “First of all, I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration,” he added, chuckling.

“I assume you’re talking about Fox,” Harwood replied.

“Well, that’s a pretty big megaphone and you’d be hard-pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front,” Obama said.

This doesn't exactly read like an attack on Fox.

 

[math_04]

Well, judging from the lies that Fox News has been spreading about Obama in the last year or so, I am surprised he has stayed silent and calm. It is one thing to criticize his policies in an educated manner and another thing to throw slurs at him.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Well, judging from the lies that Fox News has been spreading about Obama in the last year or so, I am surprised he has stayed silent and calm. It is one thing to criticize his policies in an educated manner and another thing to throw slurs at him.

Not that I necessarily disbelieve you but what lies in particular?

 

[math_04]

Not that I necessarily disbelieve you but what lies in particular?

Where should I start? The lies about Barack Obama being part of ACORN and and that he was friends with a whole group of domestic terrorists. The lies about him being a Muslim, Arab (no disrespect meant at that demographic and was blatant racism by Fox) and was planning to sell America to terrorists, the lies about him being anti Semitic which I find ridiculous and a whole heap of other hate promoting, racist material.

 

[cristo]

Where should I start? The lies about Barack Obama being part of ACORN and and that he was friends with a whole group of domestic terrorists. The lies about him being a Muslim, Arab (no disrespect meant at that demographic and was blatant racism by Fox) and was planning to sell America to terrorists, the lies about him being anti Semitic which I find ridiculous and a whole heap of other hate promoting, racist material.

You'll have to provide some evidence, else this thread is simply unfounded accusation.

 

[math_04]

Well, I got as many as I can find. For the whole collection, just type Obama Fox News on youtube, trust me, it won't be that hard

 

[Hurkyl]

Well, I got as many as I can find.

You wasted my time. :grumpy: I watched the first one and half of the second, and heard nothing related to the accusitions you were asked to defend. Post something relevant, or don't post at all.

 

[cristo]

Well, I watched the first one. Clearly, this is not Fox saying that "Obama wants to be called Hussein"-- this is a random guest on a Fox news show saying that. The Fox host pulls her up on it and, after he says "where did you read that" she says "I dunno." This is misrepresentation of the news channel. I'm not watching the rest!

 

[math_04]

Sorry about the first one, my bad. All the evidence I have got so far comes from watching the channel over a period of time and I made a sloppy effort in my haste to find clips of Fox News at their finest. Again, its best you do your own research and come up with your conclusions. All I am pointing out is their bias and outright lies in some cases from having watched the channel for a while now, to get evidence in this case takes time and effort . Hopefully soon, I can find it and then ill post what I can up.

 

[Hurkyl]

Again, its best you do your own research and come up with your conclusions.

You do the research. You're the one making assertions, it's your job to back them up.

 

[math_04]

You do the research. You're the one making assertions, it's your job to back them up.

Yes, I will once I have enough time on my hands.

 

[wittgenstein]

I am sorry, this is so stupid! Simply watch one hour of Fox "news". Anyone that does not think that Fox "news" is biased, well ...

 

[cristo]

I am sorry, this is so stupid! Simply watch one hour of Fox "news". Anyone that does not think that Fox "news" is biased, well ...

There's a difference between having a bias and spreading lies. The OP is accusing, without backup, that Fox is doing the latter.

 

[wittgenstein]

For the research challenged
Just one example among thousands,
“Obama Says U.S. Is a ‘Muslim Country"
Fox headline
What Obama actually said

“If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
Anyway, I do not have time for this. Next someone will want me to prove that the Earth is not flat.

 

[humanino]

There's a difference between having a bias and spreading lies. The OP is accusing, without backup, that Fox is doing the latter.

Well that's interesting. Because Fox has became professional in being borderline between spreading lies and just having people carefully chosen so that their audience hear what they want to hear, which often has nothing to do with truth. Which is worse ?

 

[cristo]

For the research challenged
Just one example among thousands,
“Obama Says U.S. Is a ‘Muslim Country"
Fox headline
What Obama actually said

“If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
Anyway, I do not have time for this. Next someone will want me to prove that the Earth is not flat.

Do you not know the difference between providing evidence and putting comments in quotations without saying exactly where they have come from?

If you provide a source proving that Fox made some of these comments then you can accuse them of spreading lies. Without such source, your comments mean nothing (and, I should add, are against the P&WA forum rules).

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

For the research challenged
Just one example among thousands,
“Obama Says U.S. Is a ‘Muslim Country"
Fox headline
What Obama actually said

“If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
Anyway, I do not have time for this. Next someone will want me to prove that the Earth is not flat.

That's called "spin". Spin can often be virtually the same in effect as lying but there is certainly a difference.

For example I could say "President Obama Attacks Fox News" and it wouldn't necessarily be a lie but it isn't necessarily true either. One could say that it is quite easy to deduce that Obama is referring to Fox news and someone else could say that it doesn't matter because he never explicitly refers to them and so we can not accuse him of doing so.

Similarly one could say it is obvious in the quote you have produced that Obama's intention was not to refer to the US as a "Muslim Country" and another could say that taking his verbiage literally he is referring to the US as such regardless of his intent.

This is one of the reasons why they have speech writers who spend sometimes days carefully crafting the presidents words. Its an attempt to prevent anyone from reading other intentions into his words either accidentally or purposefully.

 

[Evo]

Locked pending moderation.

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