[Vision2020] Fox News Isn't Really Conservative

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (October 14, 2006) Spokesman Review -

Since Fox News should not be considered a "conservative news source", since
Fox News does not qualify as a news source.  Fox "News" is nothing more than
paid political advertising.

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Fox News really isn't conservative
By Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.
October 14, 2006

A few weeks ago I came upon a news item that discussed negotiations to
"secure the release of two kidnapped journalists from Fox News."

So it's come to this, I thought: Fox News is so desperate for journalists
that it's actually kidnapping them.

Upon further reading, I realized that the wording was infelicitous. The
journalists in question weren't kidnapped by Fox News. They were from Fox
News and had been kidnapped by someone else entirely. Fortunately they were
later released unharmed.
 
But that Freudian slip got me thinking about why, as a conservative, I am
appalled by the conduct of the people at Fox. It's not that their reporting
fails to meet the "fair and balanced" standard to which the network claims
to aspire. Truth is, nobody meets that standard. That's fine with me. A
smart reader can weigh one point of view against the other and come up with
a close approximation of the truth.

No, what bothers me about Fox News is its ethics code. It doesn't seem to
have one. Consider the two stars of the Fox News TV lineup, Bill O'Reilly
and Sean Hannity. Both do something that is so far outside the ethical
boundaries for journalists that it isn't even listed in most ethics codes:
They do commercials.

When I'm driving along in the afternoon, I often turn on my radio and hear
Sean Hannity shilling for Ruth's Chris Steak House. Frankly, he's pretty
convincing. I've never been to a Ruth's Chris Steak House, but when I hear
that spiel right before dinnertime, my mouth starts to water.

But after dinner when I turn on my TV there is that same pitchman posing as
a journalist. Sean Hannity is not a conservative. He just plays one on TV.
The same goes for Bill O'Reilly. The man who claims to work in a "no-spin
zone" in the evenings spends his afternoon not just spinning but pitching.

None of this would bother me if these characters didn't purport to be
conservatives. We conservatives have principles. We don't say things because
people pay us to say them. We say things because we believe in them. That
doesn't seem to apply at Fox. There may be some code of behavior there, but
only in the sense that there is some code of behavior at those brothels
outside Reno. In both cases, no law is being broken but someone's honor is
being traded for a price.

What makes it worse is that these guys often pose as journalism critics.
Listening to Hannity or O'Reilly critique honest journalists is like
listening to a hooker critique the Miss America contest. It may be
entertainment, but it sure ain't journalism.

I discussed this with Gary Hill, a broadcast journalist who is chairman of
the ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"When people act as journalists they develop a certain level of
credibility," Hill said. "One of the several reasons organizations like the
Society of Professional Journalists frown on this sort of thing is that they
feel they can trade on their credibility."

Fred Brown, who is also on the SPJ ethics committee, noted that in the early
days of television, newsmen would routinely shill for various products. But
the other networks dropped that practice decades ago, Brown said.

It remains common practice in radio, and Charles Osgood, who does "CBS
Sunday Morning" on TV, also does commercials when on radio. This strikes me
as unethical as well, but Osgood is more of an entertainer than a serious
news commentator, as Hannity and O'Reilly purport to be.

When I called a Fox spokesperson to ask whether the network has a code of
ethics, it took me about five minutes to explain what I meant by "code" and
"ethics." A day later, a spokesperson still hadn't gotten back to me.

The problem is at the very top, I suspect. Fox Chief Executive Officer Roger
Ailes is a former political operative for various Republican politicians,
beginning with Richard Nixon. Political flacks are wonderfully amusing guys,
and I love to chat with them. But they all have one thing in common: a
commitment to winning at any cost. All's fair in love, war and politics - as
long as you don't get caught.

Journalism is a different game, one that Ailes doesn't seem to want to play.
In a recent profile by the New York Observer, Ailes professed to be offended
when people refer to Fox as "conservative." But that's exactly the problem.
Ailes is right. Fox isn't conservative; it's partisan. The Fox talking heads
worship the current crop of Beltway politicians in a manner that would shame
even the most obsequious anchors on the other networks. Hannity shills as
openly for George Bush as he does for that steakhouse.

The difference is that the steakhouse no doubt delivers a real steak. Fox
News gives us only the sizzle.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho

"I love my country but fear my government."

- Author Unknown