Conservative-Funded Study: Fox News Gives Most Balanced Coverage

A study released this month by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) at George Mason University found that Fox News Channel's evening coverage was more "balanced" than that of the broadcast networks. However, the objectivity of the CMPA, which bills itself as a nonpartisan media watchdog group, is questionable, as the Center for Media and Democracy's SourceWatch found that "nearly all its funding comes from conservative foundations."

The conservative-funded study, which also claimed that TV election news has been most critical of Hillary Clinton and friendliest to Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama, found the following on the balance of Fox's coverage:

Who's Fair and Balanced?: Fox News Channel's coverage was more balanced toward both parties than the broadcast networks were. On FOX, evaluations of all Democratic candidates combined were split almost evenly - 51% positive vs. 49% negative, as were all evaluations of GOP candidates - 49% positive vs. 51% negative, producing a perfectly balanced 50-50 split for all candidates of both parties.

On the three broadcast networks, opinion on Democratic candidates split 47% positive vs. 53% negative, while evaluations of Republicans were more negative - 40% positive vs. 60% negative. For both parties combined, network evaluations were almost 3 to 2 negative in tone, i.e. 41% positive vs. 59% negative.

To download a PDF of the report, click here.

Comments

[sheaftosser]

Lies. Damned Lies. And conservative funded foundation surveys.

[doug108]

Is there some other reason to think this study flawed, other than it was funded with conservative money? Let's not be the liberal flip side of the conservative "attack the messenger" machine. If it's true, it's true. If it's false, it's false, regardless of who funded it.

[Average]

And the MOST ACCURATE.

[fantagor]

Is this the same "fair and balanced" channel that said, in the wake of Kurt Vonnegut's death, that he was "by the 1970s rich and irrelevant"?

Yes, that's fair and balanced of them, especially when you consider Vonnegut's last book came out in 2005.

Kurt is up in heaven still laughing that one off.

Randy

[samuraijack]

This just in, the world is not flat. But, Adam and Eve were the first humans. Jack Out.

[Destin]

MUAHAHHA

This "study" has about as much credibility as GW Bush saying that he is the best President the USA has ever had.

LMFAO!!!

[nellie]

Why on earth would anyone do such a study? What's the point? Who's asking whether news stations are balanced? Why fund something like this? What a waste.

I have sneaking suspicion that my tax dollars were funneled into this nonsense in some way.

[RichardD]

Yup,
And I am a monkey's uncle,
And the flat earth society hasn't put in their final report yet,
And global warming isn't happening,
And the Moon is made of cheese,
And God choose Earth as the only place in the Universe to put life.
No doubt about it.

[contrariandy]

Sorry to hit you RightWingNuts with one of those annoying real facts of the truthful kind that Foxie's can't handle, but Fox News is not the most watched network by any means. It's viewership is far, far less than that of the legitimate broadcast networks. Here's another one of those uncomfortable truths: Just because something or someone is not ideologically to the far right, it doesn't mean that they are Left, or even Liberal. There is a broad middle ground. Another fact is that the objective media and even the DemocratIC Party are Center-Right, not Left. There is no actually Left of any importance in America, not even Labor. Just Populists and Progressives versus the Republican Aristocrats. Finally, the only way that Far Unbalanced comes out on top in a survey like this is that it's all based on subjective analysis by right wingers who agree with Foxzi News in the first place.

[Kungfublood]

Thats good I'm glad that fox would never allow their news casters and anchor people to comment or suggest government policy or project and inject their opinion's or the opinions of their media bosses during the reporting of the news like I saw them do when I was in that hotel last week!

[bibimimi]

Can I vote we move the Bill Kristol crapfest over here?

Conservatives need to fund as many BS polls and studies as they can to unload themselves of all that pesky US currency they amassed in the last 7 years.

[apresdeluge]

Yeah right, and George W. Bush is the best President ever. What I really miss on Fox are all the breaking news stories about finding WMD in Iraq. Now of course they have been replaced with stories about the great progress being made there. So refreshing, it's like going through the Looking Glass or down the rabbit hole.

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

But who won the awards for integrity and accuracy??

[neoconscums]

Hey, no kidding!!! Now why didn't I think of that? Now this calls for champagne. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE ASSORTED FRUITCAKES AND FOUR CHAMBERED NUTS ON FOX NETWORK!!!!

[novowel4me]

I've come to interpret, pretty much, any slogan produced by the GOP propaganda ministry as meaning the opposite of what it infers. "Non-partisan Media Watchdog Group", "Fair and Balanced", "No Child Left Behind", "Mission Accomplished" and "Liberal Media Bias" are a few that leap to mind.