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FOX News Beats Competition In More Ways Than One
You will never guess how MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was ranked in new poll.
What’s worse than having Fox News and Bill O’Reilly beating the pants off of the liberal competition? When no one knows who the top liberal commentators are!
In a funny little survey conducted by the POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground
POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll, 1,000 people were polled and 42 percent said that Fox News was their favorite news network, while 30 percent enjoyed CNN and a measly 12 percent depend on MSNBC for their news coverage.
Twelve percent? Out of 1,000? Surprisingly enough, that’s the same number of Brits who go to the dentist.
But the poll did more than find out which stations people are tuning in to: “Voters are turning to media sources that reinforce their political worldviews rather than present them with more objective reporting that might challenge their assumptions.”
Thanks Captain Obvious. What other things did you find out? Perhaps voters only vote for people they like? Of course many voters are biased and only tune in to news stations that feed their political prejudices. Hell, after writing about political issues for 13 years I could have told you that.
And shame on those particularly small-minded voters for limiting in their choices. As far as the networks, it’s hard to blast them. The poll does not clearly say if the media reinforces voters’ political views by using news stories or by their opinionated commentators.
Clearly not reporting stories as objective as they should be is a dark stain on many media outlets and it should be seen as a disgrace. People shouldn’t be picking the network that best feeds their biased needs like it’s a supermarket and they’re trying to find that one apple that's not too badly bruised.
And the media shouldn’t be there helping them along. The role of the media is to be there to tell the people, “Listen, you need to know this, even if you don’t want to because it’s in your best interest.”
That being said, commentators should not be confused with news reporters. These people aren’t going to show you both sides of an issue fairly, or if they do, they’re going to pepper it with their own slanted viewpoints, which is fine. After all, that’s their job.
And that brings us to the most embarrassing moment: Fox's O’Reilly received a 49 percent positive rating and a 32 percent negative one.
And for someone who enjoys rallies in Washington, you'd think Glenn Beck’s numbers would be higher: 38 percent say he has a positive impact, while 32 percent give him the thumbs down.
Radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh has more negatives than positives. Thirty six percent positive, 52 percent negative.
But despite those low numbers, Limbaugh still comes out on top over MSNBC commentators: 70 percent claim they have never even heard of Ed Schultz, 55 percent didn’t know who Rachel Maddow is, although she sort of looks like Stephen Colbert’s long lost sister in the photo above, and 42 percent drew a blank at the mere mention of Keith Olbermann.
Just how sad is that? Even Limbaugh’s impotent 52 percent negative rating is still kicking Olbermann’s unknown 42 percent. Break out the Cubans, Rush!
This column first appeared on SodaHead.com. Check it out!
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