Fox News Proud Tagline Vs. Its Reality

Fair and Balanced?: Fox News’ Proud Tagline vs. Its Reality

What is the definition of a proper news organization, and what are its responsibilities? First and foremost, a legitimate news channel must abide by the rules of journalism. Meaning, it must deliver reliable and truthful content, be proportionate and comprehensive regarding the events, perspectives, backgrounds and demographics it covers. It must also be wary of misrepresenting or oversimplifying a story, respond quickly to inquiries about clarity or fairness, and always acknowledge any mistakes and try to fix them immediately. How does the American society regard Fox News with respect to these basic rules? As it turns out, the cable has become the country’s least trusted; however,
It makes efforts to maintain them, despite some accusations in the past for having altered and manipulated information. Many think that it is obvious that it favors only Republicans and tries to limit support exclusively toward conservatives. To those, surprisingly, the company owning Fox News supports both liberals and conservatives financially. 21st Century Fox, the company that owns Fox News, has a Political Action Committee that is fond of both parties. In fact, the company has been more charitable to Senate’s Democrats than to Republicans. However, the donations of the Political Action Committee do not reflect the actions of the news channel itself. Therefore it can be said that this does not prove Fox News’ neutrality in a strong manner. Many also claim that Fox News has bias that influences the audience’s voting behavior and goes as far to misinform them (as numerous surveys convey). For example, a study has concluded that since the areas where Fox News aired showed increased support for the Republican Party during the years 1996-2000, it can be implied that there has been a shift in voting behavior due to the cable. Another study has concluded that Fox viewers are the least informed. Of course, a lot of the time of
Fox News pushes a certain social agenda, making it more of a propaganda organization than a news organization. One issue that sticks out the most is, surprisingly, global warming. Fox News has proven to have a tendency to cast doubt on the validity of the phenomenon, and to deliver a skewed discussion of it. Skewed discussion does not mean inaccurate information, but it misleads the audience. For example, Fox News was found to be the least accurate of CNN, itself and MSNBC on climate change coverage, with 72% of its statements labeled as misleading. Another study found that Fox News affects its audience to be skeptical of both the phenomenon and scientists. The cable also subtly mocks, marginalizes and attacks people of certain parties, religion, race or sex through aggressive punditry or manipulation of information. Its commentators have mocked a female pilot who fought against the ISIS, and have attacked Muslims in the wake of the bombing in Boston. Although Fox News does not blatantly deliver false information (which means that technically they are fair and balanced), it has been proven that it takes advantage of media manipulation and very brazen pundits. It needs to know that its commentators may be seen as those