Reply #8: News available at the basic level

[jurlie]

Rather than removing FOX News, CNN (and others) should be encouraged to add their channel to the basic television service. People should have access to all news. You need a variety of sources to get a well rounded view that limits any one station's/journalist's biases. I recently cut my expanded cable thinking I could get by, but all I had access to in terms of 24 hour news was FOX and that was NOT acceptable - trying to listen to them made me sick (BTW, access to FOX was not listed by my cable company as a channel I should have been getting, yet there it was). I added back expanded cable just for the CNN. Good for the cable company's pocket, not good for America. My guess is that FOX news is available to the majority of rural areas and low income families, but the other stations are not. I am also guessing that these people make up the majority of those showing up screaming in town hall meetings about such ridiculous things as the government is going to kill grandma. No wonder, if this sort of right wing information is what they largely have access to. Suppressing FOX news is not the answer - they will shoot themselves in the foot if people have access to more rational and honest reporting - suppressing them just goes against the ideals of freedom that we seek to support.