Try this:

1. Turn on Fox & Friends in the morning.
2. See how long you can go before you are forced to turn it off.

I've been giving this a go over the last week or so. So far, my record is about 90 seconds. Sometimes, it's a slow-build sort of thing, and other times things will be going fine until someone says something so absurd, my hand reflexively changes the channel.

I know that the cat is out of the bag on Fox, but I'd forgotten just how preposterous it is until I started making this part of my morning ritual.

Re: Fox News Challenge

i've tried this too. i should probably quit at 90 seconds like you do, but i actually force myself to tolerate it much longer...like 5 minutes at least, but that usually ends in me yelling at the TV "oh shut the fuck up!" and then i stew about the experience for the next 10 minutes. It's really not very healthy.

Re: Fox News Challenge

interesting, I play the same game but on the other media channels.

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Here's the thing; they're ALL really effin' bad. I don't say this to be a sightless-contrarian, I say this because it's quite true.

Here's something to try, say, after the election is over; Simply turn off the television for a week. I call this a 1-week challenge; I do this on tons of other things and study how I mentally, physically, or emotionally respond. Anyways, it's like a detox for your mind. After a week, you'll find it equally hard to watch CNN, MSNBC, and most certainly Fox News. I'm not sure why this is.

It's no wonder that, speciale, you don't watch anything but Fox. Alpharetta, Marrietta, and Roswell are the biggest Fox-News-Worshiping areas in the entire country. I used to live there. It's quite sickening.

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[quote=88Mariner;668523] It's no wonder that, speciale, you don't watch anything but Fox. Alpharetta, Marrietta, and Roswell are the biggest Fox-News-Worshiping areas in the entire country. I used to live there. It's quite sickening.[/quote]

:lol: Dont forget Cumming

They all suck. Local news is better. they dont focus all of their attention on the election. Either way, each of the main news stations are all biased. Fox to the right and all others to the left. I stick with the drudgereport

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^ DRUDGE? my god man, you must be new to the scene. He's the perez hilton of news now!

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[quote=speciale;668528]Local news is better. they dont focus all of their attention on the election.[/quote]

That's even worse imo. I do not want to hear about how many killings / rapes / and scandals happen daily in my city. It's way too depressing... Murder death kill! :(

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[quote=Erik Mitchell;668543]That's even worse imo. I do not want to hear about how many killings / rapes / and scandals happen daily in my city. It's way too depressing... Murder death kill! :([/quote]

I didnt realize denver was that bad.

I guess No news is good news.

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^ i think the problem is is that each channel shares the same formula, and occassionally, one gets a lucky break on a story or interesting topic. the problem is, is that they don't appeal to our intellect, don't entertain, and convey information that we consume and digest, but don't really contemplate. we can bitch about all the murders on the local news, but honestly, how many can you remember? none. there's no point-counterpoint. there's no in-depth rhetorical questions being asked.

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[quote=88Mariner;668549]^ i think the problem is is that each channel shares the same formula, and occassionally, one gets a lucky break on a story or interesting topic. the problem is, is that they don't appeal to our intellect, don't entertain, and convey information that we consume and digest, but don't really contemplate. we can bitch about all the murders on the local news, but honestly, how many can you remember? none. there's no point-counterpoint. there's no in-depth rhetorical questions being asked.[/quote]

actually when I lived in Ft Lauderdale, I could remember a lot of murders. even in Atlanta a few come to mind, recent ones. I get where Erik is coming from. My wife hated the news in South Florida.

You always have the Weather Channel. ;)

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I can watch Fox, CNN or MSNBC for long periods of time with no problem. I realize they are all biased, so not much bothers me. Fox on the right, CNN center left and MSNBC on the left. I flip between the stations to hear the different perspectives to form an opinion. Too much from one channel, would influence me and push me to one side.

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Fox, MSNBC, CNN - they all ceased to be "news" channels long ago (circa 2001 would be my guess) and are nothing more than live-action op-ed pieces. The next time someone like Olbermann ahem [I]reports [/I]something of actual, objective merit will be the first.

Their only real use is to watch them like you would the Weather Channel: just a quick glance every other day or so to see what the temperature is like out there on the fringe. But if you turn on one of these channels to get some useful information, best of luck to you.

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[quote=Erik Mitchell;668543]That's even worse imo. I do not want to hear about how many killings / rapes / and scandals happen daily in my city. It's way too depressing... Murder death kill! :([/quote] if it bleeds, it ledes!

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of the american 3, i watch msnbc, cuz they usually have ppl live at the markets. news wise, they are the most indie, but still lean left.

if you want objective news do what i do.

BBC america [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk"]www.bbc.co.uk[/URL]

huffinton is liberal bias, fox is just stupid while trying to be conservative, they lack intelligent anchors to be conservative in an intelligent manner, CNN is ruled by the unions (have you ever seen them question contracts?) and msnbc has its mouth around the liberal cock a lot.

this country is shot. we are witnessing our downfall. if you dont think so, go back to college and learn something that would require a degree to obtain a job please.

we are about to become a near marxist nation, count on rioting next week too. and that only the beginning.

we have only each other and our lack of education to blame.

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[QUOTE=thesightless;668740]of the american 3, i watch msnbc, cuz they usually have ppl live at the markets. [/QUOTE]

am a BIG Erin Burnett fan... :Naughty:

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teh more i think about it, the more huffington post is just like fox news, but not on television.

to me? i think the internet is god. why give someone your hard-earned free time to filter out news you would like to see, and push hard on stuff you think is either clearly biased, epic-ly stupid, or just simply not newsworthy?

The RSS reader on the GMAIL function, something I just figured out a few days ago, is HUGE to me know. I cut my browsing time by 75% and still retain the coverage that I seek in intelligent opinions and breaking news.

Seriously, I don't know where on tv you would hear about the McCain Aide saying that sarah palin is a 'whack-job' on top of the growing rift between both factions in that campaign....

Re: Fox News Challenge

[QUOTE=88Mariner;668763]teh more i think about it, the more huffington post is just like fox news, but not on television. [/QUOTE]

There is actually an enormous difference between the two -- they are both equally partisan, but HuffPo does not try to pass itself off as a non-partisan source of information. It is openly, and unabashedly, a partisan site that exists to provide a liberal take on the news. We all may know that Fox is right wing, but I guarantee you that there are Fox viewers that don't understand that.

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[QUOTE]ppl live at the markets[/QUOTE]

:D. sry. shameless [I]pike place market[/I] plug!

[IMG]http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04pzcqV9OkaU6/610x.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.bizfutures.com/Fishmongers_HiRes.jpg[/IMG]

Re: Fox News Challenge

[quote=toasty;668782]There is actually an enormous difference between the two -- they are both equally partisan, but HuffPo does not try to pass itself off as a non-partisan source of information. It is openly, and unabashedly, a partisan site that exists to provide a liberal take on the news. We all may know that Fox is right wing, but I guarantee you that there are Fox viewers that don't understand that.[/quote]

ok. you're right. as far as content goes, they're the same to me.

Do you think people would be less up-in-arms about fox if they just came out and said they were biased towards whatever ideology the GOP sponsors in any given year?

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[QUOTE] The RSS reader on the GMAIL function, something I just figured out a few days ago, is HUGE to me know. I cut my browsing time by 75% and still retain the coverage that I seek in intelligent opinions and breaking news. [/QUOTE]

yea, AP news feed is GAWD

the thing about fox news and conservatism, is that they lack the capacity to present it in an intelligent manner. they remind me of charlie browns mother. WHAWHAWHAHWAWHAHWAH

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^ not entirely. they have some fantastic contributors to thier site imo. I find Radley Balko to be one of the best. but i already subscribed to his [URL]http://www.theagitator.com[/URL] website's feed.

Re: Fox News Challenge

[QUOTE=88Mariner;668788] Do you think people would be less up-in-arms about fox if they just came out and said they were biased towards whatever ideology the GOP sponsors in any given year?[/QUOTE]

I know I would. I could give a shit less about opinion shows like O'Reilley, Hannity, etc. It's the ones that masquerade as news that piss me off.

Re: Fox News Challenge

[quote=toasty;668850]I know I would. I could give a shit less about opinion shows like O'Reilley, Hannity, etc. It's the ones that masquerade as news that piss me off.[/quote]

And Fox & Friends is the master of this.

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I watch Al Jazeera for my non-biased news :p

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I tried to do this on Sunday- partly because I just got cable this year for the first time in a long time and I was checking out the 900 channel landscape. In any event I lasted I think maybe 1min on FoxNews w/Sean Hannity. Definitely a lot of swearing until I turned off the tv went outside and went on living my life.

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msnbc is nearly as bad as fox news imo

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[QUOTE=pr0ficient;669123]msnbc is nearly as bad as fox news imo[/QUOTE]

Olbermann, Maddow, & the recently much more openly partisan Chris Matthews all definitely serve as a counter-balance from a pundit standpoint to what happens on the commentary-based shows on Fox.

When it comes to straight news, though, Fox leaves MSNBC in the dust when it comes to pushing an agenda. The anchors on MSNBC probably all offer more partisan commentary than you might expect from a newscast (thinking Morning Joe here, primarily), but there's some balance because people are generally pretty open about their party affiliation and there is enough from both sides that it doesn't come off as pushing any particular viewpoint. Anyone confused about whether Pat Buchanan is right or left? Is Mika in the tank for Obama? Is the Pope Catholic?

Having Olbermann and Matthews do convention "reporting" was a bad idea, because they are commentators, not reporters, but I think they've got that ironed out now.

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[QUOTE=toasty;669133]The anchors on MSNBC probably all offer more partisan commentary than you might expect from a newscast (thinking Morning Joe here, primarily), but there's some balance because people are generally pretty open about their party affiliation and there is enough from both sides that it doesn't come off as pushing any particular viewpoint.[/QUOTE]

True that people are often open about their party affiliation on msnbc but I don't think the channel offers much from both sides. I find myself forced to take 10 minutes of fox news for every hour of msnbc to somewhat balance out my dose of news.

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Honestly, I find it pretty easy to watch Fox. Even when they're making my blood boil, I find it hard to turn the channel. It can actually be a bit annoying sometimes. Last night, I got sucked into Shepard Smith's show during the Hardball commercials.

I think it has to do with how good Fox is at sensationalizing things. They can make even the most mundane topics seem like pressing issues. Acorn is a great example of this. Fox is like the MTV of cable news, even in their delivery. It's hard to put words to, but I often feel MTV similarities while watching Fox.

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[QUOTE=BabyMatty4Block;669171]They can make even the most mundane topics seem like pressing issues.[/QUOTE]

The worst is when they analyze the negative political commercials that are being aired for this election. They're always so shocked and try to make viewers wonder if the opposing candidate has yet again gone too far!

This isn't news dammit!