History of fox news - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The Fox News Channel (FNC) is available to a little more than 85 million households in the United States, and even more internationally. The network is based in the U.S. and broadcasts primarily out of its studio in New York City. The Fox News Channel is currently the highest rated cable News Channel. Initially founded by the Australian-American mogul Rupert Murdoch in 1996, the FNC has grown to become the most influential cable news network today. Rupert Murdoch initially created the Fox News Network to represent the conservative point of view in America. At the time, in 1996, Murdoch felt that there was a great need for this niche to be filled in media, as at the time the majority of media was predominantly liberal.
The network was designed with the intention of grabbing the attention of viewers. The visual presentation the network uses has been very influential in the presentation of news. Colorful and attention grabbing graphics were designed to constantly remain on the screen, as well as textboxes displaying one-liners summarizing the current topics. This was believed to incite the viewer's interests and increase their understanding of any message the network was attempting to relay. Another attention getter designed by the network is the Fox News Alert, it was designed to interrupt regular programming when breaking stories occurred. The news alerts were designed with swooshing graphics that would fill up the screen and a sharp chiming noise. (Fig1, Wikipedia)


This is just an example of the aggressive tactics Murdoch used to launch the network. To rush the networks accessibility, Murdoch paid 11$ per subscribers to cable companies to increase the channels distribution. This was a revolutionary This conflict has led to much controversy surrounding the network.
The Controversy
In a survey done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, in 2004, the article cited Fox News as the single news outlet that strikes most journalists as taking a particular ideological stance (2006). Corresponding with this, the Democratic National Committee identified Fox News as a rightwing outlet (York, 2006). On CNN's Larry King during a Jan 17, 2007 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, King spoke on his opinion of the Network,
They're Republican a brand. They're an extension of the Republican Party with some exceptions, [like] Greta van Susteren. But I don't begrudge them that. [Fox CEO] Roger Ailes is an ...Download file to see next pagesRead More