by Donald Finley

Created on: February 05, 2011

Fox News is so popular because it presents the news in ways no other network does, with varying levels of bias from all across the political spectrum, rather than a perpetually tilted left-wing bias.  In other words, “fair and balanced”.

Americans have become accustomed to the language used by the mainstream networks that pretend to present the news in the most pure journalistic manner, while feigning pure objectivity, and inserting inflammatory and biased words.  The media has subtlely manipulated people for decades, only the people weren’t aware of it.  The consistency of the bias grew to be the norm, people became comfortable with it, and without even knowing it, formed opinions, supported causes, voted for candidates, and believed all of it was a result of their own cognitive efforts.  In reality, the media shaped their ideas, opinions, and beliefs for them.

A simple statement like “Democrats killed the GOP’s healthcare repeal attempts today” says more than just what the words mean.  Compare that to “Congress today voted down the repeal of the new healthcare law.”  This is nothing but the facts, and carries no bias.  The first statement inserts an element of emotion by identifying political parties and using a word depicting violence.  It picks the good guys and the bad guys, what the bad guys attempted, and what the good guys did to stop it.  It is very subtle, but very effective, and has worked for CBS, ABC and NBC news divisions for nearly half a century, and for CNN for nearly three decades.

Fox doesn’t attempt to hide its bias.  It comes at the viewer in a straight-forward manner.  What makes Fox News so different is that it also presents the other side by having a guest contributor comment in just as biased a manner.  The end result is that the viewer knows what he gets and can more readily determine where he stands after hearing both sides.  Where the legacy networks treat their viewers as if they haven’t the capacity to understand the news, Fox gives its viewers the credit for being able to sort out the good from the bad, understand each side of an issue for what it is, and make an informed decision.  Fox doesn’t try to make that decision for its viewers.

Those who watch Fox News can make immediate comparisons which aide in their decision-making and opinion-forming.  It’s much like shopping, where the shopper can hold two products side by side, make personal judgments about quality, and then purchase the one which best fits their tastes.  Quite simply, Fox News is so popular because it gives viewers choices.  Who wants to shop where there is only one choice?

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