FOX, CNN, MSNBC: 'Echo chamber?'

Fox already gave enough air-time to the President's state of the union address.
I am sure the talking points were the same ones that made everyone fall asleep & pissed off the Supreme court. For Obama, at least he had a room where everyone was applauding this time.

It would seem that more and more people are getting tired of the constant campaigning done by this president. And by the way he was in that caucus for a total of 164 days.

Sorry, I dozed off. Did he say anything new? Is MSNBC still lily white and reminding us regularly of how they don't even notice race? How cool they are because they have friends who are black?

"start talking to more every-day Americans"
Still doesn't get it.
Don't start talking TO more everyday Americans, start talk WITH, listening TO and acting ON everyday Americans wishes.

Wow, Mark has his panties all in a bunch because FOX News didn't televise all of Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats. Should they have? Seems to me several Bush speeches to the nation were not televised by the networks and Mark's panties weren't all tied up.
Did the president say anything new?
Was there anything newsworthy to this event?
What transpired during this event that would cause headlines?
And while Mark is in a tizzy over this, here are some facts that definitely cause concern:
Tribune sister company WGN News spent the first 5 minutes of its Sunday news program on the Illinois elections. Of those 5 minutes, 15 seconds were devoted to the GOP candidates for governor, or more to the point, some film of Jim Ryan walking door to door. And that was it for the Republicans.
WGN News did cover Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes and even had quotes from both of them. While WGN did show Ryan walking door to door, there was nothing on Andy McKenna, Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady or any of the other GOP candidates. Nothing.
WGN News did cover the Democratic race for U.S. Senate. We had soundbites from Giannoulias, Hoffman, Jackson and even the lesser-known candidate who dropped out and endorsed Alexi, the Crooked Loan Officer.
Was there anything about Mark Kirk and the rest? Nope. Nothing. Not one thing about them.
The story was the same for the WGN News Monday night. Most coverage went to the Dems running for governor and Senate. A brief word about the Republicans running for governor and nothing on the Republican Senate race.
And while Mark is in a tizzy that FOX News would have something about John Edwards and his affair, it didn't seem to bother him when he Swamp item after Swamp item about Mark Sanford. Hey, Mark, please let us know how many Swamp items there have been about Sanford. Then let us know how many there were about John Edwards.
Then get back to us on why Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats deserved wall-to-wall coverage, OK?

The Swamp like the Tribune is swinging from a dying vine. So who cares what you think. Your supposed fair and balanced stance is always bashing the right an Fox. You will be out of business soon anyway so again who cares what you think.

The GOP has turned into a circle jerk of misinformation, propaganda and out right lies - led by Mullah Rush and Fake News Channel.

And I love the way the right wing Faux News apologists are always excusing their partisan behavior by claiming that MSNBC is partisan too.

MSNBC gives right wing hack Joe Scarborough a full three hour show every single day, I don't see ANYTHING like that on Faux News - nothing, nada, zip.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ
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Fox News was started by a Republican. Every thing about it was word smithed by Frank Luntz to find out what words could be used to get the moron Republican base to hear and hold onto that word.

Then they advertised their words/slogans over and over and over and over, I would bet at least 100 times a day.

If someone (Fox News) has tell you how honest they are you can bet they are not honest! Fox News repeats over and over that they are "fair and balanced". That says it all. They might as well have the word lie printed across the screen.

I never met a Republican that would not lie to suit whatever need they might have. It doesn't matter if the lie causes someones death or a whole countries death as long as they what they want out of it, it's OK!

Republicanism is a mental illness

I can't hear the words "fair and balanced" anymore without peeing just a little.

Faux has NEVER done real news, so I guess they'll keep making it up as they go along. I just feel a little sorry for all the right wing losers that haven't figured out that it's an entertainment channel and not anything based on fact, news, or science.

Fox is a private sector organization, and free to run whatever they want, within decency guidelines. I'm sure that anyone who wanted to watch the president's event was able to find it on, say, CNN or MSNBC.

Reasons why Fox is not a REAL NEWS CHANNEL:

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t.......PROMOTE and COVER their own protests.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200908280029

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t.... Lie about the total number of people at the rally THEY PROMOTED...
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=380_1239836462&c=1

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t.... Force people at a protest to make more noise to look good on TV.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909180037

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t... Have NEWS ANCHORS that accuse the president of making a TERRORIST FIST JAB!
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200806060007

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t.... Have NEWS ANCHORS that calls the current administration a bunch of CRY BABIES
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/snubbed-by-obama-fox-news_n_292254.html

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t... Go out of their way to bash the current administration by using OLD FOOTAGE and lying by saying it’s recent footage, and CROPPING it to make it look like something else was said!
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001014/

A REAL NEWS ORGANIZATION doesn’t... Pass off RNC press releases as their OWN FACTS (including the typos)
http://mediamatters.org/research/200902100019?f=h_top

All of the examples cited are from Fox’s so-called NEWS ANCHORS... not the Opinion people like O’Reily, Hannity, and Beck.

This should be pointed out because the line is blurred between journalism and opinion on Fox.

The video examples above are plain and simple, Fox can’t spin their way out of it. They have been called out on the carpet time and time again... EVERYONE KNOWS THIS! Including those reporters taking up for Fox News.

As if Faux ever cared to listen at all......Gosh....I have so enjoyed the method of misdirection from our friends like Bruce, and drooling Mobbie, that I think I'll continue. Let's talk about...hmmm...say....our grass roots tea party convention where for a mere $515 you can listen to Palin. That's a lot of tea. Sucked in to the GOP quicker than poop from a goose, you too can donate your money to Washington. Just a different flavor. Vanilla no doubt!

The Republicans DO NOT CARE about that fictitious entity known as "bipartisanship." They WANT to DESTROY representative democracy in the United States. The Extreme Court that handed Shrub Jr the presidency and recently declared that corporations should decide our elections is just one of the weapons (along with the far-reaching reich-wing media machine and the Michelle Bachmann types in Congress) in this well-orchestrated assault on the country.

President Obama should extend a middle finger to them, not an olive branch.

So much for the Wingnuts: "Obama needs a Teleprompter" bs talking point...

I GUARANTEE you that the Repugs will NEVER have another televised O&A session with Pres Obama again!

Pres Obama Eviscerated the entire Rethuglican House membership last week - all of them - off script!

It was a thing of beauty!

It was such a great beat-down that Fox Republican Propaganda Channel decided to cut away from it 20 minutes early because they couldn't handle showing the right wing House tools getting their lunch handed to them any longer.

Fox's Stuart Varney said it was a love fest and would report if anything worthwhile was said. Nothing was!
Who wants to hear this bozo and his empty rhetoric anymore.
Raise taxes and spend like a fool, all while the economy crawls along and unemployment stays high.

Another speech? Or I should say lecture. I guess I get the strategy - that BO is more popular personally than his party or his policies, so get his mug and voice on TV as often as possible. But there has to be a saturation point. The guy is on TV giving speeches every day. It's like he is still . . . . campaigning.

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The problem with campaign style rhetoric is that most Americans realize that people running for office make loose promises they know they can't keep. Americans accept this, and take the campaign promises with a grain of salt. But once someone is in office, people expect them to knock of the BS campaign gimicks and actually start leading.

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This particular speech had a familiar theme. Dump on Republicans as much as possible. Then out of the other side of your mouth claim that you want to end the partisan bickering in Washington. OK. Maybe BO could start with his own rhetoric. When he cleans that up, then I may take him seriously when he says he wants to work in a bi-partisan fashion. Until then, it is just more campaign style hot air.

Fox is a private sector organization, and free to run whatever they want, within decency guidelines. I'm sure that anyone who wanted to watch the president's event was able to find it on, say, CNN or MSNBC.

Posted by: DaveB | February 3, 2010 2:26 PM

Do you folks ever manage to be honest about anything? Unless you're dumb as a rock, you appreciate that the point is that Fox cut away from the coverage because the Republicants were getting smacked around. They were of course "free" to flee and did so, thereby proving (again) their status as the main propaganda arm of the Republican Party.

Surely you know that, don't you DaveB? Or are you just stupid. Which is it, DB: dumb, deceitful, both?

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Fox's Stuart Varney said it was a love fest and would report if anything worthwhile
Posted by: worsethanbefore | February 3, 2010 3:04 PM
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Unlike last week, when Obama cleaned the House Republicans clock and the Fox Right Wing Propaganda Channel decided that it better cut-n-run early.

"Fair and Balanced"....my arse!

Faux News in a nutshell.

-The Democratic-based pundit says: "I think 2+2 = 4".

-The Republican-pundit says: "No! 2+2 = 22."

-Then the Faux News Anchor says: The "truth" then, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle, so 2+2 = 13" and then Faux News Anchor cuts the Democratic pundits mic.

That is the result of Faux News' brand of "Fairness" & "Balance": a lie that leans toward Faux's interests and a truth that is ignored.

Any news outlet (Faux) that would feature Crazy Glenn Beck is not a news outlet, it's a comedy channel.

I wonder what Beck's next gimmick will be?

An hour long special on eating lead paint chips? 30 minutes of pro-paint chips people, and 30 minutes of anti-paint chips people?

Or maybe he'll discuss the pros and cons of putting your hand in the toaster. He can bring in Orly Taitz, foremost expert on hand-toaster interactions, and Michael Scheuer on how Obama's Hitleresque government is trying to take away your freedom to stick your hand in your toaster whenever you want.

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This particular speech had a familiar theme. Dump on Republicans as much as possible. Then out of the other side of your mouth claim that you want to end the partisan bickering in Washington
Posted by: Herbie H. | February 3, 2010 3:15 PM
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"Partisan Bickering"?

You mean like when you and your fellow Wingnut droolers start yapping about death panels, birth certificates, and calling Pres Obama a Nazi/Socialist/Fascist/Commie who wants to destroy white America?
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http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/3983339.html#cutid1

Pres Obama is being nice when he calls what you right wing clowns are doing now that you're in the minority: "partisan bickering". I'd call you petulant children and tell you to get lost.

When people call Faux news "right wing propaganda" and "the media arm of the Republican party" it isn't trash talking, it's the truth.

Check out these pro-Bush internal memos from Faux management. If this isn't propaganda I don't know what is.
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http://mediamatters.org/research/200407140002
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http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/19/fox-news-viewers-misinformed/
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I don't know why Faux News still has its license. They routinely give wrong or misleading information and get away with it. When Mark Foley (R-FL) got in trouble in '06 for coming-on to male interns, Fox had a D after his name. You can say it was a mistake, however, later in the evening when the show was replayed, the D after his name was removed, but did they add the R as they were supposed to? No. Just left it blank. Couldn't let you know their guy did something like that. Better to leave you guessing and let you think maybe he's a Democrat - NOT!

When Scooter Libby was convicted, every single channel broke in with the story with a banner at the bottom saying, Scooter Libby Convicted or Guilty. He was charged with five felonies, and convicted on four. What did Fox have on their banner? Unbelievably, their banner was, "Scooter Libby Innocent!" What? That's right, their banner focused on the one charge on which he was not convicted. Really people, the story was the conviction, not the one not-guilty charge! And, the only reason he wasn't convicted on that charge was he stonewalled the federal prosecutor who referred to it as his having, "kicked sand in the face of the prosecutor." He should have been convicted on all five.

These are just two examples, they give wrong information all the time, and if that's the only news you watch, you think it's true. That's the danger, spreading false/propaganda information based on their right-wing, big business old white guy agenda. The only reason so many people watch Fox is it's carried by absolutely every cable service as part of basic cable. That isn't the case with MSNBC, it's not on everyone's basic cable. They're getting viewers by default. Too bad. Wake up, people, check out some other news sources.

Fox IS a propaganda arm of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party.

Australian Murdoch and The Moonies are rightwing anti-government extremists and make no pretense.

Look at headlines on Google News. You can tell without looking which ones come from the Washington Times and Fox. They're snarky, highly distorted and aggressively anti-Obama.

The rest of the "Press" should be calling them on it....

My two cents on the Fox News vs MSNBC thing: a lot of people aren't doing very well financially - either worse than before or not as well as they expected.

The pessimistic ones look for someone to blame and so they turn in to Fox News, especially Beck/O'Reilly/Hannity to get their daily fix of the blame game.

The optimistic ones look for hope and so they turn to MSNBC to listen to Matthews/Olberman/Maddow to hear that things might get better.

Both sets of pundits are strongly biased - it only takes a few minutes to figure that out - but my opinion after watching both for quite a while is that the MSNBC is more fair when it comes to providing a platform for both sides of issues. Beck doesn't allow anyone on who disagrees with him and he fawns over people like Palin and Bachmann, which is hard to watch. Hannity brings on a few dissenters and then talks over them. O'Reilly is pretty funny most of the time, but he also cuts off dissenting opinions very quickly.

People who only watch one of those networks aren't really looking for news - they're looking for support for their beliefs.

An outlet like Faux is a necessity for the right. They are a perpetually unhappy lot and they need a TV channel that tells them who to blame for their sad pathetic miserable lives.

Oh no....all of MSNBC's viewers must be outraged....all 6 of them.

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Oh no....all of MSNBC's viewers must be outraged....all 6 of them.

Posted by: Chris | February 3, 2010 5:14 PM
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Yeah....maybe they should tune into the Fox Opinion Channel....I mean afterall, it's just like Dancing With The Stars - where hacks get paid to dance to a pre-chosen tune and everyone gets to laugh at them.

...turn off MSNBC. Was he talking to its one viewer, Michelle?

Oh goody more Obama on TV. You just can't have enough Horse manure coming over the airwaves. Please Mr President lecture us some more on what WE should be doing. Barf.

We won the election and now these sore losers will continue to spew your hate with lies. The way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked lies, then, and only then, you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called facts that they present. Let’s face it no one will go along with you until you guys win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. Keep plucking that chicken.

What are all you flatliners upset about? Fox did exactly what BO wantedc when it quit covering he love fest with the senators - they wquit talking about politics.

Pres Obama is being nice when he calls what you right wing clowns are doing now that you're in the minority: "partisan bickering". I'd call you petulant children and tell you to get lost.

Posted by: Mongo | February 3, 2010 4:22 PM

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I'm sure you would make a heck of a statesman. Get started now. Does your school have a student congress?

http://www.journalism.org/node/13436#fn1

FOXNEWS provided the most balanced cable coverage of the 2008 presidential election among major news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS) and likely the most balanced of all six outlets (NBC, CBS, ABC included), although they oddly didnt release the latter three network's numbers. Keep in mind, while Pew bills itself as Independent, it certainly leans to the left, which is probably why they didnt release all the numbers. God forbid they stated FoxNews was the most fair of any television network, as it's doubtful any network bested the Fox numbers below since the Fox positive/negative are almost a perfect match. Interestingly, while they released the numbers for MSNBC and FOX, they didnt release individual CNN numbers, choosing to say it closely reflected the "Total Coverage" numbers below, putting it somewhere between MSNBC and FOX.

The Best (least biased) and the Worst (most biased) news coverage?

BEST (FOXNEWS)
Positive Obama Stories 25%
Positive McCain Stories 22%
Negative Obama Stories 40%
Negative McCain Stories 40%

WORST (MSDNC)
Positive Obama Stories 73%
Positive McCain Stories 10%
Negative Obama Stories 14%
Negative McCain Stories 43%

TOTAL COVERAGE (all media added together - 2,412 stories from 48 outlets)
Positive Obama Stories 36%
Positive McCain Stories 14%
Negative Obama Stories 29%
Negative McCain Stories 57%

Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals #13; Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. This is the tactic being used by Barack Obama against his enemy, Fox News. It won't work. The Obama Administration mistakenly believes that it has brought a gun to a knife fight. They don't seem to understand that Fox News does not have a knife. Fox News, with its ratings going through the roof while other news organization's ratings are tanking, has the equivalent of an apache helicopter.

The radical socialist is “the man” now and as such he is now vulnerable to the tactics that he perfected and used against his enemies in the past.

Neither Saul Alinsky or President Obama ever thought that their rules could be used against them. The whole mode of operation of a community organizer is to be a bomb tosser. It is essentially a stealth tactic. When you are President of the United States it is impossible to operate in stealth mode. Alinsky's rules are the rules that are used by radicals to obtain power but they leave no guidance as to what to do once you have power. The Obama Administration has done nothing on its own. The Democrats in the Congress have been allowed to author all of the major pieces of legislation. Subsequently, the Obama Administration is clueless and has not been able to accomplish anything.

The liberal press has an "all-in" investment in Obama. They adore him, they helped elect him, and they passionately believe in his brand of liberalism.

If Obama fails, liberalism will be dead and gone and that will leave the liberal press in complete limbo. They will have lost their influence. That's why they are so hysterical about Fox or anyone who threatens Obama's legacy.

What's really terrifying them now is that, despite their effforts to lionize and shield Obama, the American people are beginning to see that the emperor has no clothes. The "moderate, post-partisan" guy they thought they elected is being revealed as a dedicated liberal who does not hesitate to use Chicago-style hyperpartisanship.

So, when the lib press rants and raves, we need to understand that they are coming from a deep pit of abject fear that their time is up.

"Bobbie Mobbie: FOXNEWS provided the most balanced cable coverage of the 2008 presidential election among major news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS) and likely the most balanced of all six outlets (NBC, CBS, ABC included), "

I read through the link that you provided, which was very interesting. However, the article doesn't state that Fox provided the least biased or the best of the presidential news coverage. Your interpretation of what was said only shows your own bias.

Mike from Chicago,

"The pessimistic ones look for someone to blame and so they turn in to Fox News, especially Beck/O'Reilly/Hannity to get their daily fix of the blame game. The optimistic ones look for hope and so they turn to MSNBC to listen to Matthews/Olberman/Maddow to hear that things might get better."

Are you kidding? All those flatliners on MSNBC do is spout pessimism. Did you ever wonder why liberal talk radio doesn't work? Who wants to listen to abunch of lefties tell you that you can't have success unless the gov't is there to support you? And if by chance you do have success, the gov't should come and confiscate the fruits of that success from you. Why doesn't that sound appealing?

Rupert Murdoch owns so many media outlets that his message is far more present in the American psyche than Obama's. I don't watch far left or far right programming on tv. I just turn it all off. The defenders of Fox "News" (which is really Rupert Murdoch opinion supporting all things Republican programming) is just as disturbing as someone defending only listenting to viewpoints from those painting the opposing picture of the world. What Americans should be seeking is true balance. Fox deliberately skews their message and reporting. That is not fair or balanced. They also use fear and emotion to fire people up over things that either don't exist or are really small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. These "news" outlets are not helping our country. There is no way an educated person can truly make an informed decision if all of the information they are receiving is skewed or blatantly incorrect to serve some else's agenda (Rupert Murdoch, for example). So, is Obama really the enemy here? Is he as corrupt as the business executives that allowed the economy to fail? Is he collecting $100million bonuses? Is he yelling 'shut-up' to people like a Bill O'Reilly or 'cutting off the microphone' of someone with opposing views? The behavior I see whether it's Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Glenn Beck or Keith Olberman is jarring. It's unacceptable. I will not lend my brain cells to that rubbish. I don't care which side of the political spectrum the message resonates with. I expect more. I'm an adult and I can handle sifting through both side of an argument and coming up with an opinion all by myself.