Report: Fox News gives opponents of health care reform a 6-to-1 advantage.
By on Aug 13th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Report: Fox News gives opponents of health care reform a 6-to-1 advantage.
As ThinkProgress has previously noted, Fox News regularly attacks efforts to reform the health care system. Now, a new report by Media Matters shows that “opponents of health care reform outnumber supporters by 6-to-1 margin” on Fox News. The report examined the coverage on August 11 and 12:
Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer noted yesterday that Fox’s coverage of congressional town halls during the August recess has been “clearly unfair.” Krakauer writes that Fox’s coverage “is entirely one-sided and has been during this entire summer.”
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The repiggie have been very effective at unleashing a small vocal mob to derail and frighten the Dems.
The Dems had better show some guts and soon, or they will lose their progressive base, as well as the moderates who want to see the health insurance monster contained.
Don’t forget the repiggies when you vote in local elections this fall. No matter how reasonable they may appear to you personally, they choose to belong to a party full of violent thugs, bullies and lunatics.
Please don’t vote for any repiggies this fall, even for local office.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:51 amMaybe Pelosi and Reid should take a similarly “fair and balanced” approach to debate in Congress. For every hour of floor time given to proponents of the healthcare reform bill, the opponents get ten minutes.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:51 amAre we supposed to be surprised?
August 13th, 2009 at 9:52 amfairly unbalanced
August 13th, 2009 at 9:54 am“that “opponents of health care reform outnumber supporters by 6-to-1 margin”
because there’s an endless supply of dopes like katy abram to prostitute themselves out to the same corporations who are taking advantage of her dumb ass by offerring her an “insurance” policy with a five grand deductable yearly.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:54 amThe CEO of Whole Foods has penned an opinion piece in the WSJ coming out against the public option.
Isn’t Whole Foods supposed to be one of the good guys?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
August 13th, 2009 at 9:56 amcaught a bit of cbs morning show… good ol’ charlie was doing
a ‘true of false’ segment about the stupid lies, with (?) cohn,
who wrote a new book about the health care reform…
hope that helped…
i was a bit heartened…
and chuck todd highlighted the gibbs quote about the prez realizing the liars are not the majority (or sumthin like that)…
woo hoo…
August 13th, 2009 at 9:56 amI think Fox News’ definition of “fair and balanced” is that they have guests who oppose health care reform on the grounds that it will “kill” elderly people AND they have guests who oppose health care reform on the grounds that it will cost “trillions” of dollars.
See? Two sides. Fair and balanced.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:56 amI find it hard to swallow that that many people want to keep paying increasingly higher and higher health insurance premiums for less and less care. These must be the same people who want the “gov’t out of their Medicare” and teabag protested tax increases for Hannity and Limbaugh.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:57 amAnd in other news, water is wet, the sun is a bright orb in the blue sky, and Elvis is dead.
Oh, and for evangenital, Lou Dobbs is a moron. :P
August 13th, 2009 at 9:58 amIn other news, the sun rose today. In the East.
PLC: Too bad that wouldn’t fly, but here is a suggestion that might: Require all Senators & Congresspeople to take an oath upon entering office to tell, ‘The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’ whenever they are speaking about any bills before them, about their opponents, or at any political event of any kind.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:58 amThe real surprise is that the numbers aren’t skewed higher with Fox’s biased reporting. They must be doing something wrong.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:59 amThank you, Moderate Man.
Lou Dobbs is a moron.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:00 amAfter watching Hardball the past few nights, they’ve been giving a lot of coverage of the crazy, too. First the gun-toter who believes the problem with America is that everyone isn’t carrying loaded guns, and then last nights ditzfest with the former journalist, Hannity book reviewer who is concerned that the good ole USofA is going to ration toilet paper.
Where are the progressive voices? I mean, beyond the pundits and think tank members? When was the last time we saw a regular progressive citizen, armed with well-researched facts that he/she compiled, on one of these shows?
There are many here who would be great on the national stage if given the chance. Do you have to have your ticket punched from CrazyTown to get a chance to speak?
I’m disgusted that the debate is no longer a debate, and once again the majority is left without a voice.
PEACE
August 13th, 2009 at 10:03 amReport: Fox News gives opponents of health care reform a 6-to-1 advantage.
– - FOX News, where we “shoot the arrow, then draw the bullseye around it.”
August 13th, 2009 at 10:03 amevangenital says:
Isn’t Whole Foods supposed to be one of the good guys?
August 13th, 2009 at 9:56 am
______________
They are, but their CEO has been dinged before for some unethical practices. This passage was particularly irksome:
And the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the United States is a signatory, DOES grant every human being on the planet the right to health care, food, and shelter.
Sure, it’d be lovely if every market exchange was mutually beneficial. It’d also be lovely if it rained donuts, but that also ain’t gonna happen. In an inherently unequal society, market exchange is rarely mutually beneficial. Someone always gets the short end of the stick, no matter how well-regulated the market. When the commodity is human health, the consequences of inequality can be tragic.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:08 amThey only talk to people with anti-government signs, or who are packing heat.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:08 amFox news doing polls>>> wondering if they have there crack Gretchen Carlson on this seeing she knows how to use those facts from the internet tubes things.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:13 amI’ve actually had to post a list of polls that show that the American public wants a public option on my Facebook page because the idiots I know who watch Fox Noise actually believed that most people oppose public health care.
Fox and it’s minions remind me of that t-shirt Adam on Mythbusters wears “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”
August 13th, 2009 at 10:15 amThink anyone would get any coverage if he/she showed up with a sign reading “Talk to me, I’m sane and I have facts!” No, just like the supermarket tabloids, it’s all about who can out-looney the last person.
PEACE
August 13th, 2009 at 10:16 amJayS
What are you trying to do, here? Get the entire Congressional body tossed in the clink for perjury?
Oh, wait….that’s actually a fantastic idea.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:18 amAbove the Clouds says: I find it hard to swallow that that many people want to keep paying increasingly higher and higher health insurance premiums for less and less care. These must be the same people who want the “gov’t out of their Medicare” and teabag protested tax increases for Hannity and Limbaugh
Yesterday, Ali Velshi, on CNN spoke with a group of people in Kentucky. 4 out of the 5 people he interviewed were pro-public option. One woman who wanted national health care even said ‘tax me – go ahead and tax me’. And another woman completely jumped on a man who was against it.
I almost fainted that CNN aired that.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:19 amI can’t wait until Baboon Beck invites Moose Boogers to his show and they start discussing the impending toilet paper crisis, its rationing and the government run dispensing panels.
Baboon:
I only seek the softest, double ply, Jack Daniels scented charming for my roids. Now the current administration has branded me a criminal and turned me to the black market.
Moose Boogers: Yes, Baboon. That is why I took the liberty of bringing you a stack of the New York Post.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:20 amSave the WSJ for when Neil Crapputo scares the living Hannity out of you.
evangenital says: Please don’t vote for any repiggies this fall, even for local office.
It’s been my observation that at the local-office level there are plenty of candidates who run as R or D according to whichever party gives them the best election chances, and plenty of them are just in it for local graft.
(But living in NJ I’m bound to be cynical and prejudiced)
That said, no matter how crappy or disingenuous the local politician, voting straight Dem is still the smarter choice, because the crappy pols get reigned-in by the decent ones in their party. The GOP began shutting out reasonable candidates of their own in the late Seventies/early Eighties.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:21 am6 to 1? Thats strange. According to Bill O’Reilly Fox News is 100% balanced and neutral because Greta Van Susteren is a liberal, Hannity a conservative and he is independent who leans traditional. Oh and of course those far left wing loony zealots at media matters are just like the Nazis arent they Billo?
August 13th, 2009 at 10:24 amThe powerful wealthy repiggies are roaring with laughter at how well they have played the poor and the stupid once again to fight against the best interests of the have-nots.
How many of us will even have any sort of health coverage within the next five years, if costs and cancellations continue to soar at the present rate?
What’s the solution? To marry a European?
August 13th, 2009 at 10:25 amGreta Van Susteren is a Scientologist.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:26 amAh, yes, the “fair and balanced” network.
I’d like to see the Dems take a similar approach in the House and Senate. This playing fair, being cordial, negotiating, and exercising tact is simply not effective. As much as I am loath to say it, it’s time to fight fire with fire.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:27 amGive the righties what they have given us for 30 years.
unbelievable
You almost fainted when you saw that? Why, because you thought all Kentuckians were barefoot and ignorant? Try again. Over half of our population are registered Democrats, 45% of our population has no religious affiliation, and we, in general, support public programs.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:31 amJesus will someone just go to his blog please…
August 13th, 2009 at 10:31 amevangenital says:
Greta Van Susteren is a Scientologist.
true and guessing her conversion of Sarah or Todd (wink) into a scientoligist is not going well as it seems she just not hanging around any more.
Oh well
August 13th, 2009 at 10:34 amEvery single person’s new credo: Will marry for health insurance coverage
August 13th, 2009 at 10:34 amThis is very easy to accomplish when a network’s collective mind is made up on a topic.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
August 13th, 2009 at 10:40 amHas anyone ever wondered why the GOP NEVER supports anything that will benefit the American people?
August 13th, 2009 at 10:43 amFox’s number are so off base that is it not funny. Hey Fox, polling JUST repubs, does NOT count and fair and balanced.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
We all know Fixed News is the conservatives idiotic bile tv news source in this country, along with there biased scum tabloid reporters.
People in the “real” world know that those figures are a complete fallacy. BIM (Bare In Mind), were dealing with a station that lives and thrives in the “alternative reality” they talk Penceology with a Palinese dialect, you know “just making things up and it’s never their fault.”
Fixed News is like a virus that never goes away, theres no cure.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:48 amevangenital says:
The CEO of Whole Foods has penned an opinion piece in the WSJ coming out against the public option.
Isn’t Whole Foods supposed to be one of the good guys?
Why? It’s a successful company making a lot of money selling good food to people who can afford to buy from them. They identified a marketing niche and have been filling it very well, but that doesn’t make them any more “good” than Safeway.
Around here, we refer to the store as Whole Paycheck.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:50 amWhere I live, if Beck or Limpballs said that “the world is flat”, these morons will believe it.
I’m with Spencer’s mom in voicing my disgust.
C’mon progressives, show some moxy!
AARP wimped out and are now saying that they don’t support any specific bill…again memberships and money wins again.
BY THE WAY: The drug manufacturer’s commercials are due to hit the air waves today.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:56 amWhat do you really expect from the repiggies own propaganda dissemination machine better known as Faux News…”Not Fair and Never been Balanced” should be their motto…just sayin
August 13th, 2009 at 11:06 am“If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving – large or small – it will be used to measure what is given back to you.”
August 13th, 2009 at 11:13 amnccorner says: typical “independent” blather.
It’s amazing after the Bush Administration ended just how many refer themselves as “Independents” now. Does this have something to do with Bush buyer’s remorse? I say this only because most every poster who stumbles in here claiming to be an “Independent” comes across as just another Republican ashamed of their party but happy to bash liruls.
A true Independent would be as angered over what Republican rule has done to this Nation and hold a bit of understanding about what it will take to bring this Country back from the brink. Not sure whether this poster falls into this category or if she’s just got a case of teh stoopid.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:18 amFox is “news” like professional wrestling is “sport”. The people who believe it’s real are incredibly stupid and believe anything. Just read what nccorner wrote, it’s a case study of the demographic.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:31 amthey are not reciprocating if we travel abroad.
You just proved you’ve never tried it.
Go to France, Canada, England, well any country in Europe, and get sick, and you WILL get medical care. You may have to pay an incredibly low “non-resident” fee, but you will be taken care of, on the backs of that country’s tax payers.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:31 amAlso, you’re clearly not an Independent. If you are, you should consider registering as a Republican, because you’ve got their talking points down to a science.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:33 amBilldo stuck his big feet in his overly large mouth again.
Ranting about GE, who owns NBC/MSNBC, Billdo claimed GE made & sole the remote triggers for IEDs found in Iraq.
Turns out GE doesn’t make the device, according to Olbermann.
Billdo the Clown, bringing nonsensical news nightly. For now.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:33 amWhy dont repugs and wingnuts complain about the billions of taxpayer dollars being spent to rebuild Iraq. Sure we destroyed it in bushes unnecessary war,but we liberated them right. I think Iraq should return the favor and pay for our health insurance with the billions of dollars they profit from selling their oil.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:35 amnccorner says:
Which parts of the bill before the house bother you specifically, nccorner?
I would love to discuss it.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:48 amWhat is new fake news never tells the truth. It,s the mouth pice of the republican communist party.They try to scare people.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am#49, What a valid point. The American taxpayers pay for the war, our nation goes bankrupt as an end result. Granted this did not occur because of just this war, but from all the wars, “police actions” and reckless spending. In the meantime oil companies profit, defense companies profit, The Federal Reserve Bank profits and the nation goes bankrupt (aka The working middle class).
So a socialized program that could be good, like socialized medicine gets stuffed because people can’t take the excessive taxation any longer. Demand an audit of the Federal Reserve! Dissolve the Federal Reserve! End the tyranny of Corporatism in the United States!
Make sure that Big Pharma has no influence on the political process, otherwise we will all be drugged to oblivion. Just like all the unneccessary ADHD medication administered to our children. I’ve read two studies and both came to the conclusion that of the Ritalin prescribed, more than 90% of the prescriptions were totally unneccessary.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:57 amOT
August 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pmEd Schultz is supposed to give his op ed tonight on MSNBC asking where the christian churches are on this moral issue of health care. MSNBC 5PM central.
He’s right – churches are quick to speak out against gay marriage, abortion and any social hot-button issue, but this is a moral issue – and they are quiet — could it be because this is the issue that involves money?
This chart is laughable. Gee, I wonder if I can come up with a quick chart to prove my “experimenter bias”. But seriously, if Obama wants to settle the score with FOX he should accept one of his many invites to set the record straight. I was glad to see Hillary Clinton appear—I think Obama should do the same.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:05 pmTheTruthCrusader says:
Why is the chart laughable? How about just taking the raw numbers. Healthcare guests. 10 supportive of it, 11 neutral and 63 against. We all know that isnt representative of the public feeling on healthcare where a HUGE majority WANT universal healthcare and have for DECADES. Then again we all know FOX is no more news than soap operas are art.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:10 pmThe chart is laughable because it is misleadeading and only covers 2 days. Just because “ONLY 10″ are supportive of it simply means that “ONLY 10″ have decided to go on FOX to a balanced forum to present their case. How many from Obama’s admim, including Obama won’t go on FOX? Ohhhhh, that’s right. It’s much safer to create choose a media that won’t be as objective with MUCH LESS viewers. FOX is #1 for a reason.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:31 pmThe Dems had better show some guts and soon, or they will lose their progressive base, as well as the moderates who want to see the health insurance monster contained.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pm“FOX is #1 for a reason”
Sure is. The reason is that Americans are stupid. Yes, stupid. Not just uninformed, but stupid. Evidence? Fox News’ ratings for one…but if you want to discuss it, there is PLENTY more.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pmi’m surprised they had even 10 supporters…
August 13th, 2009 at 1:57 pmATTENTION WRITERS AND EDITORS OF THINK PROGRESS.
In the UK their is a groundswell of support against the US rightwing slandering of the NHS. Please pay attention to this and use the information to debunk the callous lies by right wing news, commentators and bloggers.
Information below
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/52120,news,how-father-ted-creator-graham-linehan-sparked-nhs-backlash-on-twitter-against-fox-news-glenn-beck-and-the-american-right
August 13th, 2009 at 3:22 pmAnd how many opponents of the health care bill have been on MSNBCC?
August 13th, 2009 at 6:01 pmAfrica’s Secret: GABON 30 August election tragically under threat. After embezzling dictator of 41 yrs Bongo dies, ruling party tries to force dynastic successor, his son Ali. http://tiny.cc/01Ddg. Candidate http://www.Moubamba.com calls for democracy and end to brutal poverty in oil rich Gabon. Support change in Africa
August 13th, 2009 at 11:48 pmTheTruthCrusader says:
Oh I see. You are an idiot. You REALLY think Fox could only find 10 supporters of the bill rather than skewing their coverage. I keep forgetting that only a MORON would take FOX seriously anyway so why would I think you could understand the simple concept that if a network really WANTED to be fair they would HAVE guests from both sides of the issue to discuss the issue not stack the deck six to one. If you dont really see what is wrong there then you are truly a MORON.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:54 amOh by the way truthMORON the reason Fox is number one one CABLE, that is the minor leagues of television news, is because there are many venues to get the TRUTH and actual information including the networks that still DWARF Fox ratings but if you want to be brainwashed and only hear the propaganda that keeps you as stupid as YOU are then Fox is all there is
August 15th, 2009 at 7:57 am