Fox News Lies but so Do the Others

As the war of words between Fox News and the Obama Administration continues, one thing becomes clear -- assertions that Fox News gives slanted and biased, even dishonest coverage, is and always has been true but its also true they are not alone. Which could be one reason why other news organizations seemed to come to Fox's defense. Journalistic dishonesty wants company.

What conservatives always complained about was not that the mainstream media slanted towards liberals. It;s complaint was that they were never slanted towards conservatives. It wasnt objectivity they wanted. They wanted the same slant, bias and distortions they saw the liberals getting. And in Fox News they have it. But in a much more insidious way.

There is a big difference between Fox's lies and the distortions of other news organizations. What is behind most of the misrepresenations of other news organizations is both incompetence and fear. Fox is not incompetent. And they are not afraid. Their distortions and slanting of the news is willful. And so is much of their dishonesty.

Fox has been asserting that since the Obama Administration has begun their attacks their ratings are up. It's an attempt by Fox News to imply that Obama's attacks against them for bias and dishonest reporting has backfired and has driven more people to watching Fox News. Its Fox's petty way of thinking they are stickng a thumb in Obama's eye. But its also simply not true which should come as no surprise.

The fact is Fox ratings were up last week but not as a result of Obama's firing back at the network. The evidence is they were up because of the balloon boy incident, and it's aftermath, carried live by Fox as it was by the other cable networks and attracted a large audience for all cable networks and is still a news story.

Fox has media people who know this. But it didn't stop the News division from trying to claim that it was Obama's attacks against the network that increased their ratings.

Fox's rating are in fact higher than the other two cable networks but not because of the fight with the White House. That fight is nothing more than retaliation for the fight Fox News picked with Obama. And if Fox tries to assert they have not been picking a fight with Obama and his policies then just add another whopper to Fox's list of lies.

Brit Hume, who has his good moments and bad moments tried to come to Fox's defense by asking if the other cable networks felt good about getting "a pat on the head" from the Administration. His implication is that the press' role should be adversarial in their coverage of politics and that being embraced by the Obama Administration is nothing to be proud of. But distorting the news to comport with right wing propaganda is nothing to be proud of either. And that is what Fox does.

Media Matters reported that over a four day stretch from August 24th-28th Fox News aired 22 news clips opposing health care reform and none supporting it.

It was laughably obvious that during the Bush administration Fox News did every bit as much to deserve "a pat on the head" from Bush and the Republicans as Hume is accusing the other two cable networks of doing for Obama. Fox was about as adversarial over Iraq, Bush's failures in the 911 attacks and the economy as a trained seal is adversarial to a fish.

The real problem though, is not just Fox but the media as a whole. Rick Sanchez, a CNN anchor has been blistered for airing racist Rush Limbaugh quotes that turned out to be false. And he deserves to be blistered. Sanchez is one of the sloppiest journalists on the air and his pandering to what he sees as a "young audience", probably college students who can watch his show at 3 p.m. is almost embarrassing as he keeps using the word " cool" in almost everything he says.

CNN and MSNBC, like Fox, continues a brand of journalism where their anchors just cant stop inserting their own opinions into the news, wanting to be the news as much as reporting it and their opinions are invariably wrong about everything all the time. And no one can deny that MSNBC went from being in Bush's pocket to Obama's pocket as soon as the political winds changed, though to be fair, Keith Olbermann was the lone anti-Bush voice on MSNBC when it wasn't popular be to anti-Bush.

Obama's war with Fox News is a war worth fighting,since they are hardly an unbiased objective news organization and their slogan of fair and balanced is simply a lie. They are neither but wont admit it.

But the two other cable news networks aren't much better . The difference is in Fox's case their slanting of the news is willful and calculated. In CNN's case their misrepresentations are based on incompetence, trying to insinuate their opinions into shaping the debate so they can be the news and shape it instead of just reporting it, and constantly trying to figure out which way the winds are blowing to maximize their ratings.

Fox on the other hand, has built their network understanding that their audience doesnt want the truth, they just want to have their egos massaged and feel like they're right about all the things they are and have been wrong about. And Fox, with commentators like Sean Hannity who are primarily masseurs do a good job giving conservatives a rub down. They have yet to take Bush and the Republicans to task for all the disasters brought on the country from 911 to the economic crisis.

And no one with an IQ in 3 digits would believe that if a Democrat had created the same mess, they wouldnt be pounding away at the Democrats unfitness to run the country. That is Fox's game. And Obama has just decided he no longer wants to play.