Fox News Channel: Fair and Balanced, but Too Many Polls

Allison Herman
ah215206@ohio.edu

The Fox News Channel typically has a reputation of being ultra conservative. But I was surprised to see that the stories Fox was showing about the election were much more balanced than I had expected them to be.

One thing I particularly liked was the Special Report on Thursday night. At the very top of the show, there were two stories that pertained to the recent attack ads that both Republicans and Democrats have put out. I felt that both stories were balanced and fair, and gave about the same amount of time to both parties.



What I didn’t care for isn’t really particular to Fox News, but rather all election news. I don’t really see how important it is to show 5 different polls in one newscast. None of them are very accurate, and when two show that Obama is the favored candidate and two show that McCain is leading, that doesn’t really tell anybody anything. I think there are so many polls conducted so often that most people don’t even pay attention to them.

The most interesting thing I found while watching Fox News was the amount of time devoted to Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin. It almost seems like Sarah Palin is running against Barack Obama instead of John McCain. Obviously, I see why Palin is interesting. She’s largely unknown and she’s the first woman to be nominated as a VP on a major ticket.



But Palin isn’t the one running for President, and I honestly care less about her personal life and what her kids or her husband is doing. Tell me about her policy and what she stands for versus Joe Biden. And then there’s another thing – where’s Biden? No one’s talking about the Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee. I’d like to know a little more about who the Democrats have running, and I’m not seeing much of that from any news network.