Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ClarissaMach]

Have you ever realized how much dumb, alarmist and biased Fox News channel is?

Recently I happened to be watching a piece of news about a summit which was been held at Cuba, and the journalist/host had the courage to say something very stupid like this: �this summit is holding together all the countries that hate the USA�. I don�t know if it�s normal in the USA, but here in Brazil nobody in the press would ever say something so silly on television! It sounded incredibly childish!

And that�s not everything. Once and again the journalists/hosts keep doing biased, almost �MacArthist� comments on everything. If a political leader has a different opinion from Mr. Bush, he/she will surely be criticized on the grounds of showing a point of view that is �against the American nation�.

Besides, it�s incredible the time they spend talking about foolish things. One of these days the audience was invited to attend a very stupid pool about a man who had left his bear grow since the 9/11 attacks. The question was: �is it a silly idea or great one?� What a waste of time. . . .

But what is most disgusting is when they talk about some medical issue and, for that reason, they show people going under surgical intervention. Why do they have to show images of the surgeries? I don�t feel like watching someone having his/her chest open up. . .

They also explore personal dramas in a lamentable way. Recently they showed the case of a couple whose daughter suffered from a rare disease that makes her looks like an aged person at the age of two-years-old. When I began to watch it, I thought: �cool, in this piece of news they are probably going to say that some scientist has found a cure for this strange disease�. I was wrong. . . .

All they said is that no one has a hint about the reason why this disease occurs and that only 11 children had died of that disease in the whole country (USA)�which means that probably there are few or no scientists at all looking for a cure. In other words, the only reason why they were showing the drama of that little girl was to say �she is going to die and there is nothing her parents, you or anyone else can do about it. Isn�t it sad? You can cry now, but keep watching Fox News!�.
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Stormy Weather.

[CP]

Fox News is not news. It is Republican talking points, right-wing bloviation, and totally unbalanced opinion and sensationalism only.

Its purpose it to grab attention and foist Republican neoconservatism onto the public as though it were the only correct view of anything, trashing any other point of view by smearing anyone who may disagree. Many shameless lies and half-truths pass the lips of the loudmouths who appear on Fox programs, and almost never do the liars own up to their "mistakes" and "exaggerations."

The only reason to watch Fox is to elevate your blood pressure and improve your naughty-word vocabulary.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[beancurdturtle]

[asterix]

I doubt you can get an unbiased version of the news anywhere in the world today.
Some media are right wing and some left.
People watch the news according to their own bias, I would think.
I don't suppose Fox news is any better or worse than whatever it is that pushes the Democrats point of view.

[CP]

Asterix:

You wrote: "I don't suppose Fox news is any better or worse than whatever it is that pushes the Democrats point of view."

What news source -- print, radio, television, whatever -- does or even comes close to doing what Fox does, but leaning leftward instead of rightward?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[ClarissaMach]

I partially agree with you, Asterix.

I dare say one has never gotten (and will never get) an unbiased version of the news anywhere in the whole world; for such a thing as an unbiased media actually cannot exist.

By naming a thing, one is already defining and expressing a point of view about this very thing. What you, me and the press call "terrorism", for example, might be called "libertatian actions" by people who agree with the things Mr. Osama Bin Laden has been doing. By calling an episode "terrorist attack" or "libertarian action", one is already being biased.

So, how could journalists be unbiased since a thing like a "neutral language" does not exist? I know I might be being very confusing, but do you get what I mean? I think the press couldn't be unbiased even if it wanted.

On the other side, I believe we can build a democratic media if we allow different people, with different backgrounds and different points of view to have their say. Since neutrality does not exist, lets invest in plurality of voices and opinions. And that's exactly what you never see at Fox News.

CP and beancurdturtle: you forgot to mention another reason why one would watch Fox News: ESL students whose cable TV do not allow them to watch other American news channels, and that once in their lives would like to watch something different from BBC

I guess I have no choice but keep watching BBC, since I can't stand watching medical surgeries while I'm having breakfast. . . .
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Stormy Weather.

[pugachevV]

I have heard CNN referred to as Communist News Network.
I guess it means they are Democrats?

[asterix]

I'm not that familiar with US networks or media but it is obvious that most newspapers, TV stations etc., throughout the world are slanted towards either the left or the right.
For example, I would suggest the Chicago Sun-Times is right wing. The British Guardian is left wing. The Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is right wing, The British Daily Mirror, left wing and so on.
I think Fox news is very right wing and I think CNN is left wing, as is the BBC and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
I guess they reflect the politics of the owners, or if government-owned, like the BBC and CBC, the politics of the government, or perhaps the senior management.
I don't know where you go for unbiased news. Perhaps to PBS, although, I think they lean left too.

[redset]

[Bob S.]