Recently, the White House attacked Fox News for right wing bias. Attacking a single media outlet is generally a losing proposition. First, it sounds like whining. Second, it drives up that outlet's ratings. Third, other media outlets rally to their colleagues. The White House lost the battle as Fox's ratings increased and the other media outlets rallied to them. Well, is Fox biased and how does it compare to its main competitor MSNBC? Essentially, both networks have clear biases during their opinion programming. However, Fox’s news coverage is generally down the middle while MSNBC’s coverage is leans heavily to the left.

When it comes to news, Fox is usually even-handed. Typically, their reporters ask tougher questions than other media outlets. With the exception of Shepherd Smith, they usually leave their opinions out of stories and when goaded, they steer clear of opinion journalism. As far as Smith goes, his opinions tend to lack an ideological slant. On the other hand, MSNBC’s anchors and reporters frequently show their bias. Norah O’Donnell threw a fit when Pat Buchanan said something she did not like about Obama's supreme court vetting process. David Shuster defended Barack Obama’s lack of credentials for the presidency and openly debated a guest as opposed to questioning him. Tamron Hall almost completely lost her mind when someone recounted poll results on gay marriage. This does not always happen on MSNBC, but it is occurring much more frequently since parent company, General Electric, has decided to challenge Fox by making an outreach to the left.

While Fox is usually neutral and MSNBC is leftist on the news, both network’s opinion shows are by definition biased. Fox boasts Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Greta van Susteren. Beck and Hannity are right wing and generally attack the Obama Administration’s policies. O’Reilly will attack everyone and anyone. Only Van Susteren lacks a clear ideological slant. On MSNBC, they have Joe Scarborough, who is conservative, in the morning. Joe sometimes has to battle the left all morning, but he is a good sport and generally wins the argument. Other than Morning Joe, MSNBC’s other shows are unabashedly liberal. Ed Schultz is the channels version of Glen Beck. Rachel Maddow is a smiling assassin that seems to lack a grasp of reality. Keith Olbermann is the modern world’s Joseph Goebels. He’s full of hate. Like Olbermann, most MSNBC commentators live in crazy land. In fairness, Chris Mathews swings from the middle to the left based on his mood and his feel for people. Chris is classic rust belt.

The left does not see a difference between the anchors and reporters and talk show hosts. In their mind, there is no difference between Sean Hannity and Brian Williams. Former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn attempted to claim that they did indeed know the difference, but was not convincing. Overall, Fox’s news coverage is not biased in the way the left claims. A full third of their audience is made up of liberals. It makes bad business sense to alienate them. Fox will cover news stories others ignore because it is good for ratings. If no one cared about ACORN, then it would not be on the air. So, they covered that criminal organization while other networks ignored it. It is the same reason Fox covers shark attacks, car chases, and has hot blonde reporters and anchors. They want the ratings.

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