What cable network you choose to get your news from says a lot about your political beliefs. Cable news networks have become increasingly polarized and objectivity in journalism has been lost.
Fox News and MSNBC have been challenged by none other than Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” for failing to meet their own journalistic standards. Just this month, Fox has shown old, erroneous video footage of large crowds of people while reporting on both the Republican health care protest on Capitol Hill and Sarah Palin’s book tour. In addition, they showed the wrong book cover of her “Going Rogue” memoir. The significance of each network’s fact-checking failures is they aided in reinforcing the perspective of each network.
When a comedy show is fact-checking actual news organizations, there’s a problem.
Objectivity has been lost from news networks as a race to win ratings and advertising dollars sets precedence above real journalism. Such special interests control content and the agendas of news making.
It’s no secret both Fox and MSNBC have political agendas. Any intelligent viewer can watch 10 minutes of programming on either channel and recognize the bias and political right-wing rhetoric of Fox News or the liberal propaganda of MSNBC.
It is the opinion programming, however, that defines each network’s ethos and is the real cause for concern. Delusional commentators such as Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are the hallmarks of the Fox network. Their programs personify Fox’s right-leaning perspective. MSNBC left-wing commentators such as Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow portray their network as liberal and elitist. None of these shows is news. This continued blurring of news and opinion continues to damage the reputation of both networks, in addition to damaging the standards of journalism. With such populist programming comes the degeneration of objectivity.
According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 63 percent of Americans surveyed believe news stories are often inaccurate. Moreover, 74 percent of respondents believe stories tend to favor one side of an issue more than another. Americans are conscious of the bias in the media and the networks’ failure to live up to their own journalistic standards.
Journalism’s purported objectivity remains the crux of the problem. If Fox and MSNBC are going to continue to operate under the guise of objective journalism, then they need to consider adding on-screen disclaimers for their opinion programming, much like the age ratings at the beginning of non-news TV programming. Differentiating between blocks of news and opinion programming with on-screen graphics between segments, such as “Opinion Hour” or “Primetime Voices,” would be ideal. Other networks could also adopt such practices in hopes of maintaining credibility while still offering popular opinion programming.
Recently, CNN purged itself of the very opinionated Lou Dobbs, because the network recognized the damage such commentators have on an organization’s credibility. With Dobbs’ resignation comes a renewed focus on objective reporting.
It remains to be seen whether this back-to-basics approach to journalism will succeed or live in the shadow of populist programming more prevalent on other cable news networks.
Fox News and MSNBC have a responsibility to society to promote transparency and accountability in government. By choosing what to report on and what to exclude, they are acting recklessly.
If you want real news, stick to local news outlets or non-profits such as NPR. They don’t choose what to report — they just report.
—Andy Lewandowski is a media studies senior.
—This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to opinion@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Include your full name, major and year in school.
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