Santita Jackson is leaving WVON chicago to join Fox News. I have appeared on her radio show and she is a fair, balanced interviewer, but she does have a point of view. Will she be a good fit? is this their attempt to truly become fair and balanced? what do you think is this a good move for Jackson?
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EM, I want to remain genteel in responding to what I have come to believe is a totally unconscious left wing bias on your part. Let me first say that you’re certainly entitled to your point of view and I try to respect it. But is it totally impossible for you to at least set up the premise for a story objectively? You ask if employing Santita Jackson as a commentator at FOX is an attempt to “truly” become fair and balanced. So, What have they been up to now; “ostensibly” fair and balanced?
I would have guessed that you were at least somewhat familiar with the lineup of the political commentators on that network; at least enough to know that she won’t be the first liberal commentator there. If you are, indulge me anyway while I list several of the liberal left commentators there right off the top of my head. There is Alan Colmes, Sally Kohn, Juan Williams, Kirsten Powers, Pat Caddell, Doug Schoen, and Bob Beckel to name a few.
But to answer your question about Santita Jackson, it is an excellent move for here. She will gain broader visual international exposure. She is intelligent, articulate and quite bonny. Whenever I’ve seen her, she has always presented her positions very eloquently. I’m sure she’ll push FOX over the top to become a “truly” fair and balanced network.
Bill, I have on occasion watched Fox news and what i find is an agenda driven network. Are they alone in having an agenda? No. MSNBC also has an agenda but theirs is more in alignment with my beliefs. Turn on Fox New and virtyally every story regarding the president has a negative spin. In their eyes he can do no right. they are the media arm of the GOP, but they go a step farther when they allow guest to jokingly make death threats regarding the president (Liz Trotta), and they feed the birther frenzy. So yes I do view the network negatively and that is what drives the headline. perhaps the addition of Jackson and others with contrasting views the network might tip toward the middle and not just arch completely to the right. Lastly, my left bias is not unconscious.
You quite aptly described what those on the right do there? But what do those commentators who represent the left wing viewpoint do while all of these things are going on; sit there in silence? No, they espouse their view from the left. Hence, the balance. I almost never agree with their positions but I do enjoy observing the banter.
In the eyes of those on FOX you say, the president can do no right. And I say in the eyes of the left wing commentators there, he can do no wrong. So you obviously think the current line up of the commentators there on the left have are ineffective as the network currently arches completely to the right. Perhaps it’s your admitted bias that is obscuring your judgement, precluding your abilility to even notice those on the left there. But hopefully the addition of Santita Jackson will rectify this perceived imbalance.
It’s been awhile since Fox changed to “We report, you decide” as their motto. But people seem stuck on the “Fair and Balanced” mantra. If Jackson can hold her own on the network, great. I do not need a network to make up my mind for me. I’m intelligent enough to read various sources and weigh reliability based on the track record of the network. I wish her success.
It’s going to “build its rep as the nation’s ‘fair and balanced’ cable network.”
They’re kidding, right? The words “fair and balanced” and “Fox News” don’t belong in the same sentence. All by itself “Fox News” is an oxymoron.
That said I wish Ms. Jackson the very best in her new career direction. May she speak truth to power.
Deacon Don, you sound like one of those individuals who has such disdain for FOX NEWS that you don’t watch it. If you do watch it, I’d be interested in knowing what you think the above listed liberal commentators do there if not provide counterbalance to the espoused conservative views.
All for the ratings.
Nice new format.
Bill, I spent over 25 years in or associated with media and have watched North American media evolve from the reporting of news -> news with editorial comment -> editorial comment with news -> editorial comment about news.
In the era of electronic media, the focus has become the sound or video bite, which is often the most controversial but least substantial aspect of a story, just as an outrageous statement by an anchor or interview subject (all too often another reporter given ‘expert’ status) is given visual/graphic or content status it does not deserve.
There are exceptions to this of course. I recall an interview with the late Ed Bradley on the subject of the Vietnam war and Cambodia, but this situation was appropriate because not only was Bradley in Phnom Penh, he was wounded by mortar shrapnel while he was there. But the proliferation of talking heads asking each other for ‘their thoughts’ is a more recent and unfortunate phenomenon.
No medium, paper or electronic, can or IMHO should be completely ‘balanced’ because we like to sample different political flavours and make our own decisions. If Fox presented itself as representing the view from the right I think it would be much more palatable, particularly if it featured a few left-thinking individuals to provide a forum for discussion. As it is, for it to claim the position of ‘the nation’s “fair and balanced” cable network,’ which implies it is the only one. It’s not, nor frankly can it be in a society as diverse and divided as the US appears at the moment. There’s nothing wrong with strong flavours or strong opinions, provided we are honest about what they are and where they come from.
Personally, I get most of my news now from internet sources that give me a choice of opinions that are filtered (like Fox, NBC, CBC, BBC, Aljazeera etc) or completely disintermediated and are a lot faster to respond to events.
God bless and Happy Easter to all