Rutenberg, Jim (2000-11-08). "The Right Strategy for Fox; Conservative Cable Channel Gains in Ratings War". The New York Times.
"But the network's fight for acceptance as a mainstream source of news may be hindered by the very positioning Mr. Murdoch has championed. Fairly or not, it is perceived in many quarters as having a right-wing bias. Democrats are sometimes loath to appear on its programs, fearing they would not be treated fairly...Fox News Channel executives said they have been able to gain market share on its cable news competitor, MSNBC in audience, and nipping at CNN's heels by occupying a unique place in the television news landscape: giving voice, they said, to conservative commentators and heavily covering conservative issues ignored by other television outlets... "I think there is an underserved audience that is hungry for fair and balanced news," said Roger E. Ailes, the Fox News Channel chairman and chief executive who put together the network for Mr. Murdoch. "If the conservative point of view is not presented anywhere else in journalism, then those people will come to us...."Fox is the most likely to do stories embarrassing to Al Gore," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, a conservative media research center."
Niven, David (2002). Tilt? The Search for Media Bias. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN0275975770.
p.24: "...Roger Ailes, former media wizard for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, and current chief executive of FNC...Conservative Ailes, who heads the network owned by conservative Rupert Murdoch, and whose news staff is headed by openly conservative anchor Brit Hume, dismisses criticism that his network's slogans "We report; you decide" and "Fair and Balanced" are nothing but a flashy coverup of the network's deeply conservative roots and tendencies. Ailes says the notion of FNC as conservative is merely "spin"."
p.582: According to the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and polling firm Knowledge Networks, viewers of Fox News had the most misperceptions of the Iraq war versus viewers of CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC, the print media, and NPR/PBS. 80% of 3,334 viewers who had watched Fox news, believed one or more of the following incorrect statements: Clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was working closely with al Queda has been found; Weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq; World public opinion favored the U.S. going to war with Iraq. The highest average rate of misperceptions was found in Fox News viewers (45%) and the lowest rate of misperception with the NPR/PBS audience (11%).
p.593: According to Rendell and Broughel's content analysis of network coverage...81% of Fox's sources were pro-war...the highest of any network...NBC had the lowest...with 65%
"Fox was the news source whose viewers had the most misperceptions...the Fox audience shows the highest rate of misperceptions (45 percent) while the NPR/PBS audience showed the lowest (11 percent)." Fox News leads in the number of misperceptions. Table 4. Frequency of Misperceptions per Respondent: WMD Found, Evidence of al Queda Link, and World Majority Support for War. Number of misperceptions per respondent: None of the three: 20% Fox; 30% CBS; 39% ABC; 45% CNN; 45% NBC; 53% Print Media; 77% NPR/PBS One or more misperception: 80% Fox; 71% CBS; 61% ABC; 55% CNN; 55% NBC; 47% Print Media; 23% NPR/PBS
A widely-cited public opinion study[1] documents a correlation between news source and certain misconceptions about the Iraq war. Conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes in October 2003, the poll asked Americans whether they believed statements about the Iraq war that were known to be false. Respondents were also asked which was their primary news source: Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, "Print sources," or NPR . By cross referencing the responses according to primary news source, the study showed that higher numbers of Fox News watchers held certain misconceptions about the Iraq war. The director of Program on International Policy (PIPA), Stephen Kull said, “While we cannot assert that these misconceptions created the support for going to war with Iraq, it does appear likely that support for the war would be substantially lower if fewer members of the public had these misperceptions.”[1]
Morris, Jonathan S. (Sept., 2007). "Slanted Objectivity? Perceived Media Bias, Cable News Exposure, and Political Attitudes". Social Science Quarterly. 88 (3). Blackwell Publishing Limited: 707–728. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00479.x. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Abstract: "...results illustrate that Fox News watchers have perceptions of political reality that differ from the rest of the televsion news audience."
p.710-11: "Several political observers and pundits credit the success of Fox News to the station's ability to appeal to conservatives who were disenchanted with traditional network news and who perceived traditional venues as possessing a liberal bias." Although data backing up this claim are sparse, the reasoning behind the creation of the Fox News Channel was to provide a legitimate "fair and balanced" alternative to those fed up with the liberal media...Preliminary empirical research [Pew Research] on this topic indicates that the regular Fox News audience has in fact become more Republican since the channel's inception...More than one-third of all Republicans (36 percent) watch Fox News on a regular basis-a dramatic increase from a mere 14 percent in 1998. Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of all Republicans watched Fox News at least sometimes in 2004...one-fourth 22 percent) of all Republicans reported using Fox News as the primary source of political information (more than any other news), compared to just 5 percent of Democrats....Some recent content analysis research on Fox News indicates that the station's coverage may be friendlier to Republican issues and leaders than their Democratic counterparts."
...those individuals with perceptions of bias and unfairness in the media overall are more likely to watch Fox News...Those who perceive members of the media to be politically biased are significantly more likely to rely on Fox News as their primary source of news...
p.725: "...Fox News is now one of the most popular news sources in the United States. This study shows that a major factor behind the success of Fox News is the hostile media effect. Individuals with negative perceptions of mainstream media are increasingly turning to Fox News as their primary source of news on national and international events...The use of Fox News as a primary source of information is significantly associated with a higher tendency to subscribe to negative stereotypes of Democratic leaders and reject negative stereotypes of Republican leaders. More importantly, this analysis also shows that vote choice is associated with Fox News usage as well as with CNN watching, and it also shows that the Fox News and CNN audiences perceive the current state of domestic and international affairs differently...In the past, the homogenized television news environment gave the mass public a greater ability to hear rhetoric from both sides of an issue and often take a more moderate perspective. However, as negative feelings toward the media persist, individuals continue to take advantage of the fragmented media environment and find sources of news that fit better with their own political views. Recent research indicates that some of the more popular alternatives to traditional news, such as the Fox News Channel, might be portraying a picture of the political world that differs from other sources (see Aday, Livingston, and Herbert, 2005; Kull, 2003; Morris, 2005,; Morris and Francia, 2005) Particularly, this past research indicates that Fox News is covering political events from a perspective that favors the Bush Administration, the Republican Party, and their agenda.
Groeling, T. (Aug., 2007). "Barbarians Inside the Gates: Partisan New Media and the Polarization of American Political Discourse" (Document). Paper presented a the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL. {{cite document}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
FoxNews.com represents a site associated with a major cable TV news network with a reputation (at least among liberals and Democrats) for favoring Republican and conservative issues and candidates...Fox News Channel has arguably been on the vanguard of ideologically polarized cable news content...all outlets except Fox consider stories involving the Iraq conflict especially newsworthy...[Fox] is indeed statistically significantly more likely to select stories with pro-Republican slants for its "top news" summary"...our findings offer a striking validation for those who complain about one-sided coverage of politics in the so-called blogosphere, at least among political websites...Fox News on the right...have demonstrated a clear and strong preference for news stories that beneftied the party most closely associated with their own ideological orientations...our results arguably represent more direct evidence concerning the political orientation of Fox News (at least online) than other studies of media bias...Indeed, our findings appear to validate the arguments of left-leaning partisans that Fox News (again, at least online) tends to favor Republican and Conservative interests.
"In an experimental setting, conservatives and Republicans preferred to read news reports attributed to Fox News and to avoid news from CNN and NPR."
"In its relatively short life span, Fox News has staked out a distinctive reputation for delivering a pro-conservative perspective on issues and events...the outlet's news coverage showed a consistently pro-Republican slant..."
