by Larry Elder
I spoke at a recent town hall forum. The many issues discussed
included the Obama administration's attack on Fox News. Later, one of
the audience members came up to me and sneered, "Well, even you must
admit that Fox News is biased in favor of Republicans."
Separate the opinion guys from the news deliverers. Does Fox
focus on stuff that the others -- MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS -- do not?
Yes. Is that stuff more critical of liberals and less critical of
conservatives? Yes.
The best gauge is who watches these stations. Fox News
Channel, as a percentage of viewers, includes more self-described libs
and indies than CNN or MSNBC includes self-described conservatives and
indies. Pew Research Center recently studied the cable channels'
viewers' politics. CNN? Fifty-one percent liberal, 23 percent
independent and 18 percent conservative. MSNBC? Forty-five percent
liberal, 27 percent independent and 18 percent conservative. Don't know
about the "fair" part, but Fox's audience was the most "balanced," with
39 percent conservatives, 33 percent liberals and 22 percent
independents.
http://townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2009/11/05/fox_fever_--_the_latest_pandemic