(Redirected from FOX News)
The 'Fox News Channel' (FNC) is a
United States-based
cable and
satellite news channel. It is owned by the
Fox Entertainment Group, and is a
subsidiary of
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation. As of
January 2005, it is available to 85 million households in the U.S. and further to viewers
internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its
New York City studios.
The network was launched on
October 7,
1996[1] to 17 million cable subscribers. The network slowly rose to prominence in the late 1990s. In the United States, Fox News Channel is
rated as the cable news network with the largest number of regular viewers, although CNN retains a larger number of unique viewers.
[2]
The channel was created by Australian-American media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who hired
Roger Ailes as its founding CEO. Critics and some observers of the channel say Fox News promotes
conservative political positions;
[3][4][5][6] the channel denies allegations of bias in its news reporting.
[7]
History
Fox News Channel covering the War in Iraq.
established Fox News to fill what he saw as a niche in the market for news that, according to Murdoch, was "fair and balanced." In the opinion of
Ken Auletta of ''
The New Yorker'', it was to counter a news media that Murdoch believed was predominantly
liberal.
[8] Murdoch's company,
News Corp, had gained significant experience in the 24-hour news business when its
BSkyB subsidiary started Europe's first 24 hour news channel,
Sky News, in the
United Kingdom back in 1989.
In February 1996, after
Roger Ailes left
America's Talking (now
MSNBC), Murdoch called Ailes to start the ''Fox News Channel''. A group of Ailes loyalists who followed him throughout the
NBC empire joined him at Fox. From there, the
CNBC expatriates, who joined a team already in place at Fox News, created the programming concept and proceeded to select space in New York. Ailes worked individuals through five months of grueling 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before launch, on
October 6,
1996.
At launch, only ten million households were able to watch Fox News, with none in the major media markets of
New York City and
Los Angeles. According to published reports, many media reviewers had to watch the first day's programming at Fox News studios because it was not readily available. The rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single topic shows like ''Fox on Crime'' or ''Fox on Politics'' surrounded by news
headlines. Interviews had various facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time was called ''The Schneider Report'', with
Mike Schneider giving a fast paced delivery of the news. During the evening, Fox had opinion shows: ''
The O'Reilly Factor'' (then called ''The O'Reilly Report''), ''The Crier Report'' hosted by
Catherine Crier, and ''
Hannity & Colmes''.
A ''Fox News Alert'' title card
From the beginning, Fox News has had a heavy emphasis on the visual presentation of news. Graphics were designed to be colorful and attention grabbing, and to allow people to get the main points of what was being said even if they couldn't hear the host, through the use of on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker, and "bullet points" when a host was giving commentary.
Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert," which interrupted regular programming when a
breaking news story occurred. Each News Alert was designed to be attention-catching with a swooshing graphic filling the screen and a piercing chime instead of the regular news music. At the beginning of FNC, the Fox News Alert was used fairly rarely, giving the chime more cachet, but currently it is used regularly to announce scheduled events or repeat existing news instead of only breaking news stories, with Fox News Alerts sometimes several times each hour instead of just a few times a day. Former Fox Music Supervisor David Hnatiuk created the Alert in 1999 and has since expressed his disappointment in the network's use of the sounds and visuals in association with "news" about
Bennifer and
Martha Stewart.
[9]
To accelerate its adoption by cable companies, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the network. This contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators paid stations carriage fees for the programming of channels. When Time Warner bought out
Ted Turner's
Turner Broadcasting, a federal
antitrust consent decree required Time Warner to carry a second all-news channel in addition to Time Warner's own
CNN. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the secondary news network, instead of Fox News. Fox News claimed that this violated an agreement to carry Fox News, and Ailes used his connections to persuade Mayor Giuliani to carry Fox News and
Bloomberg Television on two underutilized city-owned cable channels, which he did.
New York City also threatened to revoke Time Warner's cable
franchise for not carrying Fox News.
A lawsuit was filed by Time Warner against the City of New York claiming undue interference and for inappropriate use of the city's educational channels for commercial programming. News Corporation countered with an antitrust lawsuit against Time Warner for unfairly protecting CNN. This led to an acrimonious battle between Murdoch and Turner, with Turner publicly comparing Murdoch to
Adolf Hitler while Murdoch's ''
New York Post'' ran an editorial questioning Turner's sanity. Giuliani's motives were also questioned, as his then-wife was a producer at Murdoch-owned
WNYW-TV. In the end, Time Warner and News Corporation signed a
settlement agreement to permit Fox News to be carried on New York City cable system beginning in October 1997, and to all of Time Warner's cable systems by 2001, though Time Warner still does not carry Fox News in all areas.
[10] In return, Time Warner was given some rights to News Corporation's
satellites in Asia and Europe to distribute Time Warner programming, would receive the normal compensation per subscriber paid to cable operators, and News Corporation would not object to
Atlanta Braves baseball games being carried on
TBS (which normally would not happen because of the Fox television network's contract with
Major League Baseball).
Outlets
Television
Main articles: Fox News Channel programming
Fox News Channel presents a variety of programming with up to 15 hours of live programming per day, in addition to programming and content for the
Fox Broadcasting Company. Most of the programs are broadcast from Fox News headquarters in
New York City in their street-side studio on
Sixth Avenue in the west extension of
Rockefeller Center. Audio simulcasts of the channel are aired on
XM Satellite Radio and
Sirius Satellite Radio.
Online
Like other news networks, Fox News Channel produces a news
website featuring the latest coverage of news stories, including
video clips from the network's television division,
audio clips from Fox News Radio, in addition to columns from the network's assorted television, radio, and online personalities. Introduced in
December 1995, the network's website ranks below many other news websites, ranking in the lower teens in the list of top news websites.
Radio
Main articles: Fox News Radio
With the growth of the Fox News Channel, the network introduced a radio division entitled ''Fox News Radio'' in 2003.
Syndicated throughout the United States, the division provides short
newscasts and
talk radio programs, featuring personalities from both the television and radio divisions. In addition, the network has also introduced
Fox News Talk in
2006, a
satellite radio station which features programs syndicated by and featuring Fox News personalities.
Personalities
Main articles: Fox News Channel programming#Personalities,
l1=Fox News Channel personalities
Producing a variety of different programming, Fox News Channel has a number of different program hosts,
news anchors, correspondents, and
contributors which appear throughout daily programing on the network. The network has a number of different signature hosts, including
Bill O'Reilly,
Sean Hannity,
Alan Colmes,
Greta Van Susteren,
Shepard Smith, and
Brit Hume, all of which host programs which are on the list of the top ten most watched programs on cable news.
[11]
Ratings
Fox News currently leads the cable news market in the United States, earning higher points ratings than its chief competitors
CNN and
MSNBC combined by average viewership.
[12][13] While more people are actively watching Fox News Channel at any given time,
CNN still remains the leader in unique viewers.
The
BBC reported that Fox News saw its profits double during the
Iraq conflict. By some reports, at the height of the conflict they enjoyed as much as a 300% increase in viewership, averaging 3.3 million viewers daily.
[14]
In 2004, the gain in ratings became more apparent. In September, Fox News Channel's ratings for its broadcast of the
Republican National Convention beat those of all three broadcast networks. During President Bush's address, Fox News notched 7.3 million viewers nationally, while
NBC,
CBS, and
ABC scored ratings of 5.9, 5.0, and 5.1, respectively.
However, starting in late 2005, Fox began to see a slight decline in the ratings. One of the most notable decline in ratings came in the second quarter of 2006, when compared to the previous quarter, Fox News had a loss in viewership for every single primetime program but retained their lead in the market. One of the most noteworthy losses of viewership was that of Special Report with Brit Hume. The show's total viewership was down 19% compared to the previous quarter. However, several weeks later, in the wake of the
North Korean Missile Crisis and the
2006 Lebanon War, Fox saw a surge in viewership and managed to easily remain the #1 rated cable news channel.
[15][16] Fox still held eight of the ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, with ''The O'Reilly Factor'' and ''Hannity & Colmes'' coming in first and second places, respectively.
[17]
In August 2006 figures were released showing that in the period August 2005 - August 2006, Fox news lost 28% of its prime-time viewers and 7% of its total day viewers. This loss in viewers occurred during a time where rival networks
CNN and
MSNBC gained 35% and 26% respectively in their total day viewers.
[18]
Controversies
Accusations of bias
Fox News has been accused of promoting a
conservative,
right-wing, and
Republican point of view at the expense of
neutrality.
[19] Fox News, Murdoch, Ailes, and other personalities have denied allegations of bias, Murdoch saying that Fox has "given room to both sides, whereas only one side had it before.".
[20][21]
Internal memos
As with many news sources, Fox News executives exert a degree of editorial control over the content of their daily reporting. In the case of Fox News, some of this control comes in the form of daily memos issued by Fox News' Vice President of News,
John Moody. Critics of Fox News cite these memos as evidence of a conservative bias in Fox News reporting, and claim that information in these memos duplicates Republican talking points.
[22]
Trademark disputes
In 2003,
Penguin Books published ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'', by comedian and Democratic writer
Al Franken. The book criticized a number of persons and institutions, but singled out Fox with allegations of conservative bias. Before the book was released, Fox brought a
lawsuit, alleging that the book's subtitle violated Fox's
trademark on the promotional phrase "
Fair and Balanced." On that basis, Fox moved for a preliminary
injunction to block the publication of the book. The
United States District Court Judge hearing the case denied the motion, causing Fox to withdraw the suit.
In December 2003, the
Independent Media Institute brought a petition before the
United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking the cancellation of Fox's trademark of the phrase "Fair & Balanced," on the grounds that is is "notoriously misdescriptive."
[23] After losing early motions, the IMI withdrew its petition and the USPTO dismissed the case.
[24]
Wikipedia Edits
In August 2007 the
Wikipedia Scanner utility revealed that Wikipedia articles relating to Fox News had been anonymously edited from
IP addresses owned by Fox News. The new tool showed that such edits from corporate or government computers were not uncommon
[25], but the Fox edits drew attention for removing or changing content to articles, including
Al Franken,
Keith Olbermann,
Chris Wallace,
Shepard Smith, and
Brit Hume.
[26][27][28][29][30]
International transmission
The channel is available internationally, though its world programming is identical to its American programming (with the exception of Fox News Extra breakfillers), unlike
CNN International, which airs regional programming that is almost entirely independent of its U.S. broadcasts.
Fox News Extra
A Fox News Extra title card
Until early 2002, Fox News replaced US advertisements with e-mails from viewers around the world who liked Fox News, as well as profiles of Fox News anchors, set to music. These were never updated and consisted of a small number of such segments. They, in turn, were replaced with international weather forecasts. In 2006, they replaced the weather segments with 'Fox News Extra' segments, various narrated reports from FOX Reports on a variety of topics. These reports are generally on lighter issues not related to current news events, and the segments are repeated. The segments are introduced by various Fox News anchors (mostly headline segment anchors), who in addition to introducing the segment, thank viewers from a chosen international location for watching Fox News.
When Fox News Extra segments run short, international weather forecasts are shown for the remaining duration of the break.
The Fox News feed in the United Kingdom does not feature Fox News Extra, and instead features break fillers from sister channel
Sky News's International Variant. For a short period in 2001, a still of the Fox News logo replaced this other content.
Australia
In
Australia Fox News Channel is broadcast on the three major Pay-TV providers,
Austar,
Optus Television and
Foxtel. Foxtel is 25% owned by News Corporation, and the other two are just rebroadcasters of Foxtel content. The Australian syndication previously featured some local programming, including a
John Laws current affairs program in place of "Fox & Friends". Local advertisements are aired in place of every second 'Fox News Extra' segment.
Brazil
Since 2002 Fox News has been broadcast to
Brazil, but the commercials are replaced with weather forecasts and their own Brazilian ads. It is broadcast by
Sky (satellite operator, a joint-venture between
News Corporation and
Globosat) and in the digital packages of
NET.
Canada
On
December 14,
2000, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved 'Fox News Canada' on behalf of the
Global Television Network, for broadcast in
Canada. Fox News Canada was to be a domestic Canadian version of Fox News.
[6] The channel, or ''specialty television service,'' was never implemented by Fox, and the deadline for commencement of the service expired on
November 24,
2004. That same day, a similar license was granted to
Rogers Communications for "MSNBC Canada," which went to air in September, 2001. During this period, it was speculated by some, and repeated by Fox News personalities, that the station was being "banned in Canada." The CRTC's previous refusal to grant Fox News an outright license had been contested by some Canadians, as well as American fans of the channel, who believed the decision to be politically motivated. However, it is rare for any American cable network to be licensed in Canada outright.
On
November 18,
2004 the CRTC announced that a digital license would be granted to Fox News.
[6] In its proposal, Fox News stated, with reference to Fox News Canada, that "Fox News does not intend to implement this service and therefore will not meet the extended deadline to commence operations."
[6] On
December 16,
2004, Rogers Communications became the first Canadian cable or satellite provider to broadcast Fox News, with other companies following suit within the next several weeks.
New Zealand
In
New Zealand, Fox News is broadcast on Channel 92 of pay satellite operator
Sky TV's digital platform. It is also broadcast overnight on New Zealand TV channel
Prime, owned by Sky. Fox News parent corporation
News Corp has a stake in both Sky and Prime.
Scandinavia
In
Sweden and the other
Scandinavian countries, Fox News is broadcast on
TV8 for some 16 hours a day, since 2003. Fox News Extra segments replace U.S. advertising. However, in September 2006, Fox News was replaced by German news channel
Deutsche Welle. This change resulted in Fox News losing all of its coverage in Sweden.
United Kingdom and Ireland
Fox News is also carried in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland by the
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) satellite television network (
Sky Digital), in which News Corporation (the largest shareholder) holds a 38 percent stake. It is a sister channel to BSkyB's
Sky News, which is more popular in the region and does not carry any such controversy. Fox News is usually broadcast as a
VideoGuard encrypted channel but during major news stories it may be simulcast on
Sky Active, which is free to air. A fault in certain
Pace Micro Sky Digibox receivers, notably the DS-430N which was Sky's default issue for some years, has left them able to decrypt the channel with no active subscription card since
March 1,
2006; although no reason is known as to why. As of September 2006 the channel has carried UK specific advertising, along with headlines and weather provided by
Sky News between its breaks. These run under the brand of Fox News International.
Other countries
Countries where Fox News is provided
Fox News Channel is also carried in more than 40 countries. Although service to
Japan stopped in the summer of 2003, it can still be seen on Americable (distributor for American bases),
[6] Mediatti (Kadena Air Base),
[6] and Pan Global TV Japan.
[6]
Archive and licensing
Fox News Channel maintains an archive of most of its programs. This archive also handles the
Fox Movietone newsreels. Licensing of the Fox News archive is handled by ITN Source, the archiving division of
Independent Television News.
References
1. American Public Media: News Archive for October 7, 1996
2. State of the news media
3. Project for Excellence in Journalism, Press Going Too Easy on Bush
4. CBC is split over quitting debate on Fox
5. Like Edwards, Obama to skip Fox-hosted debate
6.
7. Interview transcript: Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes
8. "Broadcast News" Amy Tübke-Davidson
9. David Hnatiuk: Statement in the 2004 documentary ''Outfoxed'' (page 20-21 of transcript)
10. "Time-Warner Cable channel list in Mt. Vernon, NY"
11. April 2007 Weekday Ranker
12. The Secrets of Fox's Success Deborah Potter
13. Cable Clash Kelly Heyboer
14. "War coverage lifts News Corp"
15. FNC's 25-54 Prime "Downward Spiral", TV Newser
16. Cable TV : Content Analysis, The State of the News Media 2005
17. April 2005 Competitive Program Ranker (M-F 6a-11p programs), TV Newser
18. Aug. #'s: Total Viewers Vs. Aug. 2005
19. Timothy Noah, Fox News admits bias!, ''Slate'', 31 May 2005, accessed 26 September 2006
20. News Corp denies Fox News bias
21. Interview transcript: Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, the Financial Times, October 6, 2006
22. 33 internal FOX editorial memos reviewed by MMFA reveal FOX News Channel's inner workings
23. Independent Media Institute vs. Fox News Channel on Cancellation of "Fair & Balanced" trademark phrase, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System
24. Official Documentation of Petitioned Cancellation of "Fair & Balanced" trademark phrase, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System
25. [1]
26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/15/wikipedia.corporateaccountability The Guardian, Technology News Bobbie Johnson (August 15, 2007) "Companies and party aides cast censorious eye over Wikipedia"
27. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/08/wikipedia_is_on.html
28. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/14/212516/918
29. Wikipedia Spin Doctors Revealed Thomas Claburn
30. FOX News Takes Their Propaganda to Wikipedia Jonathan Kim
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
★
Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN, , Scott, Collins, , , ISBN 1-59184-029-5
★
FNC Ratings Soar as War in Lebanon Rages
★
Fox's Smith tops cable news ranks in ratings
★
Fox Factor
★
Q2 '06: FNC #9 On All Of Cable TV
See also
★
Fox News Channel controversies
★
FOX Business Network
★
List of DirecTV channels
★
List of Dish Network channels
★
Fox effect
★
Sky News (sister channel)
★
Media bias
External links
★
FoxNews.com Official PC Site
★
FoxNews.mobi Official Mobile Site
★
News Corporation - Fox's parent company.
★
Outfoxed streaming
Dutch VPRO
documentary by
Tegenlicht. Introduction, several seconds, in Dutch with story itself in English and Dutch
subtitles; 50 min. Broadband internet needed.
★
The Fifth Estate: Sticks and Stones,
CBC - Bob McKeown investigates Fox News for The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 45 min.
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