Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Be still and listen

Susan Wilkinson


 After reading accounts of the Fox interview, I was struck by the interviewer's inability to set aside preconceived notions and actually listen. Why would a journalist use their platform to attack? He could have a meaningful conversation and gained insights if he had been willing to listen.

Listening is important. I found this at Deepstash.com.

The 5 Purposes Of Listening

Listening makes people feel like they matter, which in turn makes them work harder.

Arrogance talks. Humility listens. Practice humility by letting others speak.

Listen to help others learn what they really think and find clarity.

Listen to understand what needs to be acted upon.

Curiosity. Listen to ask a question.

But MAGA world doesn't want us to gain a deeper understanding. Their message is the same as the abusers manipulation of the victim. Make us fear change, make us fear differences, because they will protect us from the unknown. It is a dark message laced with anger, rage, and hate.  Belief in "I alone can fix this," is a warning that he is desperate to hold power over us. The really scary part, too many of us are buying into the abuser's message.

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare” (Prov. 13:20 ).


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Valuing Civil Discourse

Core Values

Have you noticed how politics has devolved? There seems to be very little that is rationally discussed. Discussions on cable news have become filled with vitriol, shouting and hate. The anger and vitriol of cable news is parroted by millions. Any rational debate is lost in the name calling. As a result politics is all about personal attack. According to Pew Research, political polarization is affecting daily life, and the results are negative. Antipathy is causing gridlock in Washington and in many states. People from both parties view the other party as a threat to the nation's well-being. 27% of Democrats see the Republicans as a threat to the nation's well-being. 36% of Republicans see Democrats as a threat to the nation's well-being. The appetite for bipartisan solutions is diminished.

Most Americans are not uniformly conservative or liberal. They believe their representatives should meet halfway to resolve contentious issues. Yet, the majority in the middle remains on the edges of the political playing field. But, as Pew points out, those joining the political extremes are growing in numbers.

This antipathy does not apply to Public Radio's core audience.
Public Radio did some research to discover its Core Values of Public Radio. Those values were published by the Public Radio Program Directors Association. The goal was to find the values that made the top programs on public radio so appealing to its audience. The ultimate goal was to apply those values to local programming. They are: 

Qualities of the Mind and Intellect

Love of lifelong learning
Substance
Curiosity
Credibility
Accuracy
Honesty
Respect for the listener
Purpose

Qualities of the Heart and Spirit

Humor
Idealism
Inspired about public life and culture
Belief in civility and civil discourse
Generosity

Qualities of Craft

A uniquely human voice
Pacing that's appropriate to the substance of the content
Attention to the smallest details of music, sound, language

Since I share many of those values, I take them to heart. Civil Discourse is one of the most important values when it comes to making decisions during elections. Without it, people are focusing on all the wrong issues. You don't believe me? Just watch.

Hilary Stops at Chipotle

It is revealing when the journalist in the middle tries to insert some real analysis into the discussion, the other members of the panel seem stunned...just for a second...then go back to their snide comments. I come from a public broadcasting background. We focussed our efforts on the Core Values of Public Radio in our reporting and local programming. Something we learned is it may not be impossible to be completely objective as a reporter. It is not impossible to be fair. Public Radio is held to a higher standard by its audience. Local programming needs mirror national programming by reflecting those values.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

BBC Social Media Rules

Something Really Stands Out

The BBC has updated its social media rules for the News Division. Basically, it says don't do anything stupid.   (I think we could all learn from that.)

Latest update to social media guidance for BBC News Group staff.

New Stuff


  • The guidelines cover interaction with user generated material.
  • There are safety implications about sharing location data.
                           and 
  • Cautions about sharing unconfirmed rumors.

Old Stuff

What really stands out for me is the section on impartiality.   It says, "Other fundamentals remain as before, including not saying anything that may compromise our impartiality, not sounding off about things "in an openly partisan way", and not revealing confidential BBC information." 

Isn't this the same standard that NPR was applying Juan Williams? Isn't this the standard that Williams ignored while offering his opinion on Fox News? 

Incidentally, Williams admitted in 2012 that he misses working at NPR. He is appreciative of the informed and influential audience that listens to NPR. Of course, there is not much of a chance he'll be back. He burned his bridges with his book calling NPR an "all-white organization" that exhibited the "worst of white condescension."

Juan Williams Says He Misses Working For NPR 'Big Time'

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Inflated Claims / A Heated Response (Updated)

I've noticed a huge difference to the outing of inflated claims by Brian Williams and Bill O'Reilly.

Brian Williams apologized.

Bill O'Reilly attacked.

He called reporters names like gutter snipe and liar. He also threatened reporters. POLITICO reports O'Reilly threatened a New York Times Reporter. O'Reilly promised, "to come after the reporter with everything I have" if he felt that any of the reporter's coverage about his Falklands war controversy was inappropriate. It was an effort to intimidate. He told Times reporter Emily Steel,  "I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat."

David Corn, the reporter from Mother Jones who first called O'Reilly's account of his experience in the Falklands war into question, was also threatened.  He said Corn deserves to be in the kill zone.

The hope is O'Reilly will become a man and own his mistakes. In that way he can dial back the violence and name calling. Since O'Reilly is into "Saving Christmas" (The War on Christmas), perhaps these words have meaning.

Matthew 5:22

"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Temper#sthash.BzkoaNmA.dpuf

Ratings

For O'Reilly it is not about the moral high ground of Christianity or the truth about his reporting journalism career. It is about conflict and the ratings it brings. Rating for O'Reilly's show on Fox are at an all-time high. Fox and O'Reilly have what they're looking for. Integrity, ethics and journalistic standards take a back seat.

CNN reports: 
On Wednesday night, O'Reilly averaged 705,000 viewers ages 25 to 54 -- up more than 35% from his year-to-date average of 516,000.
In fact, according to Fox, Wednesday's "O'Reilly Factor" was the highest-rated edition since November 24, the night of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, when millions of people sought out cable news coverage.

A pattern is emerging of inflated claims by O'Reilly including  his claim he was on the porch of house in Florida where an associate of Lee Harvey Oswald killed himself. O'Reilly claims in "Killing Kennedy" that he heard the shot. Former colleagues are testifying that O'Reilly was in Dallas that day.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/cnn-publishes-oreilly-tape-203331.html

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Political Leanings and Media

You are who you listen to

The Pew Research Journalism Project released a report about the media habits of liberals and conservatives. There is no middle ground.

These are Consistent Liberals and Consistent Conservatives. Their views consistently lean left or right. They represent about 20% of the population, and they do not leave room for other points of view. They are the most partisan. They have one thing in common. They tend to lead political discussions.

One Source v. Many
Consistent Conservatives rely primarily on one news source, Fox News. Consistent Liberals rely on several including the BBC, PBS, NPR and the New York Times. Another way of looking at this? Liberals are willing to look at the news from a variety of perspectives. When I worked in public media, those who listened would comment they liked the various perspectives offered in our coverage. Another way to think about it - the liberal sources are known for their journalism. Fox News is known for pundits.

Here's a graphic from Pew that puts this in perspective....


Striking Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives, But They Also Share Common Ground





Thursday, November 21, 2013

Maybe Fox News should be renamed

Obamacare v. Philippines typhoon: How cable covered two big stories

Pew Research offered information on coverage of two major stories during the same time period last week.

Pew did analysis of the amount of time spent on each story by Al Jazeera, CNN, FOX and MSNBC.
The two channels with a political agenda, Fox and MSNBC, spent most of their time on Obamacare. Al Jazeera and CNN were much more balanced in their approach.

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Al Jazeera focused more on news. The American counterparts were more focused on opinion instead of news.  The report points out, "In the sample studied, it offered by far the least amount of opinion (41%) when it came to commentary and opinion versus reporting or fact-based statements. That compared with 72% opinion on CNN, 86% on MSNBC and 97% on the Fox News Channel."
The report also pointed out that Al Jazeera's audience is really small. Does that mean the American audience prefers opinion over news? ( I think the avoidance of Al Jazeera runs much deeper.)

Since Fox News is 97% opinion...are they really a news organization? Maybe they should just be FOX.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Who Owns the News

Who Owns the News Media: The 2012 Database

The Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism released their 2012 database on who owns the news media. The interactive charts give readers a good overview of who is doing what.

The first charts I clicked into dealt with circulation, viewership and listeners. The information gives size of audience by company. NPR comes in fourth among radio networks. The problem there is NPR does not own any radio stations.

Dig in a little deeper and you will find who the owners are.

 For Radio they are: 

  • CC Media Holdings Clear Channel  160,099,000  million listeners - CC Media Holdings Clear Channel owns 829 stations with 2011 revenue of $251 million. 
  • CBS - 82,178,500 million listeners - CBS owns 125 stations with revenue reported to be  $135 million.
  • Cumulus Media Inc - 46,266,900 million listeners - Cumulus Media Inc owns 514 stations with 2011 revenue of $96.5 million.
Other Statistics
  • The top on-line news sites are The Washington Post, Topix and USA Today.
  • The top networks based on viewership are Comcast, Walt Disney and CBS.
  • The top news channels on cable are MSNBC, Fox News and CNN.

You can find out a lot more here: Who Owns the News Media.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Journalist Suspended for Comments

Politico suspends Joe Williams for racially tinged remarks about Romney | Poynter.

When journalists are encouraged to share personal opinions on MSNBC and Fox News (Or Twitter or anywhere else) are they stepping over the line? I thought so when I worked in public radio. Others think so too. Politico suspended Joe Williams for his remarks on MSNBC about Mitt Romney being very much relaxed around white people. Williams has been warned before about his tweets about Romney.

MSNBC has standards when it comes to their own employees. You might remember that MSNBC and Keith Olberman parted ways over his political contributions. He was suspended. Olberman then quit.

NPR was criticized by Fox News and others for the firing of Juan Williams after his biased comments about Muslims on Fox News. It was not just this event that led to his firing.

AP has standards when it comes to their journalists using twitter.

Should journalists be held to a higher standard? Should they keep their opinions out of public view? Or, with the popularity of Fox News and MSNBC, is anything goes the new standard?

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Poynter survey on least and most civil news



Survey: Fox most uncivil, PBS most civil news organization | Poynter.
Poynter released survey results on civility in America today.

  • Fox News and MSNBC are still the most uncivil news services. 
  • PBS is still considered the most civil. 
  • 82% of Americans believe the news media is more interested on controversy than the facts.
  • Fox and MSNBC or considered more civil than they were last year.
  • NPR did not make the list despite having over 26 million weekly listeners.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

NPR Informs Its Listeners

Fox Viewers are the Least Informed
Fox Reacts

A poll from Fairliegh Dickinson University found that NPR listeners, the Sunday Morning Talk show and The Daily Show are best informed. Viewers of partisan sources like Fox News and MSNBC are least informed. The results were released by the University's Public Mind Poll. NPR listeners were well informed on international stories and domestic stories. Fox News viewers were less informed than those who watched or listened to no news at all.

Andrew Beaujon reported in Poynter.org Fox News responded by attacking the university instead of addressing the poll and its results.
Fox used an unnamed source. Was that for deniability?

You can read the results here:  Public Mind Poll

Monday, January 16, 2012

Community Radio/FCC to take applications in the Fall

Fox News.Com features a community broadcaster in Florida who was serving the people of his Dunbar neighborhood. Unfortunately, he was on the air without a license. He was recently shut down by the FCC and faces felony charges. Albert Knighten will not be able to get a license because of his arrest.

Knighten's case focuses attention on how commercial radio does not always serve the needs of the community.  The Dunbar community is a mostly black neighborhood in Fort Meyers. Knighten saw a need and decided to go ahead with his station in 2009 without a license.

The FCC is trying to address that need with the Local Radio Community Act. The act is being championed by the Prometheus Radio Project.

Communities were better served in the past before the ownership rules were changed allowing owners to buy more than 40 stations in the country. Since the cap was taken off in 1996 there has been a substantial drop in minority stations. There are limits within a market of five or more depending on the market size. According to an article by Common Cause, Clear Channel owns 1,200 radio stations.

The first of the low power stations should be up and running in 2013 or 2014. Commercial broadcasters are worried the low powered stations will cause interference.