Next Generation News and Partisanship: Reflecting on Journalism

I have learned that political news is a touchy subject. Opinions are high, differences are vast, and perception of equal representation is almost impossible to achieve. It would seem that pleasing a bipartisan audience is unfeasible, especially when it comes to cable news.

NPR's All Things Considered recently did a story about FOX's news programs verses its opinion programs. The report focuses on Bret Baier, a young anchor of a political newscast that airs nightly on FOX. The story, done by NPR's David Folkenflik, reports that Baier's popularity in the cable news sphere is only surpassed by Bill O'Reilly's opinion show, and it raises questions as to whether FOX news programming is as "fair and balanced" as its executives claim.

I think this report was done well. Folkenflik asks important questions and presents both sides' arguments. He doesn't tell people what to think, but rather what to think about. That is the definition of good journalism and good news coverage.

If you want to listen to the report yourself, just click the link below.


He is a summary of Fulkenflik's story:
Baier's political-coverage balance was brought into question because during an exclusive interview he got a year ago he kept interrupting President Obama while he answered Baier's questions. Shows on FOX have been harsh on Democrat's perspectives in the past. FOX Networks executives say their network gives fair and balanced political news coverage.

Jamie McIntyre, a former reporter for CNN, said of Baier's work "I remember thinking that if you took the average Bret Baier report and you took mine and you stripped the names out so you didn't know who was producing them, I'm not sure you could tell which report was generated by CNN and which was generated by the FOX news channel."

McIntyre does say that assignments at FOX speak to the conservative audience that watches FOX reporting. David Folkenflik reports that story assignment aren't too unusual for a station to meet the needs of its viewing audience. Portland news stations cover things that happen in Portland more than they cover other news topics. If conservatives watch FOX, as PEW research has shown, then naturally FOX coverage will be more about issues that conservatives want to hear about.

Part of Baier's show is a panel discussion. Folkenflik reports over the past six months the panel has consisted of two clearly conservative people and a third usually a journalist form a "non-idological news outlet." This would clearly swing the conversation to a biased perspective with underrepresentation from members of the democratic party. Perhaps this is the best observation Folkenflik does in his story.

Folkenflik told Baier that having an unbalanced panel like that would underrepresent the left and also cast reporters as though they are surrogate liberals. To which Baier said "numerous people can make the case of what the [FOX] administration is trying to do, trying to say that provides a perspective not perhaps advocating for that position but analyzing it."

MaCintyre the former CNN reporter said Baier has "cracked the code. He has figured out what he needs to do with the employer he works for and I think he is also trying to uphold his personal standards, and I think he does that pretty well."

Baier gets 2 million viewers each night to watch his show and says that is evidence that what he is doing is right.