Fox News (is) for Dummies: Pt. I

There are extreme liberal news stations and extreme conservative news stations; however, the degree with which Fox News alters the news to their preferences is mind-blowing; however, the real problem with Fox News is not its political agenda, but America's inability to recognize that it has one. Fox is an example of a news program that adopts a biased take on every political issue. Furthermore, most of their information is untrue. Rather than focus on their opinion, they create false stories.

Bill Maher discusses Fox News' lack of real journalism quite a bit on his show Real Time with Bill Maher. In one episode, he explains the way Fox convinces its audience to keep watching and supporting their network—through fear! They brainwash fans to believe Americans are constantly being targeted through imaginary means. By painting oppressed members of society as villains, the audience won't research important current political issues to come to their own conclusions.

Guests on the show who share a difference of opinion rarely have sufficient time to elaborate on their views. When guests try to share their thoughts and knowledge, the hosts speak over them; especially, the more a guest proves to know what they're talking about. This prevents a successful debate. How frequent viewers and supporters of the program have not noticed this may be what confuses me more than anything else. How much more obvious could they be when they do not have guests on their show to promote diversity, but rather to be bullied through a game of "who has the loudest voice?" Almost immediately after guests really begin to talk, the uneducated hosts mock the guest, and push the issue aside with uninformed opinions.

While writing this, I came across a re-post of an article on this very topic called "Analysis: Over Half of All Statements Made on Fox News Are False" by Jameson Parker. Of course, any Fox News hater knows there are countless writings to expose its lack of genuine journalism. What makes articles like these particularly intriguing is its research into how it impacts the knowledge of its audience. Statistics show the audience is less informed on current political issues than those who do not watch or read any news at all. Scary, right? Out of the other programs which have false news, too, Fox scored the highest with 31% in false information. One would ask why America is so easily manipulated into believing whatever they hear. Maybe, the answer can be found in political comedy.

Jimmy Kimmel had his people conduct a prank, which can also be seen as a social experiment. The segment is called "Lie Witness News." They interview people on the street for their opinions on pretend "current events." This particular episode used fake stories about Obama; however, the interviewers act as though they are serious. Most of the people responded with passion about the subjects, although all of the stories were silly. The reason for bringing up this lighthearted television moment is because it points out Americans' common response to political events: They aren't really involved, they don't read, and they tend to believe just about anyone who speaks with a confident tone; therefore, it makes sense that so many Americans rely on Fox News.

I was going to include examples on here, but the article became quite long, and nobody has time for that! So, I will examine individual political issues, and Fox News' take on them in the next one. Those topics are: Economy, Income Inequality, Religion vs. Science, LGBT Rights, Climate Change, Racism, and Immigration. For now, see if you can determine how Fox responds to these in a little quiz!