Bruce Bartlett, former staffer to President Reagan, is the latest Republican voice to say Fox News is harmful to Republicans.
He wrote in his academic paper “ How Fox News Changed American Media and Political Dynamics “, that the debut of the Fox News channel in 1996 was an under-appreciated, critical moment in America’s political history. The channel allowed conservatives an alternative to mainstream news that was tilted towards their point-of-view, which spiraled out of control until it almost became “self-brainwashing.”
He wrote in the abstract, “Soon, it became the dominant – and in many cases, virtually the only – major news source for millions of Americans.”
“This has had profound political implications that are only starting to be appreciated. Indeed, it can almost be called self-brainwashing – many conservatives now refuse to even listen to any news or opinion not vetted through Fox, and to believe whatever appears on it as the gospel truth.”
According to the Washington Post , he ended the paper quoting another political scientist that says Fox News is a burden for the Republican Party that prevents them from moving to the center or increasing their appeal.
Bartlett is only the latest conservative to speak out against Fox News. Former Senator Tom Coburn called the news channel “totally not fair and totally not balanced.” Likewise, Senator Lindsey Graham claimed Fox News made it hard to pass immigration reform measures in 2011. Even Newt Gingrich said the network was biased in private meetings.
Bartlett’s paper cites a number of incidents to support the charges of conservative bias, including a 2010 study that found Fox spread false rumors about a mosque planned for lower Manhattan, a 2014 study that found 72 percent of claims on the channel about climate change were misleading, and a consistent downplaying of gun-violence.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Jon Stewart on The Daily Show also called out the news network for false information (many times) and once challenged them to a “lie off.”
Still, Bartlett’s paper paints a pretty dire picture of the news network driving the Republican party and most conservatives into an isolated world of lies and irrelevance. But, does it really have that much of an effect?
After all, Fox News has about 3.3 million regular viewers. That’s big for cable news, but a pittance compared to NBC Nightly News , which took in a reported average of 7.1 million viewers, according to Deadline Hollywood . Considering the full population of the U.S., 3.3 million seems even less significant.
The Washington Post pointed out that the news channel does have an effect on elections. And if Lindsey Graham is correct, it helped slowdown at least one piece of legislation. Still, there will need to be more studies to make a persuasive conclusion about Fox News’ negative effect.
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