Sorry for the redundant and obvious headline. I just couldn't think of what else to title this piece. After watching my DVR recording of last night's Real Time with Bill Maher, I turned the cable box to 721, which is the HD version of FOX "News." Why? Oh, frack, I don't know.
What I got was FOX News Watch, which sounds like a "straight news" show, but I suppose if you parse the title, it comes down to watching FOX "News", right? That sort of navel gazing is exactly what I found. When the White House's Anita Dunn gave her smack down of FOX "News," the sting must've smarted for a good long time. Because for an entire segment, FOX News Watch talked about nothing else. And their panel discussion group--no different than if it was on Hannity or FOX "News" Sunday--defended FOX's reputation by. . .going after Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, for one. And by claiming that FOX is news, bookended by opinion shows, and that people know the difference.
Really? OK then, is FOX News Watch a news show, or an opinion show? The segments following the "is FOX real news" bit included, "is Obama being transparent enough?" and then a "was Rush Limbaugh treated fairly by the NFL?" Juan Williams, a token in a couple of ways (sorry), gives a game effort to arguing against an obvious partisan bent, even if he has a blind spot as it pertains to FOX's coverage. The rest--all of them--were arguing from a right-wing standpoint. As on damned near every other FOX program.
As I've said before, if you have eyes, ears and brains, you can see FOX's right-wing bias at any hour of the day. Watch the news crawl at the bottom of the screen. Watch the in-house ads for other programming. Their gamest efforts at "straight news" are even tinged with right-wing bias by their story selection, and framing. Geraldo Rivera's show At Large you would think would be a left-slanting opinion show. But it isn't, not really. The subjects are chosen with a right-wing audience in mind. What's Geraldo covering this weekend? "Is the NFL being fair to Rush?"
Listen, if FOX "News" were really a straight-ahead news channel, with a few hours of "opinion," and was not an ideologically driven political entity, answer me this. Why is virtually every "defender" or "FOX Fan" a right-winger? Hmmm? And why is FOXNation, the internet offshoot practically a right supremacy, evangelical, tea bagging, birther, deather, tenther, wingnut meeting? Why?
The attempt to defend FOX "News" as a legitimate news gathering organization is laughable. Preposterous. And every "FOX Fan" knows it.
Williams can think what he wants. For so many years Limbaugh has spent his time on the radio mis-labeling or mis-characterizing others . Finally he had his judgment day.
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