Dear Rupert Murdoch and John Prescott Ellis,
Let me say first, that I applaud you on your mission to generate "fair" news, as it says on your website. Because we live in a democracy, your news corporation allows us the freedom to understand and analyze what is going on in politics and society, and I truly applaud you for that! I understand that with every news company, the good must come along with the bad, and I wanted your corporation to read this letter because FOX might get higher viewership and ratings from the opinion that I want to share with you today. I am writing you today because it has come to my attention that the news you choose to cover can at times, be biased. I do not want you to discard this letter just because I am writing to criticize your broadcasting company, instead I truly hope you can gain insight from what I have to say about the issue that you cover on TV, online, and in your newsletters. I have been a fan of FOX for quite some time, in fact, I receive your newsletter in the mail! As a concerned citizen regarding the direction that your corporation is moving in, I think that FOX should have more liberal commentary, to draw in other viewers. In this letter, I hope for your corporation to improve, and perhaps you will gain more insight on what some of your viewers want.
In order to gain a complete view of how FOX delivers and covers its news, I decided to critically read the FOX newsletters that are sent in the mail on a weekly basis. I read online articles, watched your TV shows, and read your newsletters avidly for two weeks straight. What I found did not really surprise me after an article I read on FOX's contract with GOP canidates to exclusively interview with their network. In fact, this exact article was what sparked my interest in trying to find a way to get rid of FOX's biased image. Although, FOX is one of the most highly rated news companies, it has gained that prestige with poor reporting, biased coverage, and shows that viewers may watch just to become even more outraged with the makings of this company.
Interestingly enough, FOX's main slogan on their online website is "fair and balanced". Unfortunately this is DEFINITELY not the case... Over a series of two weeks, specifically the first two weeks of October 2010, Fox's newsletters main headline was on the Republican GOP canidates. I am not entirely sure if these main headlines were due to their exclusive contract with four of the main republican future canidates for presidency, or if these were the stories that the news corporation thought were most pertinent to the American public. Although this is my own person opinon, I do not think that FOX news is adhering to its "journalistic integrity", and is just trying gain more viewership for its broadcasting company due to the "imitation of success". In addition, it does not necessarily help when shows such as the O'Reiley Factor and the Glenn Beck show openly admit that they are a "die hard" republicans. For example, during Glen Beck's show on October 5th, he explicitly said that America has lost its authenticity and he is 'proud' to be a republican. Secondly, Bill O'Reiley has always publicly stated that he is a republican on his show and on other talk shows such as the view, BUT during the two week period that I "critically" watched his shows, he made no mention of it. Instead, he just talked about Obama's health care policy failing, and that Obama has made us more in debt than the Bush Administration had. Obviously, his opinions are conservative and right-winged. Interestingly enough, there are NO shows that have hosts that are openly democratic. To me, this is explicitly showing that FOX news is not trying to have substansive coverage, rather they are relying on biased political statistics and even more biased commentary on heated political and social issues, in order to get high viewership, and as a consequence, generate more income for their network. Going back to FOX's main slogan "fair and balanced".... In what way are these aspects of the corporation fair and balanced?
In analyzing the actual television broadcast of FOX news, I noticed the same trend in the sense that the main headlines were usually concerning about what the republicans are doing in the political spectrum. For example, on the Glenn Beck show, when he had a campaign at the Lincoln Memorial paralleling Martin Luther King's civil rights movement to what the republicans are trying to accomplish for the 2012 election campaign. His speech did not make any sense at all, and was clearly targeting the aspect of republican canidates being superior to democratic canidates in the sense that he was making trivial assumptions that the God- loving republican candiates were the people who were going to take this country in a positive direction. Just to further my opinion on Glenn Beck, he was the man who on his show, publicly said that gay people were not born naturally that way, "they were made". As a political correspondent, I thought that this statement was extremely inappropriate.
While viewing the website, the bias theme was yet again confirmed. The main tabs located on the websites home page was very US focused, and each article that I personally read, was bias in the sense that they only explained the United State's side of the story, instead of going further as a news company and interviewing and asking how other countries felt about the stance that the United States was taking on various issues. News companies such as BBC and Al Jazeera make it a point out of journalistic integrity to show both sides of the story. Even though BBC and Al Jazeera to cover the United States more than other countires around the world, their stories have primary facts and cover BOTH sides of the story, and let the readers or viewers decide how to feel on whatever issue is presented.
In summary, I think the FOX news broadcasting company needs to restore its journalistic integrity and stop focusing on getting high viewership, and a high influx of money as a consequence. If every news broadcasting company focused on maintaing journalistic integrity, and state just primary facts, I think that the world's opinon of the United States would be dramatically different; in a positive way! My advice to you FOX news, "Start the trend!" You will increase your viewership by adding liberals, and maintaining your conservative audience. This is a win-win situation, if you construct your broadcasting company in a less bias way, and make smart moves in the news anchors, political shows, and articles that you decide to cover. If every news corporation was fair, they would gain the viewership of both liberals and conservatives, while keeping that controversial edge, and using it in a positive way!
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