Barney Frank Accuses FOX NEWS Host Of Bias 'Everything Is Aimed At Putting Us In A Bad Light'

[kpete]

Rep. Frank Accuses Fox News Host of Bias
By JOSH GERSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
November 27, 2006

Following in President Clinton's footsteps, a prominent Democratic congressman yesterday accused a Fox News anchor of conducting a skewed interview designed to make Democrats look bad.

"I've got to say, Chris, you have an odd view of balance," Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts told the host of "Fox News Sunday," Chris Wallace. "I am struck by the tenor of your questions. You advertise this as giving us a chance to talk about what we're going to do, but everything is aimed at trying to put us in a kind of a bad light and look at the most controversial and not very representative things that we plan to do," Mr. Frank said.

The congressman objected to Mr. Wallace's questioning at four different points during the segment, which featured three soon-to-be chairmen of powerful committees, Rep. Charles Rangel of Manhattan and Queens, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, and Mr. Frank.

...............

Mr. Frank said Mr. Wallace's questions improved after the on-air criticism. Asked how fair Fox is when compared to other news outlets, the congressman said the network is "substantially worse."

more at:
http://www.nysun.com/article/44113

[tabasco]

1. More Dems should follow his example and point out the bias and hypocrisy

in these Fox "News" interviews.

Clinton gave 'em hell and all of 'em should do the same.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. They can't get away with calling bias and hypocrisy (and an occasional

visit to groundless allegations) "hardhitting journalism".

[wake.up.america]

8. Beautiful. Honest, hard hitting retort to those morons from Fox.

[Cosmocat]

20. ABSOLUTELY ...

nm

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Good!

Faux will have no choice but to include Democrats, now that the Dems hold both houses of Congress. Every single interviewee should be on his toes and ready to point out the bias in Faux News' questions.

[jhrobbins]

3. Is there a transcript of the interview?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Good for Barney. It's about time. More need to explicitly call these people out, DURING the

interviews and panel discussions, so that the footage will have to be included.

[progressoid]

5. Well wadya know. Seems like more and more Democrats have discovered those bones in their backs...

You know...the SPINE!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Barney's had it all along. But these FOX vermin need to be exposed, more and more.

[progressoid]

39. True, Barney has had it all along. Let's hope it spreads.

[Art_from_Ark]

49. I remember watching Barney on C-SPAN in the '80s

He had a lot of spunk, even back then

[seabeyond]

17. kerry, dean and clark have been doing this for two years, but then

you know this right?

[Bandit]

23. Maybe you could give an example of Kerry Dean or Clark

questioning a pundits bias to their face while being interviewed. We all know they rag about it to their own base and at political gatherings but I can not think of anytime on air that the interviewer's bias was questioned by any of those folks mentioned...

[mitchtv]

54. Dean: last week

"shut Down " Noron O'Donnell

[Bandit]

59. Good and about time but the poster inferred it has been going on

for over two years....

[sandnsea]

61. Here's a whole frickin' interview

But Democrats are too fucking selfish to understand that you have to stand behind EVERY candidate that is unfairly bashed and not just pick and choose based on your own ideological preferences.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230589,00.html

[Mad_Dem_X]

9. Bravo!

Dems need to keep speaking out about this media bias.

[nxylas]

10. But everyone KNOWS Fox News is biased

The people that watch it do so because they like it that way. A genuinely fair and balanced Pravda would have lost its unique selling point. Far better to point out the biases in something like MSNBC where a lot of people labour under the delusion that it is politically neutral.

[KittyWampus]

13. I respectfully must disagree, IMO not everyone knows Fox is biased or a mouthpiece

Perhaps some are waking up recently, as Fox's ratings have been sliding.

[fredrickdouglas]

18. The Trick Is To Keep Calling Only Fox News 'Biased'

That way people will think there are any mass media outlets that represent the views of the rich and the working class.

*******************************************************Newsflash****************************************************************

All mass media outlets, ABCNNBCBS and FOX are extremely biased against us and towards the rich, ruling class.

Beating up on Fox makes the others seem like they do a almost-kinda-we're getting there-decent job when in fact all of them, ALL OF THEM, are horrid. They don't present the views of most Americans.

If this sounds wacky to you, check out the documentary, Constructing Public Opinion. It will disabuse anyone of the notion that the entire US mass media is anything but corporate propaganda.

Fox News....ha, they're actually bad propagandist because it's so easy to see through. NPR, now we're getting into the big leagues, the serious corporate propagandists.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

42. None of the other major media outlets is anywhere CLOSE to FOX in overt bias, as bad as they

might be.

[beltanefauve]

53. Gotta agree with you

about NPR. And they're more dangerous because they're more stealth about it.

[stlsaxman]

55. That's why Wallace has two "NPR corespondents" on FNS...

and tout that title for Mara Lyinsombitch and Juan Yowsamassa Williams on the panel. Makes NPR look reasonable when Nationalist Propaganda Radio is anything but.

[RethugAssKicker]

11. Good... All Dems need to do that... The Rethugs did!... That;s

How they turned most of the media around toward their slant!

[nancyr]

12. Fox is not to be taken seriously.

Doesn't everyone know by now that they are only a mouthpiece for the Republican party? They've never made a pretense of being otherwise. It's a joke.....geez.

[ginnyinWI]

16. it seems like there is a plan to do just that!

First Clinton attacked Wallace for his interview style, then Kerry did (but without losing his cool) when he was on recently, and now Barney Frank spoke out. It's the one way to get the message through to FOX viewers: get on their network and directly criticize the way the interviewer is conducting the show.

[KittyWampus]

14. My issue is primarily with CNN's bias. It's more covert and pernicious.

Cause people still tend to think of it as having a "liberal bias" since the GOP has made that talking point so ingrained in our public discourse.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

43. Yes but there aren't millions of Republicans watching ONLY CNN. There are for FOX.

[Cass]

15. Faux News needs to be exposed for what they are - RW shills.

There is nothing "fair and balanced" about their reporting and its way past time for them to be called on it. They are like the televised version of NewsMax.

I'm so glad Barney Frank said what he did and I hope other guests will do the same. Hopefully a transcript or video clip of this segment will be available soon.

[kpete]

19. Video Can Be found Here:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/44799/

[CatWoman]

31. it's also up at Crooks and Liars.

[Vorta]

21. Somebody educate me. IS there some reason Dems talk to these people at all?

[rateyes]

25. Good question...

IMO, no Democrat should EVER agree to an interview with FOX. Talk about putting the network in the toilet!

[emmadoggy]

22. Check out some of the comments at the bottom of the article...

Makes me want to puke. "Bunch of whiners", "they just can't take it", "FOX is just countering all the other very liberally slanted media" etc.

:mad: :eyes: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[JacksonWest]

24. The only surprise

is that Frank would go on that bullshit extravaganza. Or extravaganza of bullshit. Not sure what is grammatically correct. And the following sentence illustrates more fact checking then a year of the O'reilly Factor.

[in_cog_ni_to]

26. I'll never understand why our Democrats haven't told FAUX NEWS

to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. NONE of them should EVER go on that network because all the commentators do the same thing Chris Wallace did to Clinton and to Frank, Dingell and Rangel. They are NEVER "Fair and Balanced" and should be BOYCOTTED by all Democrats. "OUTFOXED" should be viewed by every Senator and Congress person. Then they would think twice before appearing on that farce of a "News" network.

I haven't watched that piece of shit network since the 2000 election thievery.

[JacksonWest]

28. To play devils advocate...

While Fox is biased, sometimes it's good to hold someone's feet to the fire. I don't mind asking tough questions. If a question is predicated in lies-point it out on the spot. But a bias against the left by a reporter can lead to good questions. And vice versa. I love watching right wingers on Bill Maher for the above reasons. I also don't think all dems are above tough questions, and that a softball approach is never the right way to go. Like Michael Moore-look at his website. He already has Pelosi's picture in a composite of dead soldiers. High standards. Gotta love em.

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. That's all FAUX NEWS does though..."holds someone's feet to the fire."

I have never heard anything positive come out of a FAUX NEWS interview when it's a Democrat being interviewed, only RWers. It's been over 6 years since I've watched that network. Have they changed? Do they ever have Democrats on to discuss "positive" things? From what I hear, Lieberman is FAUX'S favorite Democratic guest.:eyes: That should tell us something. I don't have a problem with asking our Dems tough questions. I DO have a problem when that is all you do....and that's FAUX NEWS.

Michael Moore is a peach...a TREASURE. I love the guy.:)

[Evergreen Emerald]

44. When did you stop beating your wife?

Those are the types of questions Faux News asks. They are not holding anyone's feet to the fire. They are making up news and then asking democrats to deny it.

It is not journalism. It is propaganda.

[stanwyck]

60. Exactly. We didn't SAY Hillary Clinton is a bitch.

We just asked the question: Is Hillary Clinton a bitch? See? It's just a question.
And they're still doing the "some people say" in order to state their own talking points. No identifier on who those people are.
Cheap, trashy "journalism" for a shallow, lazy audience.

[The Wizard]

58. Bullshit extravaganza

is my first choice. Both are correct. The difference is on what word you want emphasized. Whatever word comes first is the focus. Generally speaking, I use as few prepositions as possible. Prepositions tend to weaken the point.
If you're looking to minimize an issue use lots of prepositions and passive language like words ending in the suffix ness. My favorite examples of passive language are: courageousness instead of courage, dangerousness instead of danger and aggressiveness instead of aggression.
The ess sound at the end turns strong language into wimp words.
Seven years of reading freshman English papers has me railing against the passive voice.

[Armstead]

27. Barney made a great point. But it's not just Fox...

It's more of a core problem with the whole MSM, and the beltway Insiders who go along with it.

Frank was exactly correct when he pointed out that he and the otehrs came to the interview to actually talk about their agenda on issues. But the MSM Whores like Wallace prefer to ignore that and instead focus on the personal side of politics, like a personality clash between Pelosi and Hoyer.

Democrats ouoght to follow Frank's lead whatever shows they go on on all of the networks. Point out how the interviewers are distracting from actual issues in favor of soap opera and trivia.

[Norquist Nemesis]

37. Exactly! It's all of them as a whole

Recently, I was watching one show and they were talking about it. (Wish I could remember which show and who it was.) What they were saying is that NOW we'll be seeing more criticism of Democrats now that they're in power. WTF? NOW??? When did I miss the love by the media for Democrats?

Frankly, I'm sick of seeing the talking heads and pundits taking jabs and making jokes about Democrats (both the elected and their supporters). To listen to them, every American who supports Democrats is a flaming, far-left, tree hugging, tax and spend, anti-war (generally), pro-abortion, anti-gun, big government Liberal! Oh, and let's not forget that Democrats can never get their act together, are never on time with their meetings, can never come to a consensus on anything, and would rather sit around with peach signs than get organized. Have I missed anything?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

45. FOX is particularly important because there's a lot of Republicans who ONLY watch FOX. There

isn't another major cable or network channel for which this is true.

I know this because I work and live in a heavily Republican area. The places that I work, the workplace lounge TVs are turned to FOX news 99 percent of the time. These people ALL have graduate degrees, but they all want their FOX propaganda to reinforce their thinking all the time.

While some of them would probably acknowledge that FOX has a bias towards Republicans, most would probably not, even though they know deep down that it's true, after all that's why they watch it.

[brettdale]

29. kick

kick

[oxbow]

32. OMG it's a spine!

Freakin A, that's how yopu do it! Democrats are in power now, and it's about time they started acting like it. I am a little prouder today of this party :) :) :)

[ComerPerro]

33. Its time for Dems to unite and boycott Faux News

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

38. I agree, No need to be pushed around anymore. And Rep. Franks...

..is a great spokesperson. The look on Chris' face when Rep. Franks called him on his BS interview questions, was priceless.

[HardRocker05]

34. i thought it was great; this is exactly what dems need to do with all the MSM. nt

[judaspriestess]

35. Barney Frank was extremely outspoken

on his most recent appearance of Bill Maher also. This guy is great. More Dem's need to get a stronger backbone. chris wallace is mega disgusting. I have issues with cnn especially glenn beck who is probably closet kkk

[stanwyck]

62. Glenn Beck is the barometer of how far we've fallen

the man has absolutely nothing to recommend him. No intellect. No charm. No dignity.
He's the Paris Hilton of talk show hosts.
Harry Reasoner. John Chancellor. Eric Severaid.
Glenn Beck?
Maybe O'Reilly is right. The culture wars are raging and the barbarians have overtaken our television sets.
And O'Reilly the Vulgar is Rave-heart.

[warrens]

36. Keep slapping their fascist faces

Their job is to puff up Repukes and tear down dems. No matter what they say, that is their mission. And leaked memos prove it.

[LittleClarkie]

40. Barney Franks accuses the sky of being blue

Barney Franks aka Captain Obvious.

[Raster]

41. "...you know Chris, I know your Father. A decent, kind man. And

an exceptional journalist. You may share the last name, that is all." My fantasy quote. Everyone that allows Wallace to conduct an interview should point out his blatant, erroneous bias. If only EVERY interview that Chris Wallace performed contained the obligatory bitch-slap...

[monmouth]

46. Why, why do the Dems bother to go on Fox in the first place? I mean

if Fox all of a sudden doesn't have a Dem to attempt to roast, especially that weasel Wallace, wouldn't it sort of wake them up??? Just asking..

[IndyOp]

50. I think of Dems appearing on Fox as "going behind enemy lines"...

If there was one bad outlet and the rest were GOOD then the Dems could punish the bad outlet by not appearing -- but ALL corporate media sucks, Fox just sucks the most.

The Dems have to go on - to get coverage for their ideas and actions.

Also - not everyone with that station on is close-minded, some of them are wives of close-minded assholes or people trapped in automobile repair places (that is where I watch Fox)... and Dems who go behind enemy lines can made an impact on those persuadable people.

:hi:

[classysassy]

47. Get um Barney

why do people watch faux lies ?

[Iris]

48. "Fox is not biased, but if it is, so what?"

A brilliant response by one of Fox's minions:

Why does Mr. Frank object to being asked tough questions? This is a cynical and frightening attempt by the Democratic machine to silence dissent, and to prevent to media from doing its job. This is not a new tactic - when the odious John Kerry was running for president, it was routine for him to demand of reporters who asked tough questions if they were a "plant", i.e., a Republican operative masquerading as a reporter. Now BJ Clinton and Barney Frank attempt to scare Chris Wallace into limiting himself to softball questions. This is scary stuff and it appears the Democrats are only going to push it more aggressively. Keep at 'em Mr. Wallace and Fox News! The American people deserve answers to these questions!



Yes! gay marriage and abortion! Scary stuff! Nothing going on in this world right now that's scarier than that!

[Skittles]

51. they only ask the "tough questions" of DEMOCRATS

THAT'S the f***ing bias!

[spanone]

52. Barney is one of the best.

[Riddler]

56. I can't wait till Wallace tries that crap with Charlie Rangel! Charlie will provide him a new place

to crap other than his mouth.

[stanwyck]

63. Absolutely. Charlie will wipe that silly

sideways smirk right off Chris' face.
Pretty soon, who will Faux be able to get on their shows? The Dems will annihilate their fake newsmen/women. And the Repubs are as boring as yesterday's newspaper.
Will Faux just keep assualting their veiwers with puffed up pundits like Coulter and Ingraham?
How much tedium can Faux viewers withstand?

[Postman]

57. It's called -- fighting back --- Keep it up Dems! Don't let them get away with their phony Fairness

n/t