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There is no question that Fox News Channel leans to the right because it gives conservative voices a prominent place on the air. No other TV news operation does this. So, logically, conservative Americans tune in for long periods of time.

--Bill O'Really http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/oct/10/like-it-or-not-fox-a-success/

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After a year of research, and just days before the investigation was to air, Fox TV received the first legal letter from Monsanto. According to documents filed in Florida's Circuit Court (13th Circuit), Fox lawyers then tried to water down the reports and the reporters were offered sums of money to leave the station and keep silent about what Fox had done to their work. The reporters refused these offers, and on April 2, 1998 filed their own lawsuit against WTVT.

The Wilson/Akre lawsuit charges that WTVT violated its license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by demanding that the reporters include known falsehoods in their rBGH series. The reporters also charge that WTVT violated Florida's 'whistle blower' laws. The legal documents, letters and much of the background in the lawsuit have been posted on the internet at http://www.foxbghsuit.com/

Steve Wilson has 26 years experience as a journalist and has won four Emmy awards for his investigative reporting. He also won the 1996 National Press Club Award for Investigative and Consumer Reporting on Television. His wife, Jane Akre, has been a reporter and news anchor for 20 years, and has won a prestigious Associated Press award for investigative reporting. As a result of this case both journalists have won the Award for Ethics from the largest society of professional journalists in America, the Callaway Award for Civic Courage and an award for Heroism in Journalism by the National Alliance for Democracy.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0003/S00308.htm

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After a five-week trial and six hours of deliberation which ended August 18, 2000, a Florida state court jury unanimously determined that Fox "acted intentionally and deliberately to falsify or distort the plaintiffs' news reporting on BGH."  In that decision, the jury also found that Jane's threat to blow the whistle on Fox's misconduct to the FCC was the sole reason for the termination... and the jury awarded $425,000 in damages which makes her eligible to apply for reimbursement for all court costs, expenses and legal fees.

          Fox appealed and prevailed February 14, 2003 when an appeals court issued a ruling reversing the jury, accepting a defense argument that had been rejected by three other judges on at least six separate occasions.   CLICK HERE for more details on latest ruling.  CLICK HERE to view  how Fox13 reported the ruling.

        The whistle-blowing journalists, twice refused Fox offers of big-money deals to keep quiet about what they knew, filed their landmark lawsuit April 2, 1998 and survived three Fox efforts to have their case summarily dismissed.  It is the first time journalists have used a whistleblower law to seek a legal remedy for being fired by for refusing to distort the news.   Steve and Jane are now considering an appeal to the Florida state Supreme Court.  
http://www.foxbghsuit.com/home.htm

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Norvell is London bureau chief for Fox News, and on May 20 he let the mask slip in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal. So far, the damage has been contained, because Norvell's comments—in an op-ed he wrote decrying left-wing bias at the BBC—appeared only in the Journal's European edition. But Chatterbox's agents are everywhere.

Here is what Norvell fessed up to in the May 20 Wall Street Journal Europe:

    Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind.

    Fox News is, after all, a private channel and our presenters are quite open about where they stand on particular stories. That's our appeal. People watch us because they know what they are getting. The Beeb's institutionalized leftism would be easier to tolerate if the corporation was a little more honest about it.

Norvell never says the word "conservative" in describing "where [Fox's anchorpeople] stand on particular stories," or what Fox's viewers "know … they are getting." But in context, Norvell clearly is using the example of Fox News to argue that political bias is acceptable when it isn't subsidized by the public (as his op-ed's target, the leftish BBC, is), and when the bias is acknowledged. Norvell's little joke about clubbing lefties to death should satisfy even the most literal-minded that the bias Norvell describes is a conservative one. (Lord only knows where Norvell acquired the erroneous belief that Fox News is "honest" about its conservative slant; perhaps he's so used to Fox's protestations of objectivity being ignored that he literally forgot that they continue to be uttered.) http://www.slate.com/id/2119864/

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On Fox News Watch, the panel was discussing the Democrats' reasons for pulling out of the Nevada presidential debate, which was to be hosted by Fox.  Panelist Neal Gabler simply said that Fox News is to conservatives as Air America Radio is to liberals.  Therefore, just as conservatives do not appear on Air America Radio, liberals have little reason to appear on Fox.  Gabler used Fox's use of the word "extreme" when referring to bloggers as more proof of the network's bias. http://www.thebluestate.com/2007/03/video_fox_news_.html

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While talking about CNN's alleged bias, Fox's own panel admits the irony in accusing another network of bias, causing a storm of laughter and embarrassing the host! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7bMUalkOvw

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Look, I think liberals have reasonable gripes with Fox News. It does lean to the right, primarily in its opinion programming but also in its story selection (which is fine by me) and elsewhere. But it's worth remembering that Fox is less a bastion of ideological conservatism and more a populist, tabloidy network. It often does very good hard journalism, but it gets mixed up with a lot of other stuff, and the Fox-haters are hardly inclined to be discriminating viewers when it comes to separating the wheat from the pure, concentrated evil. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/fox_john_edwards_and_the_two_a.html[/UR L]

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Fox News' Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade dismissed protesters at the Group of Eight (G8) economic summit as "morons without jobs." Later in the same program, Kilmeade said former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg's newest book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken is #37) (HarperCollins, 2005) is not ideologically skewed, even though Goldberg's list includes numerous people who are Democrats, liberals, progressives, and feminist activists, and only a handful of known conservative figures. [URL=http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200507060002]http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200507060002

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Protesters From Hell

Demonstrators Invade D.C.

The protesters invaded Washington over the weekend.

From stem cell research advocates to Cindy Sheehan (search) sympathizers, protesters of all shapes, sizes, colors and odors found a cause.

Unfortunately for me — since I was traveling by train — a whole lot of them originated from or passed through New York's Penn Station, and a train delay made matters worse.

A steel girder collapsed on the tracks just outside of the station, and it was just what the doctor ordered for a bunch of anxious, ready-to-protest-just-about-anything, jobless folks — err, demonstrators — who gathered with their anti-Bush cardboard signs and their 1967-era wardrobe.

As if the tie-dyed clothes weren't stereotypically Grrring enough, they just couldn't help but to break into song. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170465,00.html

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In the days leading up to the supposedly grassroots event, the New York Times' Paul Krugman noted, "a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News."

The involvement of a news channel in promoting a partisan event has caused many to give the political tilt of Fox News a second look.

In the lead-up to the event, Fox News featured 9 segments and 40 promos over just two days, according to the watchdog website Media Matters. Over a one week period, 10 in-show promos were given by Fox presenter Sean Hannity, while Neil Cavuto and Glen Beck delivered 5 each. Cavuto did seven news segments on the event. All Fox News shows featured commercials advertising the protests during that time, and they were regularly described as "FNC [Fox News Channel] Tax Day Tea Parties" by on-air personalities.

In addition, Fox News contributors were listed as "Tea Party Sponsor[s]" on the website promoting the event, while appearances by Fox personalities were used to promote individual rallies.

Fox News anchor Cody Willard, reporting from one of the protests, even went so far as to say on the air, "Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?"

In yet another tea-bag day controversy, Fox anchor Neil Cavuto was captured on an open mic discussing the crowd numbers with an on-location producer, estimating the turnout at 5,000 people, but minutes later Cavuto told viewers that "They were expecting 5,000 here, it's got to be easily double, if not triple that." http://www.vancouversun.com/news/News+sponsored+par ties+fail+ignite+popular+uprising+among+conservatives/1499732/story.html

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FOX NEWS INTERNAL MEMO: "Be On The Lookout For Any Statements From The Iraqi Insurgents...Thrilled At The Prospect Of A Dem Controlled Congress"... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/14/fox-news-internal-memo-be_n_34128.html

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Olbermann over at MSNBC is setting up Free Health clinics and trumpeting his cause nightly.

What the heck is the difference?  If a commentator wants to take a stand, so what?  If he works for a network, the network SHOULD back him up if it's a worthwhile cause.  

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They forced exposure of the "secret" health care bill that would have been rushed through congress with no public exposure

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Maybe you get your wish one day that Fox will be taken off and then perhaps we will have a governmental news agency to handle all news coverage in a way not to incite any unrest and keep everyone in the dark and happy...another step toward the liberal brave new world.

If Fox were nothing but bozos spewing junk, the public would not be paying attention to them, like they didn't pay attention to Air America.  You want to get rid of Fox? Make the network press responsible and report the news in a fair, unbiased manner....but that ain't gonna happen so Fox will remain the most watched station until the government takes an axe to them. Should that happen, the country will be a much poorer place.

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Ok, I'm confused. Where do they have higher ratings ifthey can't get distribution?

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The commercial use of public airwaves is supposed to reflect the diversity of the local community, but that’s not how it works in Washington. On the AM dial, WMAL (630) features wall-to-wall conservative talk. So do stations WTNT (570) and WHFS (1580). For the past two years, OBAMA 1260 — even with a weak signal that cannot be heard in downtown Washington — was the exception. No longer. Starting tomorrow, our nation’s capital, where Democrats control the House, the Senate and the White House, and where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to one, will have no progressive voices on the air.

Or maybe one.

To mollify critics, Red Zebra has said it will add Ed Schultz to its conservative lineup on 570 AM. This means Shultz will be outgunned in this market by at least 15 conservative talkers: Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Chris Plante, Michael Smerconish, Michael Savage, Andy Parks, Fred Grandy, Bill Bennett, Monica Crowley, Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Miller and Lars Larsen. No matter how good Schultz is, that’s not a fair contest — nor a fair use of the public airwaves.

Unfortunately, what’s happening in Washington reflects what has happened in one city after another across the country. In Miami, Clear Channel recently dumped progressive talk for sports: Clear Channel stations made the same move in San Diego and Cincinnati. Sacramento abandoned progressive talk for gospel music. In fact, according to a study released by the Center for American Progress and Free Press, there are nine hours of conservative talk for every one hour of progressive talk.

Why? Station owners complain they can’t get good ratings or make any money with progressive talk, but that’s nonsense. In Minnesota, independent owner Janet Robert has operated KTNF (950 AM) profitably for five years. In Madison, Wis., WXXM, 92.1 FM, just scored its highest ratings ever. And KPOJ in Portland, Ore., soared with progressive talk from No. 23 in market ratings to No. 1. Nationwide, progressive talkers Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller have proven that, given a level playing field, they can more than hold their own in ratings — and make money for their stations.

In fact, the only reason there’s not more competition on American airwaves is that the handful of companies that own most radio stations do everything they can to block it. In many markets — witness Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Houston — they join in providing no outlet for progressive talk. In others, as in Washington, they limit it to a weak signal, spend zero dollars on promotion and soon pull the plug. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2009/02/right-wing_radio_conspiracy.ht    ml

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Revival of liberal talk in 2004

The dominance of conservative talk radio caused concern among some liberals, who viewed it as an integral part of promoting conservative policies and Republican Party candidates.[5][6] After the failure of i.e. America, Democratic Party supporters conducted conversations with syndicators about how to a develop a left-wing alternative to right-wing talk radio. With the aid of private investors, two projects came to fruition in early 2004.

The first was the January 2004 debut of The Ed Schultz Show, featuring a "meat eating, gun-toting lefty" out of Fargo, North Dakota. Created and produced by Democracy Radio and distributed by large radio syndicator Jones Radio Networks, the show picked up 70 stations by the end of its first year of syndication. The second project was the March 31, 2004 launch of Air America Radio, a left-leaning full-service talk radio network. The fledgling network started with only a handful of stations, mostly lower power AM signals. Early financial difficulties led to the loss of affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Air America's original flagship affiliate, WLIB in New York, had some early ratings success despite a modest signal. In their first month, their midday block featuring Al Franken drew more listeners in the demographic category desired by advertisers than competing stations featuring Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.[7]

Another original Air America affiliate was KPOJ, a struggling AM station in Portland, Oregon with a 25 KW signal but an underperforming oldies format. They ran the entire Air America lineup with one exception, replacing the early "Unfiltered" show (with Rachel Maddow) with Schultz's afternoon show on a time-delay — a schedule that several other stations would soon emulate — and called the format "Progressive Talk". In its first ratings period following the switch, KPOJ went from the bottom to being one of the market's top-rated stations. The station's owner, media giant Clear Channel Communications, decided to roll out the format on many of their other struggling AMs across the country. More than 20 of their stations switched to progressive talk within the following year, which included major markets such as Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Detroit, Seattle, and Miami.[8]

By early 2006, approximately 90 stations were carrying at least part of the Air America lineup. The growth of the format created opportunities for additional programming. Democracy Radio and Jones Radio rolled out shows hosted by Stephanie Miller in September 2004. Bill Press launched in (September 2005). Established hosts such as Alan Colmes and Lionel saw increases in the number of affiliates carrying their shows. On September 1, 2006 Air America's flagship station moved to WWRL.
[edit] Liberal talk radio, 2007-present

After its growth spurt in 2004-2006, the liberal talk format had some setbacks. In the months following the November 2006 elections, Clear Channel changed several of its progressive talk stations to other formats, most notably in Boston. Their announced plan to change the format in Madison, Wisconsin was dropped as the result of a successful listener campaign, but a similar campaign to get the station to retain the format did not work in Columbus, Ohio.[9] An unrelated Columbus station (WVKO) picked up the liberal talk programming later that year. Air America filed for bankruptcy in October 2006, and was sold to new investors in February 2007, though they maintained operations during that time. Air America's highest-rated host, Al Franken, left in February 2007 to run for Senate and was replaced on the network by Thom Hartmann live in the noon-3 PM ET daypart. Hartmann has held Franken's ratings in most markets, regularly beating O'Reilly in Los Angeles, and beating Limbaugh in Portland and Seattle in 2007 and 2008.

Currently, there are fewer than 100 U.S. commercial radio stations carrying liberal talk programs, compared to around 600 stations for Rush Limbaugh, 500 for Sean Hannity etcetera.

Major-market stations carrying liberal talk now use a variety of sources for their programming, choosing some Air America shows, some syndicated shows, and some locally-produced shows. The weekday schedule of KTLK in Los Angeles consists of Rachel Maddow from Air America, syndicated hosts Alan Colmes and Bill Press, former Air America host Thom Hartmann, along with Stephanie Miller's syndicated show, which counts KTLK as its flagship station and broadcasts from the station's studios. KTLK airs a number of local, non-syndicated weekend shows.

Notable stations with progressive talk using entirely local programming include KGO in San Francisco and KIRO in Seattle.

Premiere Radio Networks, Clear Channel's national syndication division and home to Rush Limbaugh, signed its first liberal host in 2009. Clear Channel-owned WJNO personality Randi Rhodes, who had been dropped from both Air America and the now-defunct Nova M Radio, will return to the airwaves on May 11th of that year on the satellites of Premiere, with Clear Channel's Progressive Talk stations, many of which previously carried Rhodes' show, serving as the linchpin of a national syndication effort.
[edit] Internet and satellite

The internet has become an important factor in the distribution of progressive talk programming, with many radio stations streaming their schedules, and most individual shows available through podcasting. Air America Radio's webstream has consistently ranked in the top ten of most-listened to webcast stations and networks.[10] When podcasts became available through iTunes, Al Franken's show was the second-most popular.[11] Smaller providers of liberal radio shows such as Head On Radio Network have made streaming and podcasting integral to their operations.

Both U.S. satellite radio providers carry one channel of liberal talk. XM channel 167, which formerly carried the complete unaltered Air America schedule, now includes Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Bill Press, Randi Rhodes, and Mike Malloy. Sirius channel 146 fills their schedule with syndicated hosts such as Hartmann, Schultz, Miller, Press, and Malloy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_talk_radio

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    * Doug Basham (RadioLinx)
    * Russ Belville (Jones Radio Networks)
    * David Bender (Air America Radio)
    * Alex Bennett (Sirius Satellite Radio)
    * Alan Colmes (Fox News Radio)
    * Jack Ellery (WCTC, New Brunswick, NJ)
    * Jon Elliot (Air America Radio)
    * Laura Flanders (Air America Radio)
    * Sam Greenfield (WVNJ Oakland, NJ)
    * Thom Hartmann (Dial Global – previously with Air America Radio)
    * Jim Hightower (still provides syndicated radio commentaries)
    * Karel (KGO, San Francisco, CA)
    * Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Air America Radio)
    * Yoav Kutner (Tel Aviv Radio)
    * Bob Kincaid (Head On Radio Network)
    * Lionel (Air America Radio)
    * Rachel Maddow (Air America Radio)
    * Mike Malloy (Self Syndicated)
    * Jay Marvin (KKZN, Denver, CO)
    * Stephanie Miller (Dial Global – previously with Jones Radio Networks)
    * Mike Newcomb (RadioLinx)
    * Mike Papantonio (Air America Radio)
    * Bill Press (Dial Global – previously with Jones Radio Networks)
    * Lee Rayburn (WXXM, Madison, WI)
    * Randi Rhodes (Premiere Radio Networks)
    * Neil Rogers (WQAM, Miami, FL)
    * Lynn Samuels (Sirius Satellite Radio)
    * Ed Schultz (Dial Global – previously with Jones Radio Networks)
    * Sam Seder (Air America Radio)
    * Harry Shearer (National Public Radio)
    * Michelangelo Signorile (Sirius Satellite Radio)
    * Ray Taliaferro (KGO, San Francisco, CA)
    * Mark Thompson (Sirius Satellite Radio)
    * Tony Trupiano (Syndicated Solutions Radio Network)
    * Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, Dave Koller and guest host Ben Mankiewicz of The Young Turks (Air America Radio)
    * Bree Walker (KTLK), Los Angeles, CA)
    * Bernie Ward (KGO, San Francisco, CA)
    * Peter Werbe (WRIF, Detroit, MI)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_progressive_talk_radio_hosts

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Ah, I see. That is you description of the millions who watch  FOX. WHy am I not surprised?

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