TV News Review

Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star got a one on one interview with MSNBC’s, newly promoted, Phil Griffin and got some interesting quotes from Griffin about MSNBC, Fox News and the contentious relationship between the two.

The interview is full of interesting quotes that show the friction and contempt that exists between the two channels and their management but the best has to be Griffin’s, “What they are trying to do is play a game here,” Griffin continued. “THEY made the business decision to create an ideological network. We didn’t. They were the ones that got in bed with the Bush Administration, so that most of the time, where did the Bush Administration officials come out and make their points? Fox News. We didn’t. You brought it up, but it’s a great story because you can’t trust a word they say.”

This is not the first time that Fox News has been accused of being in bed with the Bush Administration. One only has to watch a short while before seeing that Fox certainly is the most willing to make sure that the administration’s positions are clearly and well stated, many times. And some of their people that are allowed to state their personal opinions make it clear that they agree with the Bush Administration, but to say “you can’t trust a word they say” is a bit far.

Fox News does have many hard news reporters and anchors that are very good and work hard to make sure that they give equal time to both sides of the political spectrum.  They work hard to hold their personal opinions in check and present the story fairly. For MSNBC to be saying this a bit hypocritical given some of NBC’s problems with accurate reporting. The problems that ‘Dateline’ alone has had could fill more than one column.

To most viewers Fox News would appear to have a slant to the Republicans and conservatives, but to the same viewers MSNBC certainly has a slant to the Democrats and liberals. All media has a slant. The job for viewers is to recognize the slant and not depend upon one source for all their news. Watch Fox News, MSNBC and CNN. Even the network evening news. Read different papers and magazines. Listen to talk radio. But always remember they all have a slant.

One Eyed Man