Fox "News" is Mostly Celebrity Gossip
Is There Any News on Fox?
Many people say that Fox "News" is the only acceptable source of news. For example, see Vice-President Dick Cheney's hotel suite demands requiring that all televisions be pre-tuned to Fox "News". However, fox "news" is mostly misinformation and celebrity gossip.
World Public Opinion, a project managed by the program on international policy attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters in late 2010. Their study showed that Fox News viewers are significantly worse misinformed than consumers of other news sources. Additionally, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation. For example, 63% of Fox viewers believe that Barack Obama definitely was not born in the U.S., or that his birth place is unclear. 60% believe that world climate is not changing. See that late 2010 survey here, and also see earlier similar results from WPO's 2003 survey and also a 2009 poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal.
A May 2012 study by Fairleigh Dickinson University showed that people who watch nothing but Fox News know less about both international and domestic events than people who watch no news at all.
More recently, the PunditFact project at the Tampa Bay Times found that 60% of the claims made by Fox News pundits are mostly false or worse, versus 46% by NBC and MSNBC and just 18% at CNN.
But it's not just their continued pandering of right-wing nonsense. Fox "News" focuses much more on celebrities than other sources do. This can be measured by simply counting the number of pages on various news sites mentioning figures from world leadership and entertainment.
We can measure the coverage of topics using Google's
site:example.com search directive,
which only returns pages within the specified domain.
We can use that to perform various searches specific
to combinations of public figures and news organizations.
For example, the President of Afghanistan:
site:foxnews.com "Hamid Karzai"
or, someone Fox "News" finds much more important,
deserving about seven times the coverage:
site:foxnews.com "miley cyrus"
Significant National Leaders
As of November, 2013, the last time I bothered collecting data:
| Hamid Karzai | President of Afghanistan |
| Mamnoon Hussain | President of Pakistan |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader, one of the most influential Iraqi figures not holding any official government title. |
| Xi Jinping | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China. |
| Nouri al-Maliki | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Bashar al-Assad | President of Syria |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Hassan Rouhani | President of Iran |
Frivolous Celebrities
| Anna Nicole Smith | Celebrity and nude model, died in February 2007. |
| Britney Spears | Celebrity, singer, shaved her own head. |
| Jessica Simpson | Celebrity, has appeared in some movies. |
| Miley Cyrus | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress. |
| Kim Kardashian | Celebrity, part-time nude model. |
| Khloe Kardashian | Sister of a celebrity, not yet a nude model. |
World figures sorted by importance according to Fox "News" coverage
| World figure | BBC | CNN | NPR | Pravda | Fox | Role |
| Miley Cyrus | 11,500 | 30,200 | 823 | 9 | 22,600 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Kim Kardashian | 1,210 | 27,100 | 461 | 19,700 | 19,000 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Britney Spears | 8,240 | 12,200 | 664 | 4,250 | 9,520 | Celebrity |
| Khloe Kardashian | 98 | 4,230 | 33 | 3 | 8,130 | Sister of a celebrity |
| Bashar al-Assad | 10,600 | 45,400 | 4,010 | 6,840 | 5,970 | President of Syria |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 3,560 | 6,760 | 4,190 | 638 | 5,190 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 5,060 | 11,500 | 1,910 | 530 | 3,320 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Hamid Karzai | 20,300 | 8,610 | 3,320 | 1,090 | 3,170 | President of Afghanistan |
| Jessica Simpson | 4,910 | 3,440 | 164 | 299 | 2,300 | Celebrity |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 508 | 3,080 | 223 | 579 | 1,400 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 4,780 | 2,690 | 1,600 | 387 | 1,380 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Xi Jinping | 2,080 | 1,950 | 1,420 | 65 | 832 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
| Hassan Rouhani | 3,910 | 3,370 | 3,270 | 229 | 330 | President of Iran |
| BBC | CNN | NPR | Pravda | Fox |
Let's look at these one media source at a time, flagging the frivolous celebrities in red.
World figures sorted by importance according to Fox "News":
| World figure | Pages atfoxnews.com |
Role |
| Miley Cyrus | 22,600 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Kim Kardashian | 19,000 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Britney Spears | 9,520 | Celebrity |
| Khloe Kardashian | 8,130 | Sister of a celebrity |
| Bashar al-Assad | 5,970 | President of Syria |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 5,190 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 3,320 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Hamid Karzai | 3,170 | President of Afghanistan |
| Jessica Simpson | 2,300 | Celebrity |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 1,400 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 1,380 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Xi Jinping | 832 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
| Hassan Rouhani | 330 | President of Iran |
Fox "News" had:
- More pages on each of the celebrities Miley Cyrus (22,600) and Kim Kardashian (19,000) than on the national leaders of Syria, Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan combined (17,650).
- Over 27 times as much coverage of Miley Cyrus as on the national leader of China.
- More pages on Khloe Kardashian, whose primary claim to notoriety is she is the sister of a famous part-time nude model, than on each of the national leaders of Syria and Iraq, between two and three times as much as on each of the national leaders of Israel and Afghanistan, and almost ten times as much as on the national leader of China.
- Close to twice as much coverage of dead celebrity Anna Nicole Smith as on the leader of China.
Let's look at the opposite end of the spectrum:
World figures sorted by importance according to NPR coverage
| World figure | Pages atnpr.org |
Role |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 4,190 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Bashar al-Assad | 4,010 | President of Syria |
| Hamid Karzai | 3,320 | President of Afghanistan |
| Hassan Rouhani | 3,270 | President of Iran |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 1,910 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 1,600 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Xi Jinping | 1,420 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
| Miley Cyrus | 823 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Britney Spears | 664 | Celebrity |
| Kim Kardashian | 461 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 223 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Jessica Simpson | 164 | Celebrity |
| Khloe Kardashian | 33 | Sister of a celebrity |
NPR concentrates on national leaders, Fox on celebrities.
Moving through the rest:
World figures sorted by importance according to BBC coverage
| World figure | Pages atbbc.co.uk |
Role |
| Hamid Karzai | 20,300 | President of Afghanistan |
| Miley Cyrus | 11,500 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Bashar al-Assad | 10,600 | President of Syria |
| Britney Spears | 8,240 | Celebrity |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 5,060 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Jessica Simpson | 4,910 | Celebrity |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 4,780 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Hassan Rouhani | 3,910 | President of Iran |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 3,560 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Xi Jinping | 2,080 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
| Kim Kardashian | 1,210 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 508 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Khloe Kardashian | 98 | Sister of a celebrity |
World figures sorted by importance according to CNN coverage
| World figure | Pages atcnn.com |
Role |
| Bashar al-Assad | 45,400 | President of Syria |
| Miley Cyrus | 30,200 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Kim Kardashian | 27,100 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Britney Spears | 12,200 | Celebrity |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 11,500 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Hamid Karzai | 8,610 | President of Afghanistan |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 6,760 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Khloe Kardashian | 4,230 | Sister of a celebrity |
| Jessica Simpson | 3,440 | Celebrity |
| Hassan Rouhani | 3,370 | President of Iran |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 3,080 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 2,690 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Xi Jinping | 1,950 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
World figures sorted by importance according to Pravda coverage
| World figure | Pages atpravda.ru |
Role |
| Kim Kardashian | 19,700 | Celebrity and part-time nude model |
| Bashar al-Assad | 6,840 | President of Syria |
| Britney Spears | 4,250 | Celebrity |
| Hamid Karzai | 1,090 | President of Afghanistan |
| Nouri al-Maliki | 638 | Prime Minister of Iraq |
| Anna Nicole Smith | 579 | Celebrity, nude model, dead since 2007 |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 530 | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Moqtada al-Sadr | 387 | Prominent Iraqi cleric and political leader |
| Jessica Simpson | 299 | Celebrity |
| Hassan Rouhani | 229 | President of Iran |
| Xi Jinping | 65 | Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China |
| Miley Cyrus | 9 | Celebrity, singer and Disney actress |
| Khloe Kardashian | 3 | Sister of a celebrity |
"One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising, and news."
— Edward R Murrow, 1958
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