[Rudey]

I agree. People flock to news sources they tend to feel more comfortable with. I don't, but I can see others that do. The difference though comes down to finding out who is biased (we all tend to agree they all are) and how much they are biased since everything is relative.

-Rudey
--The study I offered at the beginning of this thread is the only such measure of bias I've seen that is reputable.

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Fox vs. CNN: a deepening divide
The Dallas Morning News
By Colleen McCain Nelson

DALLAS _ In the divisive world of cable television news, three letters say a lot about a person.

The TV nation, like the electorate, is split down the middle, with viewers choosing sides: Fox or CNN. And just as in presidential politics, most are committed to their preference, with few swing voters or undecideds up for grabs.

As the race for the White House heats up, the partisan divide is deepening on the TV dial.

Charges and countercharges of bias fly between viewers of the two networks, with Fox watchers labeling the competition liberal and CNN viewers dubbing the other guys GOP-TV.

But are the broadcasts on Fox News Channel and CNN really that different?

For viewers such as Patty Cron, the answer is an unequivocal "yes."

A frequent business traveler, she insists on staying in hotels that offer Fox News.

"A lot of hotels just have the Ted Turner CNN package," she says. "When that happens, I check out and switch hotels."

The result of such unwavering loyalty, media experts said, is a growing disconnect between those who rely on "fair and balanced" news, which Fox says it provides, and those watching "the most trusted name in news," which CNN claims to be.

While a diversity of opinions and information sources is useful, media experts say, the danger of this divide is a lack of consensus on even basic facts.

"The common ground for public understanding and public information may be destroyed in all of this," said Frank Sesno, a former CNN executive and a professor of public policy and communication at George Mason University. "The simple question of what happened today becomes something we're in danger of arguing over."

Network representatives say the question of whether Fox or CNN promotes a point of view is easily put to rest.

No, each said without hesitation.

Both claim to be the best and most unbiased source of news.

"It's obvious that we place the highest premium on being impartial, on providing all sides _ not just both sides _ but all sides," said Matthew Furman, CNN spokesman.

"We try to make sure that everything is fair and is balanced," said Bill Shine, vice president of production for Fox News. "It's our slogan, but it's also what we live by."

Shine said Fox goes so far as to take a stopwatch into the studio to ensure that opposing viewpoints get equal airtime. Furman said that during every step of production _ from guest bookings to script vettings _ fairness is considered at CNN.

For confirmation of their evenhandedness, both networks turn to their audiences. Cable news viewers represent only a sliver of the television universe, but they are an engaged and brand-loyal bunch.

Fox points to its success in the ratings, which have consistently outpaced the competition, making the 8-year-old network No. 1 in cable news. "The American public likes what we do, and that shows in the ratings," Shine said.

At CNN, the network cites studies showing that people of all political stripes are tuning in. "The ideological makeup of our audience most closely mirrors the makeup of the country," Furman said.

A study released last month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that conservatives are watching Fox in greater numbers. CNN's audience has become more Democratic, but the network still draws a politically varied audience.

According to the study, 52 percent of Fox viewers describe themselves as conservative, compared with 36 percent of CNN's audience. CNN has more credibility with viewers _ 32 percent believe what they hear on the network, compared with 25 percent for Fox _ but CNN's rating has slipped in the last couple of years.

Hector Leija was a CNN viewer but gradually grew frustrated with the network. A Republican, Leija abandoned CNN after becoming fed up with what he perceived as undue criticism of the president.

"I got tired of all the negative," he said. "They were bashing my man Bush, so I had to make the switch."

As Leija sees it, all networks slant their stories, so he might as well watch the channel that mirrors his views.

"When people are in agreement with one another, they tend to be good company. Fox and I are good company," he said.

Like Leija, many viewers are seeking affirmation _ not information, experts said. (bold type added by DA)

"We have too much info to sift through to form our own opinions, so we lean on partisan hosts who form them for us," said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

In a world of sound bites and bullet points, many viewers seek out simplistic, definitive declarations rather than sift through complexity and nuance, said Felling, who likened many people's TV watching habits to eating at a restaurant instead of preparing a home-cooked meal.

"They go to the opinion mongers rather than prepare their own because it's easier and saves time _ much like eating out," he said.

CNN viewer William Newbill agreed, saying that many people are unwilling to debate issues and prefer to boil things down to digestible, black-and-white answers. Fox News, he said, is populated with talking heads making grand pronouncements _ regardless of whether the evidence supports their opinions.

"It would be one thing if they were just right-wingers," he said. "But they don't get their facts right, and they go out of their way to dispute facts that mainstream media reports accurately."

But Fox News president Roger Ailes has asserted that the rest of the media is so far left of center that an objective network such as Fox seems conservative by comparison.

Brent Baker, vice president of the conservative Media Research Center, said Fox News breaks from media "groupthink" by presenting story angles that weren't being covered by left-leaning networks.

"It provides an alternative because they're offering information you can't get elsewhere," he said.

Baker acknowledged many of the prime-time commentators at Fox are conservative and said that some CNN anchors are more fair than others. But in general, CNN appears to be a liberal network, he said.

"Overall, the Fox News Channel is more fair and balanced than anybody else," Baker said.

Bias appears to be in the eye of the beholder, though, as many longtime journalists disagreed.

"This is a very complicated issue," said Sesno, who consults for CNN and teaches a class about media bias. "What you see mostly depends on where you stand."

CNN, he said, takes a traditional approach to news, reporting from a detached perspective and raising tough questions.

"There's a sense that when you watch Fox, you're on America's side," he said. "They have built a network that people expect to be more conservative, more supportive of the current administration."

Viewers and experts point to the two networks' coverage in Iraq and Afghanistan as an example of how CNN and Fox approach news differently.

In some ways, the two networks aren't even speaking the same language, as they use dueling spellings and phrases when referring to the same people and places.

Fox News' word choice often mirrors that of the Bush administration. The network regularly reports Iraq news under the heading "Operation Iraqi Freedom," and Fox is one of the only news outlets that refers to the al-Qaida leader as "Usama" bin Laden.

CNN has reported on "the fight for Iraq," "the war in Iraq" and the "countdown to handover." And its anchors call bin Laden "Osama."

Breaking news dominates CNN's Iraq coverage _ bombings, soldiers' deaths and government news receive prominent play. But Fox anchors make a concerted effort to tell positive stories about progress in Iraq. They regularly show pictures of grinning Iraqi children and ask viewers to write in describing soldiers' good deeds.

"While other networks focus only on the bad news in Iraq, we try to balance it out," Linda Vester told viewers recently. "Here's a little boy clearly grateful for the help."

Whether such feel-good pieces are newsworthy could be debated. But the coverage leaves the impression that the network is unwilling to ask challenging questions, said Joe Angotti, professor and chairman of the broadcast program at Northwestern University.

"Fox continues to take a flag-waving approach," said Angotti, a former vice president and executive producer at NBC News. "While the other networks are acknowledging people killed in the war. ... Fox considers that almost unpatriotic."

But regardless of which side viewers fall on in the TV news debate, viewer Jim Depew said the recalcitrant positions both sides have taken are discouraging.

"People are just too wrapped up in their views," he said. "They want their side to be right, even if they're wrong.

"For me, if I turn on the news, I just want to see news," Depew said. (bold type added by DA)