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Fair and Balanced

I put a nontrivial amount of effort into making sure that when I read news online I get my news from a wide variety of sources. Sure, there are writers and bloggers with whose views I often find sympathy, but I think it’s important that I also read the thoughts of others with whom I more often disagree.

I was hunting around the blogosphere this evening to read some reaction to the letter Senator Specter wrote to Vice President Dick Cheney today. In the letter, Senator Specter complains about the administration’s continuing efforts to thwart Congress’s ability to both check and balance the executive branch. I may blog about this later if I feel so inclined.

Regardless, I came across the myspace page of one “Chris” from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is pretty obvious Chris and I do not share many political views. Anyway, Chris wrote about his support of the Fox News Channel and Bill O’Reilly. I found it somewhat interesting:

CNN absolutely sucks. They were once the premier news source in the world, and occasionally still report news at that same quality level, like in the hurricane. But generally they now suck. Fox news is so superior and it is not even close. It’s not because I’m conservative, but the fair and balanced thing really is true.

A hard-hitting comparison of two competing cable news networks indeed. And here’s how Chris feels about Bill O’Reilly:

Now I’m no blind follower of O’Reilly. I used to think he was totally awesome because he stuck it to the liberals. Then I thought he sucked because he was too full of himself. But then I realized that he is not necessarily full of himself all the time, it’s just that he can’t put up with suckiness and won’t tolerate it. Sure he still sometimes carrys on a little too much, but for the most part he just demands the truth and people can’t handle it.

I don’t have to tell you that Chris doesn’t mince words here. I thought the bit about how Mr. O’Reilly “just demands the truth and people can’t handle it” to be particularly funny given my recent post about O’Reilly’s egregious factual error regarding the cold-blooded murder of American troops by Nazis in the Belgian town of Malmedy near the end of World War II.

I sometimes find it odd that Mr. O’Reilly in particular, and the Fox News Channel in general, continue to thrive given the wealth of documented factual errors that make it onto their programming. But then I find the blog of someone like Chris, and I quickly remember how Fox and the AM radio pundits make their money. Bluster, not fact, doth a millionaire make.