Real world v. Fox News

Friends ask why I bother to watch certain Fox News programs.

The answer is simple: I believe it’s imperative that we know what a great many Americans are getting in the way of “news.”

As an “infomed citizen,” I am aware there’s the real world and there’s Fox News. But, Roger Ailes and company have managed to convince their viewers that all other U.S. news outlets are anti-American.

Bill O’Reilly has been on a one-man campaign to convince his fans that NBC is out to destroy our American way of life. NBC!

Here, my friends, is why you need to know what Fox News is saying:

Nielsen Media Research has released its “Competitive Program Analysis” for the month of February 2007. LINK

Here are the top 20 Nielsen-ranked news programs, out of all regularly scheduled news programs airing M-F from 6 a.m. through midnight:

1. The O’Reilly Factor (Fox News)
2. Hannity & Colmes (Fox News)
3. On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (Fox News)
4. The Fox Report with Shepard Smith (Fox News)
5. Special Report with Brit Hume (Fox News)
6. Larry King Live (CNN)
7. The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. repeat) (Fox News)
8. Studio B with Shepard Smith (Fox News)
9. The Big Story with John Gibson (Fox News)
10. Your World with Neil Cavuto (Fox News)
11. Fox News Live (Fox News)
12. America’s Newsroom (Fox News)
13. Live Desk with Martha MacCallum (Fox News)
14. Fox Online (Fox News)
15. Lou Dobbs Tonight (CNN)
16. Deal or No Deal (CNBC)
17. Fox and Friends (Fox News)
18. Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
19. The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (CNN)
20. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)

It’s a given: Fox News viewers are spoon-fed right-wing propaganda, and owner Rupert Murdoch laughs all the way to the bank.

Whether your politics are left, right or somewhere in the middle, if you limit yourself only to news sources which subjectively support your political leanings and agree with your ideology, you are not interested in news, you are only looking for validation.

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Don’t care to contribute to Fox News’ ratings? Visit newshounds.org, a media watchdog site whose slogan is “We Watch Fox So You Don’t Have To:” LINK