Opinions and Talking Points ...

...Masquerading as News

Molly Henneberg, Fox News 2/15/2006

Here you see the vice president arriving at the White House this morning for a meeting with the president and congressional leaders. After that meeting, the top Senate Democrat, Harry Reid, told reporters he thought the vice president should have a press conference to talk about the incident in Texas. Vice presidents rarely, if ever, do that, but they sometimes do interviews, as Mr. Cheney is doing right now with [Fox News Washington managing editor] Brit [Hume].

Al Gore actually participated in many press conferences. It isn't part of the story to talk about what Vice Presidents allegedly rarely do. This bit of misinformation was delivered in an effort to make Harry Reid seem irrational.

Laurie Dhue, Fox News 8/24/2005

Two influential Washington lobbying groups are not waiting for John Roberts's confirmation hearings to announce their positions on the Supreme Court nominee. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is supporting Roberts. The liberal group People for the American Way is opposing him.

Nice. The gratuitous label nearly always precedes the groups not fitting Fox News' agenda. Can you tell which one it is?

Molly Henneberg, Fox News 7/6/2004

The Bush-Cheney '04 campaign also unveiled a new ad today that shows President Bush with Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, the ad is called "First Choice" because McCain reportedly was Kerry's first choice for the vice presidential slot. ... Shortly after John McCain said "no" to a Kerry-McCain ticket, he appeared with President Bush at an event in Fort Lewis, Washington, last month, and part of his introduction of the president then is featured in the "First Choice" ad, now. ... And again, that ad is being called the "First Choice" ad. Taking a little dig at the Kerry-Edwards ticket, reminding voters that John McCain was Kerr-- apparently, was Kerry's first choice for his vice presidential running mate, but McCain is supporting President Bush.

This is an example of a Fox News Reporter parroting phony claims made by the Bush campaign and reporting it as news. If you will remember, McCain issued a statement that he made no such choice.

Dari Alexander, Fox News 8/29/2004

"Have we ever seen a President be so public about his spirituality?"

Like, OMIGAWD! Interview question, or opinion? Yes we have seen a President be so public about his spirituality.

Molly Henneberg, Fox News 7/6/2004

"And perhaps the most forceful or aggressive response came from the Republican National committee which called Edwards 'a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal'"

Classic. It is somehow newsworthy to quote the RNC smearing the opponent. I know. You're probably thinking big deal. But how many times do you think they ran it that day? That week? Guess.

Molly Henneberg, Fox News 1/2/2006

"President Bush says we're at war against an enemy that wants to attack us again, so he says it's his responsibility as Commander in Chief to protect Americans from terrorists. And that includes, Mr. Bush says, allowing the NSA to wiretap phone calls from known Al Qaeda operatives to people here inside the U.S. Speaking in Texas yesterday, Mr. Bush also repeated his criticism of whomever revealed this one secret program to the media last month, suggesting it hurts America's efforts on the war on terror."

News might sound like this: "there is controversy surrounding the NSA program" ... "the President defended himself from critics" ... here, the President's remarks are simply parroted. It is an opinion that the revealing of the program somehow hurt the war on terror. Molly eagerly states it. Molly want a cracker?

Molly Henneberg, Fox News 7/15/2005

"Republicans say this new information exonerates Karl Rove and shows that he was not trying to blow the cover of a CIA agent, but rather learned her identity and later her name from members of the media. President Bush was joined by his top political adviser this morning as they walked to Marine One.

Reports today, citing a lawyer close to the investigation, say Rove told the grand jury that he heard from journalists that Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. But he didn't know her name, Valerie Plame, until he talked to columnist, Robert Novak, on July 8, 2003.

The lawyer says it was Novak who called Rove to talk about another story and ended up talking about Wilson. And that his wife, Plame, worked for the CIA. In response, Rove reportedly told Novak that he had heard that, too.

The chair of the Republican National Committee says this shows Rove was not the leaker, but rather the recipient of information."

Why is the opinion of the RNC chair relevant to any story? Oh, right. Talking points must be parroted, marching orders must be issued.

It isn't news to parrot talking points and to give opinions. Most of the media are guilty of this, but Fox does it the most, of any large, mainstream entity. I base this opinion upon what I've seen, and upon research that I've done myself.

Hypothetical question. How would it be interpreted if the following were to ever happen?

HYPOTHETICAL DAN RATHER:

"Today, the President announced his new plan for Social Security, but the Democratic National Chairman is opposed to the plan. Terry McCauliffe says that "Bush's plan for Social Security is horrible, and that he opposes it and that blah blah blah blah blah."

If I were listening to this, I would feel that I had not been informed about the plan at all. Sure, stuff about the plan would probably (I hope) get mentioned in other parts of the newscast. I'd want to see those. I don't want to hear about opinions and talking points while I'm watching the news. This is why I have such a low opinion of Fox News.

The purpose of a news program is to inform. The point of being on the receiving end of a news program is to get informed. What info actually gets disseminated on various news programs? Talking points of political parties mixed in with Current events? Or just news? Does Fox's coverage of talking points and parroting of opinions on its news programs (I'm not speaking of news analysis or pundit shows) outweigh other media entities that are widely considered to be valid sources for news? I've seen most if not all of them, and I believe it does.