Post #18: Comparison of FOX News and CNN

For this assignment I watch a half hour of FOX News Channel followed by a half hour of CNN.





Verses



Hannity was playing on FOX News. First I listened to him rant about how when Obama was running for President, he said that he would excuse the Bush Administration for any questionable methods of interrogation. Now, Obama has switched sides on the issue by putting the blame on the Bush Administration. Hannity then did an overview of Obama's first hundred days in office. He claimed that the one good thing Obama did was buy a dog. Other than that he has done very little except for "bankrupting the country". Hannity criticized Obama's "socialist" agenda.

Then Hannity brought up what Joe Binden said about the Swine Flu. But Hannity says not to worry because the Democrats will surely blame the Bush Administration for the Swine Flu outbreak because they always blame former President Bush. He made the obnoxious comment that if the sun is not shining in the morning it was President Bush's fault.

On CNN I watched the show Newsroom. The first story they showed was on the collapse of the canopy of the Dallas Cowboy's training facility. They talked about a man who was now paralyzed because of the accident. Then they began to talk about the unstable weather that was occurring in the Southeast. Tornadoes were spotted in both Alabama and Tennessee today. The final story that I watched was on the Republican party trying to get a new image. Their goal is it conduct road shows to attract more supporters.

I do not believe that these programs cover events the same way. FOX News Channel was clearly favoring the right. They made annoying comments about Democrats. They attacked President Obama for his supposedly changing view on the waterboarding debate. On the other hand, CNN seemed like a more moderate news source. It provided the viewer with the facts and left very little room for commentary. Out of the two stations, I would much prefer to watch CNN over FOX News any day.

In my opinion the best type of news is one that provides me with facts. I do not mind hearing different sides of an argument as long as both sides have their voices heard. I would much rather be left with a space to make up my own well-informed mind on an issue than to have someone else tell me what to think. If I had to choose I would without a doubt pick objective news covering over partisan based news stories. It is just so much more interesting and informative to be educated on both sides of an issue.