The New Yorker: Online Only

"AMY TÜBKE-DAVIDSON: You spent four months watching Fox News. What did you see?

KEN AULETTA: I saw a news network that was not, as advertised, free of bias and "fair and balanced." This is not to say that Fox News doesn't do some things well. It is to say that the network, like many political candidates, is not always what it claims to be. The network proclaims, "We report. You decide." But, too often, Fox both reports and decides. The anchors are opinionated throughout the day, not just in the evening hours, with Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity. Too often, the commentators tilt to the right and don't provide both sides—certainly not the nonconservative side—and many of the network's "liberal" commentators are somewhat meek. Many Fox reporters do offer opinions. In its desire to right the excesses of what it sees as liberal press bias, Fox often goes overboard.

Who watches Fox News?

The largest segment of cable-news viewers is made up of conservatives. According to a Pew Research Center poll, forty-six per cent of Fox viewers identify themselves as conservative, compared with forty per cent of CNN viewers. But, because Fox viewers are more intense, they watch seventy per cent more cable news than CNN viewers do. This intensity of viewing on Fox helps account for its ratings success, since length of viewing and not just total number of viewers is counted by the Nielsen ratings service. Fox's core viewers are conservatives, and they would seem to identify with Fox as their club for news. Thus, on the occasion of Ronald Reagan's birthday, in February, Fox treated it as a cause for celebration, with live remotes throughout the day from the Reagan ranch and with interviews with former friends and associates." MORE...