“I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News,” said News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch in a lecture at Columbia University in 2001. Nine years later, Murdoch’s meager denial has been concretely exposed. Failed politicians, have no fear; Fox News Channel is here!
Estates of the realm exist to regulate government through a balanced system in which all social institutions consistently serve the public.
These institutions are separated into the religious clergy of the First Estate, the political leaders of the Second Estate and the common people of the Third Estate.
In 1841 Scottish sociological theorist Thomas Carlyle added a Fourth Estate to the realm: the press.
The primary responsibility of the press is “to keep our leaders honest and to arm the powerless with the information they need to protect themselves against the tyranny of the powerful,” Journalist Bill Moyers said in his article “Journalism and Democracy: On the Importance of Being a ‘Public Nuisance’.” Moyers coins the media, the gatekeepers of public information, as “unimpeachable sources.”
While the main objective of the Fourth Estate appears simple, the growth of capitalist enterprise has left several private media outlets with inevitable ties to government influence. This theory is most closely illustrated with the recent addition of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as contributor to the presumably conservative cable network Fox News Channel.
Palin may argue that she is a journalist by nature. Prior to her political career, Palin graduated from the University of Idaho an 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Shortly after, she moved to Alaska to become a sportscaster for two local television stations and a sports reporter for a local newspaper. It was never Palin’s intention to become a political leader, but rather an unexpected and somewhat successful career.
Over two decades later Palin has chosen to take up her college calling once more, but this time her area of expertise has changed.
Rather than covering the sport of hockey, she will cover the sports of the political arena.
However, her contribution is not the first time Fox News Channel has featured a conservative politician on its network.
In 2008 former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was given his own weekend program, “Huckabee,” and was later hired by ABC Radio to host the program “The Huckabee Report.”
With former politicians and several openly biased “talking heads” running amok in the media, it is as if the Fourth Estate is no longer needed to separate the interests of political leaders from favorably influencing the public in which they serve.
Perhaps Fox News Channel is merely including conservative politicians as contributors to the network to combat the general assumption that the media is controlled by liberals.
If this is their intention, Fox has victoriously succeeded in their goal. However, this conduct questions the integrity of not only Fox, but other news sources as well. It undermines the trustworthiness that is due of professional journalism as a whole.
When ethical considerations like these are ignored, the public is no longer taught what to think about, but how to think. This is the definition of agenda-setting. This is the definition of political propaganda.
Unfortunately, this is the definition of capitalism. Important factors like ethics and morality are compromised for the sake of increased ratings and revenue.
As audience members, the public should be insulted by the use of propaganda by a news source. Audiences cannot trust this opinionated "journalism", just as how news sources like these may not trust the opinions of their audience. Citing Moyer’s idea of the media’s role, are the powerless still protected from the powerful?
Has the professional role of the Fourth Estate been jeopardized? When has a line been crossed?
The answer to all of these will emerge as society says goodbye to the Second and Fourth Estates and hello to the Fifth -- a realm of opinionated bloggers, YouTube ranters, Twittering fools, and unimpeachable has-been politicians on cable news networks.
2 comments
To address the contributor aspect, FNC, also hires people such as Juan Williams of NPR, as well as Bob Beckel, to name a few.
I find it funny, in a sick way, when you say, "When ethical considerations like these are ignored, the public is no longer taught what to think about, but how to think." considering the fact that one of your writers' in the opening sentence to a story, "D.O.A. for the G.O.P." described, "Michael Steele, the leader of the Republican National Committee, and resident CRAZY person..." talk about ethics!? I find it funny how hypocritical and manipulative this publication really is. Number one rule of journalism, in case you and most others there were sick that day when this should of been taught, once you loose your credibility, find a new job. I am here and I am going to shoot EVERY story this publication writes until you all straighten up and actually report the news unspun.