Fox News Channel: The Week of Opposites

By Allison Herman


During this week of watching Fox News, I found some interesting stuff. Normally, I can’t stand editorial commentary shows. I really can’t stand the O’Reilly Factor, and the few times I’ve watched Hannity’s America, it drove me crazy with its partisan rhetoric. But there was one thing that I feel Hannity’s America did right this week.

It was an interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin. Now I know that this interview wasn’t shown in its entirety, but it wasn’t just sound bites either. He was giving each of them minutes to answer his questions, mostly in regards to the debates and their opinions about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Overall, I watched at least 30 minutes of interview. And for the most part, it was the candidates focusing on big ticket issues like the economy, the war in Iraq, government spending, domestic energy, and national security.

What I didn’t care for this week actually goes against what I normally like about Fox News, which is the newscasts. There was a story regarding the report that came out this week stating that Sarah Palin did abuse her power as Alaska’s governor in trying to get her former brother-in-law fired. But while that was the headline, the story went further than that, with Sarah Palin saying that she did nothing unlawful, and the report stated that as well. That’s all well and good, and I saw nothing wrong with the story itself. What irked me was one phrase that the anchor used to toss to a correspondent. “That’s what we like to see.” You, anchorlady, aren’t allowed to have an opinion. I don’t care what you like to see. Just read me the news.

What I thought was interesting was the role that Ohio was playing in the national news. There were several stories I saw that dealt with Ohio: Ohio’s role in the election, how Ohio’s secretary of state is dealing with voter fraud, and a recent poll that shows John McCain leading Barack Obama across the state.