Tags
Brit Hume, Fox News, government, Juan Williams, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, politics, President Obama, Republican nominee, South Carolina primary
Most conservatives, myself included, have felt a sense of trust in the reporting of Fox News for quite some time. While I realize they are not the right wing organ that most liberals like to believe they are, I knew I could usually get a pretty “fair and balanced” take on the news. They have been among the only outlets that have been willing to tell the truth about President Obama–and that has been a real strength. However, we are beginning to see a less than welcome change in the last couple of weeks as the Republican primaries has become more and more competitive.
This came to a head Saturday night following Newt’s shellacking of Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary. The circling of the wagons around Mr. Romney became embarrassingly obvious. In light of the rantings of the Romney apologists it would have been easy to mistakenly assume that you been secreted away to an MSNBC broadcast. Anybody that watches Fox expects this kind of behavior from people like Juan Williams. There are times that he is able to mask his liberal leanings, but that is a rarity.
However, one of the things that was so astounding was watching similar behavior from people like Brit Hume–a conservative voice that many of us felt could be trusted. One can only assume that an order came “from above” to do everything possible to show what a fluke this was and that this certainly was no reason to support Newt and every reason why Rick Santorum should stay in the race. Lest I be misunderstood, this may have been a anomaly for Newt and Rick should probably stay in the race, but for Fox News it was shameful to present this argument in the breathless and desperate way in which they did.
It will be very telling to see if this intensifies tomorrow as I expect it will. They will join forces with the Republican establishment in attempting to prematurely coronate a nominee. The common mantra being that Mitt Romney is the only candidate that can beat the President–a thesis which I believe is easily challenged. This will, I believe, create a bit of a backlash among many conservatives. Specifically because, as a rule, people do not like being told what they are supposed to think and who they are supposed to follow–at least a lot of the people I know. It will be quite interesting to see how all of this plays out.
On to Florida we go!
It is interesting! And it is also quite a shame that none of the media seems to want to report news without giving it a slant. Personally, I am tired of hearing what the media wants me to think. It reminds me of the Garden when the snake cast doubts in Eve’s mind in order to sway her allegiance. Same tactics, different time; and it still works.
It seems to me that when a new organization is saying things that you agree with, you view them as being ‘fair and balanced’, but when they don’t you start questioning whether they’re being biased or not.
This is not a trait that is unique to conservatives or to your specifically, of course.
Your point is well taken, but this is where my disagreement comes into play. I am well aware that virtually all of Fox’s commentary programs lean to the right–some more heavily than others (Hannity, Fox & Friends, etc.) Some, like Bill O’ Reilly is more of an equal opportunity offender. Then you have those programs that are more moderate such as Greta’s program or Shep Smith who is more of an Obama apologist. Then there are liberal contributors like Alan Colmes and Bob Beckel, not to mention Geraldo. However, the one hour that I think is the most “fair and balanced” on the entire line-up is “Special Report” at the 6:00pm hour. This was previously hosted by Brit Hume, now by Bret Baier. This is the one hour that one could expect the most unbiased coverage that Fox has to offer. It was when these individuals were so blatant in their support of Romney that it became unsettling. So I think I have a pretty realistic view of what can be expected of this network, and this was certainly not it.
Trust me, no matter HOW bad they were, they were better than msnbc. Whatta bunch of NON-professionals THEY were!
No surprise there–they gave up any semblance of objectivity years ago.