Jump to content

The Alternative Factor and Fox News: Difference between pages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Difference between pages)
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
 
I'm reverting that sentence, will explain on Talk page
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{cleanup}}
{{ST episode |
{{Infobox Network |
name = The Alternative Factor|
network_name = Fox News Channel|
image = [[Image:STAltFactor.jpg]]<BR/>Kirk encounters Lazarus,<BR/> ''The Alternative Factor''.|
network_logo = [[Image:FNC logo.png]]|
series = TOS |
country = [[United States]]|
ep_num = 27 |
network_type = [[Cable television|Cable]] [[television network]]|
prod_num = 020 |
available = [[United States]] and others; see [[Fox News Channel#International transmission|"International transmission"]] section below for other availability|
date = [[March 23]] [[1967]] |
slogan = "We Report, You Decide", "[[Fair and Balanced]]", "The Most Powerful Name in News"|
writer = [[Don Ingalls]]|
director = [[Gerd Oswald]] |
owner = [[News Corporation]]|
key_people = [[Roger Ailes]], Chairman & [[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]]|
guest = [[Robert Brown (actor)]]<BR/> [[Janet MacLachlen]]<BR/> [[Richard Derr]]<BR/> [[Christian Patrick]]<BR/> [[Arch Whiting]]<BR/> [[Tom Lupo]]<BR/> [[Ron Veto]]<BR/> [[Vince Calenti]]<BR/> [[Eddie Paskey]]<BR/> [[Gary Coombs]]|
launch_date = [[October 7]], [[1996]]|
stardate = 3087.6|
website = [http://foxnews.com foxnews.com]|
year = 2267|
prev = [[Errand of Mercy (TOS episode)|Errand of Mercy]] |
next = [[The City on the Edge of Forever (TOS episode)|The City on the Edge of Forever]]
}}
}}
The '''Fox News Channel''' is a leading [[United States|American]] [[cable television|cable]] and [[satellite television|satellite]] [[news]] channel. It is owned by the [[Fox Entertainment Group]], and is a [[subsidiary]] of [[News Corporation]], under major [[shareholder]] and [[chief executive officer]] [[Rupert Murdoch]]. As of January [[2005]], it is available to 85 million households in the U.S. and to further viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its [[New York City]] studios. In a 2006 poll conducted by [[Reuters]] and the [[BBC]], 11 percent of Americans named Fox News as the most trusted news source, which is more than any other source in the U.S. including [[ABC News|ABC]] (4 percent), [[NBC News|NBC]] (4 percent) and [[CBS News|CBS]] (3 percent).<ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/6/122755.shtml?s=ic</ref>


The network was launched on [[October 7]], [[1996]] to 17 million cable subscribers. The network slowly rose to prominence in the late 1990s as it started chipping away at the ratings of competitor [[CNN]]. [[As of 2005]], Fox News's long-term viewer ratings exceed those of competing news channels ([[Nielsen Ratings|Nielsen's]] Points ratings) while [[CNN]] outnumbers Fox News in terms of numbers of individual viewers (Nielsen's Cume ratings).{{fact}}
'''"The Alternative Factor"''' is a first season episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''. It is episode #20, and was broadcast on [[March 23]] [[1967]]. The episode was written by [[Don Ingalls]], and directed by [[Gerd Oswald]].


==History==
'''Quick Overview''': The crew of the ''[[Starship Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' encounters a reality jumping madman.
[[image:IraqWarCoverage-FNC.jpg|thumb|Fox News Channel Iraq war coverage]]
<!-- This part of the article needs to be expanded -->
Rupert Murdoch established Fox News to counter a news media that he believed was predominantly liberal.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/030526on_onlineonly01 | title = "Broadcast News" | publisher = [[The New Yorker]] | accessdate = November 29 | accessyear = 2005 }}</ref> Murdoch had significant experience with cable news after starting the [[Sky News]] rolling news service in the [[United Kingdom]].


In February [[1996]], after [[Roger Ailes]] (who would later become the president of Fox News) was relieved of duties at [[America's Talking]], in preparation for conversion of the network to [[MSNBC]], Murdoch called Ailes to start the network. A group of Ailes loyalists who followed him throughout the [[NBC]] empire joined him at Fox. From there, the [[CNBC]] expatriates, who joined a team already in place at Fox News, created the programming concept and proceeded to select space in New York. Ailes, often agitated and verbally abusive, worked individuals through five months of grueling 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before launch, on [[October 7]], [[1996]].
{{spoiler}}


At launch, only ten million households were able to watch Fox News, with none in the major media markets of [[New York City]] and [[Los Angeles]]. According to published reports, many media reviewers had to watch the first day's programming at Fox News studios because it was not readily available. The rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single topic shows like ''Fox on Crime'' or ''Fox on Politics'' surrounded by news [[headlines]]. Interviews had various interesting facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time was called ''The Schneider Report'', with Mike Schneider giving a fast paced delivery of the news. During the evening, Fox had opinion shows: ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'' (then called ''The O'Reilly Report''), ''The Crier Report'' hosted by [[Catherine Crier]], and ''[[Hannity & Colmes]]''. From the beginning, FNC has also had a number of different slogans it included in daily broadcasts including: "America's Newsroom," "The Most Powerful Name in News," "Fox Means Business," "[[Fair and Balanced]]," and "We Report, You Decide."
On [[stardate]] 3087.6, the [[starship]] USS ''Enterprise'', under the command of Captain [[James T. Kirk]], completes a mapping assignment of an uninhabited [[planet]] near Starbase 200. As the crew prepares to depart back to base, the ''Enterprise'' is rocked by an unknown energy pulse. [[Mr. Spock]] informs that the gravity pull of the planet fluctuated to zero and describes that the surrounding space seemed to momentarily "wink" out of existence.


[[image:foxnewsalert.png|left|thumb|''Fox News'' Alert title card]]From the beginning, Fox News has had a heavy emphasis on the visual presentation of news. Graphics were designed to be colorful and attention grabbing, and to allow people to get the main points of what was being said even if they couldn't hear the host, through the use of on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker, and "bullet points" when a host was giving commentary. Some of these commentary sections were criticised by Ofcom, the media regulator in the United Kingdom, where the Fox News Channel is broadcast on Sky Digital Satellite, as it was deemed that there was not enough of a distinction between news and opinion present on-screen.
Sensors then locate a human presence down on the planet that wasn't there before. Spock and Kirk, along with a three-man security detail, beam down to the planet to investigate and find a small, one-man spacecraft. The human then appears, looking as a disheveled, bearded man; an apparent victim of some violent struggle. The man babbles on about having to stop someone before it's too late. He then staggers around as if sickened and accidentally slips off a cliff. The man survives the fall, but is injured, and Kirk has him beamed to the ''Enterprise'' for examination.


The network at times differentiates commentary from news with a constant graphic reading "COMMENTARY" during features such as Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo." This gives the impression that the rest of the program is objective journalism. Fox News is very clear that programs like ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'' and ''[[Fox & Friends]]'' are not news programs, and are not held to the journalistic standard of objectivity at any time during the broadcast of those programs.{{fact}}
Back on the ship, the engine room operator, Lt. Masters, informs Captain Kirk, that whatever the disturbance was, it drained the [[dilithium]] crystals in the [[Warp Drive|warp core]], and the ''Enterprise'' has about 10 hours of main power left before the ship loses orbit. A message is received from [[Starfleet]] which reports every [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] sector has been subjected to the same winking effect and following electronic disruption as the ''Enterprise''. Starfleet fears the disruption of all their equipment may be a prelude to an invasion of some kind and has ordered all ships within 100 parsecs - except the ''Enterprise'' - to leave the area. Kirk is ordered to find the cause of the disturbance, alone.


Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert," which interrupted regular programming when a breaking news story occurred. Each News Alert was designed to be attention-catching with a swooshing graphic filling the screen and a piercing chime instead of the regular news music. At the beginning of FNC, the Fox News Alert was used fairly rarely, giving the chime more cachet, but currently it is used regularly to announce scheduled events or repeat existing news instead of only breaking news stories, with Fox News Alerts sometimes several times each hour instead of just a few times a day.
[[Dr. McCoy]] notifies Kirk that the fallen man is now awake and Kirk goes to question him. Kirk learns the man's name is Lazarus and he's on a fanatical crusade, chasing down a "monster" who destroyed his entire civilization. He describes his nemesis as a murdering beast, the anti-life, existing only to destroy. Periodically, Lazarus fades in and out of existence, encountering his adversary in a kind of dimensional corridor. Each time he does so, another energy wink occurs that ripples through the universe. It is obvious that Lazarus and the shock waves are related.


Fox News was also the first network to put up the American flag after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], a feature in the upper left-hand corner that has persisted to this day.
Dr. McCoy notices that a wound on Lazarus's head had healed quickly the last time he checked on him. Confronting him later they find the wound is back. Kirk thinks McCoy is imagining things, and replies that he is in no mood for games.


To accelerate its adoption by cable companies, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the network. This contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators pay stations carriage fees for the programming of channels. When Time Warner bought out [[Ted Turner]]'s [[Turner Broadcasting]], a federal [[antitrust]] [[consent decree]] required Time Warner to carry a second all-news channel in addition to Time Warner's own [[CNN]]. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the secondary news network, instead of Fox News. Fox News claimed that this violated an agreement to carry Fox News, and Ailes used his connections to persuade Mayor Giuliani to carry Fox News and [[Bloomberg Television]] on two underutilized city-owned cable channels, which he did.
Kirk takes Lazarus to the bridge when Spock reports an amazing discovery down on the planet, a "rip" in space and time has formed near where Lazarus was found. The rip appears as a bright twinkling of light on the planet's surface. Lazarus insists that his enemy is trying to destroy the universe and he is causing the phenomenon. He tries to enlist Kirk's help and demands that Kirk give him some dilithium crystal so that he may fix his ship and continue to fight his enemy. Kirk refuses, but Lazarus is undeterred and plots to steal some dilithium from the ship's engines himself.


New York City also threatened to revoke Time Warner's cable [[exclusive right|franchise]] for not carrying Fox News.
When a theft of the material occurs, Kirk takes Lazarus to the meeting room for interrogation. Lazarus denies doing it, saying his enemy must have stolen it. Tired of Lazarus's double-talk and lies, he dismisses him having security escort him back to sickbay.


A lawsuit was filed by Time Warner against the City of New York claiming undue interference and for inappropriate use of the city's educational channels for commercial programming. News Corporation countered with an antitrust lawsuit against Time Warner for unfairly protecting CNN. This led to an acrominous battle between Murdoch and Turner, with Turner publicly comparing Murdoch to [[Adolf Hitler]] while Murdoch's ''[[New York Post]]'' ran an editorial questioning Turner's sanity. Giuliani's motives were also questioned, as his then-wife was a producer at Murdoch-owned [[WNYW-TV]]. In the end, Time Warner and News Corporation signed a [[settlement (law)|settlement]] agreement to permit Fox News to be carried on New York City cable system beginning in October [[1997]], and to all of Time Warner's cable systems by [[2001]], though Time Warner still does not carry Fox News in all areas.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.twcnyc.com/downloads/chlineupMV.pdf | title = "Time-Warner Cable channel list in Mt. Vernon, NY" | publisher = [[Time Warner]] | accessdate = March | accessyear = 2006 }}</ref> In return, Time Warner was given some rights to News Corporation's [[satellite]]s in Asia and Europe to distribute Time Warner programming, would receive the normal compensation per subscriber paid to cable operators, and News Corporation would not object to [[Atlanta Braves]] baseball games being carried on [[TBS (TV network)|TBS]] (which normally would not happen because of the Fox television network's contract with [[Major League Baseball]]).
Kirk asks Spock for a hypothesis on Lazarus's behavior and Spock concludes that Lazarus's enemy is himself, an "anti-Lazarus", possibly from another dimension, an "[[antimatter]]" dimension, and there may in fact be two of them running around. If Lazarus and his anti-self manage to destroy each other, it could spell doom for both universes. Spock also explains an "anti-matter universe" is only theory and no one has ever found proof of it.


==Management==
Kirk beams back to the planet, with Lazarus and a security team, to search out this "hidden" enemy. Again Lazarus has another dimensional episode causing disruption of the planet, during which Lazarus slips and falls again. Lazarus is returned to sickbay, but Kirk enters and demands the truth from the injured man despite McCoy's suggestion of letting him rest.
The [[CEO]], [[Chairman of the Board|Chairman]], and [[President]] of Fox News is [[Roger Ailes]]. After he began his career in broadcasting, Ailes started [[Ailes Communications, Inc]] and was successful as a political strategist for Presidents [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] and [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and with producing campaign TV commercials (the [[Willie Horton]] ad is a notable example) for [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] political candidates. His work for former President Richard M. Nixon was chronicled in the book ''[[The Selling of the President: 1968]]'' by [[Joe McGinniss]]. Ailes withdrew from consulting and returned to broadcasting in [[1992]], including [[Rush Limbaugh]]'s [[television program]] during [[1992]]-[[1996]]. He ran the [[CNBC]] channel and [[America's Talking]], the forerunner of MSNBC for NBC. More recently, Ailes was named ''Broadcaster of the Year'' by [[Broadcast and Cable Magazine]] in 2003.


==Fox News Channel programming==
Reluctantly, Lazarus explains himself as being a time traveler, and the planet below was once his great home world. The little spacecraft that he uses is in fact a dimensional [[Time travel|time ship]]. He claims his enemy counterpart destroyed his civilization in the past and he's chased him for centuries. He presses the issue that Kirk must help him, but Kirk still refuses to get involved.
Fox News presents a wide variety of programming, with up to 15 hours of live programming per day. Most of the programs are broadcast from Fox News headquarters in New York City with its street-side studios on Sixth Avenue (1211 [[Avenue of the Americas]]) in the west extension of [[Rockefeller Center]]. Audio simulcasts of the channel are aired on [[XM Satellite Radio]] channel 121 and [[Sirius Satellite Radio]] channel 131.


The following is the usual weekday lineup ([[as of 2005|as of September 2005]], all times [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]]):
Lazarus however, is prepared to continue his mission. Slipping from sickbay, he creates a diversion in engineering to acquire the dilithium. With stolen crystals in hand, he beams down to the planet to repair his ship. Kirk follows, but Lazarus has activated his time machine just as Kirk tries to stop him. Stepping into the portal, Kirk is accidentally teleported to the other anti-dimension where he encounters the anti-Lazarus.
*6:00 a.m.: Morning programming begins with ''[[Fox & Friends|Fox & Friends First]]'', hosted by one or more of the ''Fox & Friends'' hosts with rotating co-hosts [[Lauren Green]], [[Kiran Chetry]], [[Juliet Huddy]], [[Andrew Napolitano|Andrew P. Napolitano]] and others.
*7:00 a.m.: ''[[Fox & Friends]]'', hosted by [[Steve Doocy]], [[E.D. Hill]], and [[Brian Kilmeade]].
*9:00 a.m.: Late morning and early afternoon programming starts with ''[[Fox News Live]]'', a show featuring news, guest analysis, and interviews. Like other American cable news stations, there is news mixed with feature-like stories, as well as commentary and short [[debates]] between people on opposite sides of issues, usually between associates of candidates and officials, [[think tank]] members and journalists. Usually hosted by [[Jon Scott]], [[Brigitte Quinn]] and [[Bill Hemmer]].
*1:00 p.m.: Mike Jerrick's and Juliet Huddy's talk show with a live audience, ''[[Dayside|DaySide]]''.
*2:00 p.m.: Another hour of ''[[Fox News Live]]'' hosted by [[Martha MacCallum]].
*3:00 p.m.: [[Shepard Smith]]'s laid-back afternoon news program, ''[[Studio B]]''.
*4:00 p.m.: Fox's flagship business program, ''[[Your World with Neil Cavuto|Your World]]'', hosted by business managing editor [[Neil Cavuto]].
*5:00 p.m.: [[John Gibson (media host)|John Gibson]] hosts ''[[The Big Story (television program)|The Big Story]]'', a news/commentary program.
*6:00 p.m.: [[Primetime]] starts with the political news and discussion show ''[[Special Report with Brit Hume]]'', hosted by Washington managing editor [[Brit Hume]] from [[Washington, DC]].
*7:00 p.m.: Shepard Smith broadcasts ''[[Fox Report|The Fox Report with Shepard Smith]]'', FNC's evening news program similar to programs offered on [[World News Tonight|ABC]], [[CBS Evening News|CBS]], and [[NBC Nightly News|NBC]], a newscast-of-record, offering coverage of national and international news, and FOXCAST weather.
*8:00 p.m.: The network's top-rated show, ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]''. The taped broadcast features commentary from [[Bill O'Reilly (journalist)|Bill O'Reilly]], formerly of ''[[Inside Edition]]''.
*9:00 p.m.: [[american conservatism|Conservative]] [[Sean Hannity]] and [[liberalism in the United States|liberal]] [[Alan Colmes]] debate political issues of the day with guests and analysts during ''[[Hannity & Colmes]]''.
*10:00 p.m.: [[Greta Van Susteren]] broadcasts ''[[On the Record with Greta Van Susteren]]''. This program has an emphasis on stories pertaining to legal matters or human interest.
*11:00 p.m.: Reruns of previous programs are shown until 6:00 a.m. the next day.


The following is the usual Saturday lineup ([[as of 2006|as of February 2006]], all times [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]]):
This Lazarus however, seems sane, not the murdering monster the other Lazarus described. The anti-Lazarus steps forward and explains what is going on to Kirk. He admits to stealing the dilithium the first time, explaining he needed it to open the dimensional link. He informs Kirk that his people believed that two universes existed, and they tried to prove it but failed causing their own destruction. Lazarus however, found a way, but he confirms Mr. Spock's doomsday hypothesis of having broken the barriers between the matter and anti-matter universes.
*7:00 a.m.: ''[[Fox & Friends|Fox & Friends Weekend]]'', hosted by [[Kiran Chetry]], [[Julian Phillips]], and a rotating third co-host.
*10:00 a.m.: ''[[The Cost of Freedom]]'', the network's signature weekend business block of programming.
*12:00 p.m.: ''[[Weekend Live]]'' covers the latest news, politics, [[Hollywood]], and many other subjects from [[Washington D.C.]], hosted by [[Catherine Herridge]] Saturdays, [[Brian Wilson]] Sundays.
*2:00 p.m.: Another hour of live news coverage with ''[[Fox News Live]]'', hosted by [[Jamie Colby]].
*3:00 p.m.: The news continues anew with ''[[Studio B|Studio B Weekend]]'' with [[Trace Gallagher]].
*4:00 p.m.: Editorial members of the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' debate and discuss on ''The Journal Editorial Report''.
*4:30 p.m.: [[Julie Banderas]] hosts ''[[The Big Story|The Big Story Weekend]]''.
*6:00 p.m.: ''[[The Beltway Boys]]'' explores the scene from inside the beltway, hosted by [[Mort Kondracke]] and [[Fred Barnes]].
*6:30 p.m.: ''[[Fox News Watch]]'' debates the news coverage from the last week, with panelists from both the left and right of the journalist scene.
*7:00 p.m.: ''[[Fox Report|The Fox Report with Trace Gallagher]]'' covers the news of the day, "giving you the latest on the world, nation, your FOXCAST, and everything else you need in one hour."
*8:00 p.m.: ''[[Heartland with John Kasich]]'' gives perspective on the news of the day with a [[midwestern]] point of view.
*9:00 p.m.: ''[[The Lineup]]'' covers the latest [[criminal]] and [[investigative]] stories of the day.
*10:00 p.m.: Various [[Fox News Specials]] give a deeper look into subjects of news.
*11:00 p.m.: Reruns of programming run throughout the night till live programming begins at 7:00 a.m.


The Sunday programming lineup (all times [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]])) alters slightly from Saturday, including a two-hour block of ''[[Fox News Live]]'' at 10:00 a.m., another hour of ''Fox News Live'' at 4:00 p.m., ''The Big Story Weekend'' begins at 5:00 p.m., ''[[Fox News Sunday]]'' is broadcast on FNC at 6:00 p.m., and ''[[War Stories with Oliver North]]'' runs in place of ''Heartland'' at 8:00 p.m.
He indicates that only one version of Lazarus can exist in one universe at a time and the two have been trying to stop one another from tearing apart their realities. If one doesn't stop the other, their constant encounters will destroy both universes. When asked what to do, the anti-Lazarus tells Kirk the "dimensional corridor" connecting them must be severed; that being Lazarus's dimensional ship. He must send the mad Lazarus back through the corridor and close off the portal for good.


===Fox Network programming===
Kirk returns to his universe and confronts the insane Lazarus, overpowering him and pushing him into his dimensional portal where he vanishes. Kirk heads back to the ''Enterprise'', quickly ordering [[Weapons of Star Trek|phasers]] to target the dimension ship. The two Lazaruses meet once more and begin to fight just as phaser beams vaporize the dimension ship. The two Lazaruses disappear back into the void, trapped between both universes to fight each other for eternity.
Fox News also produced several [[newsmagazine]] shows for its Fox Network affiliates including ''Fox Files'' and ''The Pulse'', although both were cancelled after short runs due to poor ratings.


''[[Fox News Sunday|Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace]]'' currently airs on many Fox affiliates and is similar in format to other Sunday morning political discussion programs. The [[Fox Network]] does air Fox News's live coverage of events such as the [[State of the Union Address]]. However, the live event coverage on the Fox network is different than Fox News Channel's live event coverage. Fox News also produces national news segments to air on the local Fox affiliate's news programs.
==Trivia==
*Despite some of the impressive visual effects, (for the time), this episode is generally considered the worst of ''Star Trek's'' first season. There are reasons for this; [[John Drew Barrymore]] was originally cast as Lazarus, but on the morning filming began he was nowhere to be found. The part had to be recast in a hurry with [[Robert Brown]]. The producers filed a [[grievance]] with the [[Screen Actors Guild]] ([[Charlton Heston]], in his autobiography, ''[[In The Arena]]'', states that he was a member of the board who heard and unanimously ruled on the grievance), which suspended Barrymore from employment in its jurisdiction for six months as punishment. Barrymore's career suffered far worse, however; he was unable to find any acting work even for years after the suspension.


There are rumors that Fox News will start an evening newscast and/or a morning news programs for the Fox Network. It is unknown when these possible shows will materialize. However, Fox News and the Fox broadcast network is thought by news insiders to be using its new syndicated newsmagazine ''[[Geraldo at Large]]'' (which airs in prime slots on all of Fox's owned and operated statons [O&Os]) as a test run of rolling out a national newscast. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is now also chairman of the Fox Television Stations division, and has been pushing for the network's O&Os to have a more uniform image and presentation in their newscasts.
*The original script also called for Lazarus to have a relationship with an [[African-American]] woman on the ''Enterprise'' crew. [[NBC]], however, became leery of whether its affiliates in [[Southern United States|Southern]] states would broadcast the episode, and demanded rewrites both during production and afterwards. Ultimately, it was decided to edit that storyline out of the episode completely with the character reduced to a walk-on in a few scenes, and the storyline clearly suffered.


Fox News is confirmed to produce a program called ''[[On Scene]]'' (focusing on crime-related stories) on Fox's soon to be launched sister network, [[My Network TV]], also under [[Roger Ailes]]'s control.
*This episode was filmed in part on location at the [[Vasquez Rocks]].


===Fox News website===
*This is the first episode in ''Star Trek'' to deal with [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel universe]]s.
[[Image:Ads foxnews com.gif|right|100px]]
Fox News also boasts a website with a number of political columnists and webblogs. Fox News entertainment correspondent [[Mike Straka]] and [[Italian-American]] priest [[Jonathan Morris (priest)|Jonathan Morris]] maintain their own weekly blogs. Columnists include a swath of political conservatives and one conservative Democrat.


Conservatives/Republicans:
===Bloopers===
*[[Cato Institute]] writer - [[Ted Galen Carpenter]], conservative columnist, fierce critic of [[socialism]] and [[protectionism]].
*In the scene where Lazarus is being interrogated in the meeting room by Kirk, you will notice Lazarus's beard is wearing quite thin and losing hair, (some of it is sticking to his shoulder). In the next scene when they beam down to the planet, his beard is full again.
*[[Cato Institute]] writer - [[Michael Tanner]] staunch advocate of [[laissez-faire]] capitalism, opponent of [[universal health care]].
*[[Heritage Foundation]] writer - [[James Jay Carafano]], [[paleoconservative]] opponent of the [[separation between church and state]], [[abortion]] and [[stem cell research]].
*[[Anti-feminist]] writer - [[Wendy McElroy]], critic of [[liberal feminism]], espouses a [[conservative]] alternative.
*Tongue-Tied blog-writer - [[Scott Norvell]], anti-[[political correctness]] columnist and humorist.
*[[Junk Science]] writer - [[Steve Milloy]], outspoken opponent of [[environmentalism]] and [[global warming]].
*[[Center for Security Policy]] - [[Olivia Albrecht]], [[neoconservative]] columnist.
*[[Libertarian]] writer - [[Radley Balko]], advocate of [[globalization]], [[pro-life]] opponent of [[Roe v. Wade]] and supporter of [[federalism]].


Democrat:
*Lazarus's spaceship has a plastic dome on top, however In the scenes where Kirk crosses dimensions and talks to the "sane" Lazarus, (as seen in the sample picture above), the dome of Lazarus's spaceship is missing. A wider shot shows it lying on the ground behind the ship.
*[[Neoliberal]] writer - [[Martin Frost]], former Texas [[conservative Democrat]] representative, defeated in the [[United States House election, 2004]].


==Fox News Radio==
*Starfleet has received reports of time disruptions from "all over the galaxy and far beyond." All other episodes suggest that there is no Starfleet presence outside the galaxy.
[[Image:Ads foxnews radio.gif|right|100px]]

In [[2003]], Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations. On [[June 1]], [[2005]], ''[[Fox News Radio]]'' expanded to a full service news operation, employing sixty people and providing five minute newscasts at the top of the hour and one minute newscast at the bottom of the hour. Fox News Radio is hosted by both FNC television personalities and others working solely for radio. At launch, sixty stations participated in the network, with more joining under a deal struck between Fox and [[Clear Channel Communications]] converting many Clear Channel stations to carry Fox News Radio newscasts and allow Fox News Radio to use news content produced by Clear Channel and distribute it nationally.

Fox also produces [[Fox News Talk]] for both satellite radio services, with talk radio programs syndicated by and featuring Fox News personalities.

===Fox News Channel personalities on radio===
[[Fox News Radio]] also syndicates radio programs hosted by its TV personalities. (All times [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]].)
*''Brian and the Judge'' with Judge [[Andrew Napolitano]] and [[Brian Kilmeade]]: 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
*''The [[John Gibson (media host)|John Gibson]] Show'': 6:00–9:00 p.m.
*''The [[Alan Colmes]] Show'': 10:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m.

Two other radio programs hosted by Fox News Channel personalities are distributed by other companies. ''The Radio Factor'' hosted by [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]] is syndicated separately by CBS-owned [[Westwood One]] (the show began in 2002); however, satellite rights are held by [[Fox News Talk]]. The talk radio program hosted by FNC's [[Sean Hannity]] is syndicated by [[ABC Radio]] (show started in 2001). Both were ''grandfathered'', as their shows began before Fox News Radio.

Aside from Hannity, the Fox News Channel radio hosts also appear on the [[Fox News Talk]] satellite radio channel, along with the satellite-only program ''Fox Across America'' hosted by [[Spencer Hughes]]. Hannity's program, ''The Sean Hannity Show'', appears on the [[ABC News & Talk]] satellite channel.

==Personalities==
{|
|- valign ="top"
|
*[[Alicia Acuna]]
*[[Jim Angle]]
*[[David Asman]]
*[[Rudi Bakhtiar]]
*[[Julie Banderas]]
*[[Fred Barnes (journalist)|Fred Barnes]]
*[[Bret Baier]]
*[[Lisa Bernhard]]
*[[Steve Brown (journalist)|Steve Brown]]
*[[Patti Ann Browne]]
*[[Greg Burke]]
*[[Eric Burns (journalist)|Eric Burns]]
*[[Brenda Buttner]]
*[[Gretchen Carlson]]
*[[Alisyn Camerota]]
*[[Carl Cameron]]
*[[Neil Cavuto]]
*[[Kiran Chetry]]
*[[Jamie Colby]]
*[[Alan Colmes]]
*[[Todd Connor]]
|
*[[Claudia Cowan]]
*[[Janice Dean]]
*[[Laurie Dhue]]
*[[Steve Doocy]]
*[[Donna Fiducia]]
*[[Trace Gallagher]]
*[[John Gibson (media host)|John Gibson]]
*[[Jeff Goldblatt]]
*[[Wendell Goler]]
*[[Rebecca Gomez]]
*[[Lauren Green]]
*[[Jennifer Griffin]]
*[[Kimberly Guilfoyle]]
*[[Sean Hannity]]
*[[Molly Henneberg]]
*[[Catherine Herridge]]
*[[Bill Hemmer]]
*[[E.D. Hill]]
*[[Page Hopkins]]
*[[Adam Housley]]
*[[Juliet Huddy]]
|
*[[Brit Hume]]
*[[Carol Iovanna]]
*[[Gregg Jarrett]]
*[[Mike Jerrick]]
*[[John Kasich]]
*[[Terry Keenan]]
*[[Amy Kellogg]]
*[[Greg Kelly]]
*[[Megyn Kendall]]
*[[Brian Kilmeade]]
*[[Julie Kirtz]]
*[[Mort Kondracke]]
*[[Rick Leventhal]]
*[[Molly Line]]
*[[Martha MacCallum]]
*[[Bill McCuddy]]
*[[Dagen McDowell]]
*[[Kim McIntyre]]
*[[Carol McKinley]]
*[[Andrew Napolitano]]
*[[Oliver North]]
|
*[[Bill O'Reilly (journalist)|Bill O'Reilly]]
*[[Greg Palkot]]
*[[Uma Pemmaraju]]
*[[Brigitte Quinn]]
*[[Geraldo Rivera]]
*[[Jon Scott]]
*[[Bob Sellers]]
*[[Jonathan Serrie]]
*[[Eric Shawn]]
*[[Marianne Silber]]
*[[Jane Skinner]]
*[[Shepard Smith]]
*[[David Folk Thomas]]
*[[Greta Van Susteren]]
*[[Stuart Varney]]
*[[Linda Vester]]
*[[Anita Vogel]]
*[[Chris Wallace (journalist)|Chris Wallace]]
*[[Brian Wilson (Fox News correspondent)|Brian Wilson]]
*[[Kelly Wright]]
|}

===Regular guests & contributors===
{|
|- valign ="top"
|
*[[Manny Alvarez|Dr. Manny Alvarez]]
*[[Dr. Michael Baden|Michael Baden]]
*[[Bob Beckel]]
*[[Scott Bleier]]
*[[Wesley Clark]]
*[[Eleanor Clift]]
*[[David Corn]]
*[[Ann Coulter]]
*[[Susan Estrich]]
*[[Geraldine Ferraro]]
*[[Noah Frances]]
*[[Neal Gabler]]
*[[Newt Gingrich]]
*[[John Gray]]
*[[Jane Hall]]
*[[Ellis Henican]]
*[[Jonathan Hoenig]]
*[[Ann Hughes]]
*[[Mansoor Ijaz]]
*[[Alireza Jafarzadeh]]
*[[Marvin Kalb]]
|
*[[Gary Kaltbaum]]
*[[Charles Krauthammer]]
*[[William Kristol]]
*[[Mara Liasson]]
*[[Rich Lowry]]
*[[Michelle Malkin]]
*[[Mancow Muller]]
*[[Jonathan Morris (priest)|Jonathan Morris]]
*[[Robert Novak]]
*[[Charles Payne]]
*[[James Pinkerton|Jim Pinkerton]]
*[[Ellen Ratner]]
*[[Isadore Rosenfeld|Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld]]
*[[Michael Reagan]]
*[[Gary B. Smith]]
*[[Tobin Smith]]
*[[Liz Trotta]]
*[[Cal Thomas]]
*[[Lis Wiehl]]
*[[Juan Williams]]
*[[Dr. Georgia Witkin]]
|}

===Former personalities===
*[[Dari Alexander]] (now at [[WNYW]])
*[[Rita Cosby]] (now at [[MSNBC]])
*[[Catherine Crier]] (now at [[Court TV]])
*[[Matt Drudge]]
*[[Jon Du Pre]]
*[[Rick Folbaum]] (now at [[WNYW]])
*[[Kit Hoover]] (now at [[TV Guide Channel]])
*[[Dennis Miller]]
*[[Heather Nauert]] (now at [[ABC News]])
*[[Judith Regan]] former host of weekend late night show, ''Judith Regan Tonight''
*[[Pat Sajak]] ([[game show]] host, had short-lived interview show, ''Pat Sajak Weekend'')
*[[David Shuster]] (now at [[MSNBC]])
*[[Paula Zahn]] (now at [[CNN]])
*[[Tony Snow]] (now [[White House Press Secretary]])

==Ratings==
Fox News currently leads the cable news market, earning higher points ratings than its chief competitors CNN and MSNBC combined by average viewership. Measured by unique viewers, however, CNN achieves 11% higher ratings than Fox News. Many commentators attribute this to Fox's somewhat longer duration "talk" programs interspersed with news updates which cause viewers to tune in for longer periods as compared to CNN's generally shorter news segments. Others claim that Fox News garners more loyal fans than CNN, MSNBC, and others due to being the sole network to appeal to conservatives by openly rejecting the supposed bias of the "mainstream liberal media."

The [[BBC]] reported that Fox News saw its profits double during the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq conflict]], due in part to what the report called [[patriotic]] coverage of the war. By some reports, at the height of the conflict they enjoyed as much as a 300% increase in viewership, averaging 3.3 million viewers daily.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.twcnyc.com/downloads/chlineupMV.pdf | title = "War coverage lifts News Corp" | publisher = [[The British Broadcasting Corporation]] | accessdate = November 29 | accessyear = 2005 }}</ref>

In 2004, the perceived gain in ratings began to become more apparent. Fox News' coverage of the [[2004 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]] in [[Boston]] ranked higher than that of its two closest cable competitors combined. In September, Fox News Channel's ratings for its broadcast of the [[2004 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]] beat those of all three broadcast networks. During President Bush's address, Fox News notched 7.3 million viewers nationally, while NBC, CBS, and ABC scored ratings of 5.9, 5.0, and 5.1, respectively.

In April 2005, however, CNN sent out a press release stating that Fox's viewership of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 had dropped over a period of six months since the peak of the November 2004 elections (to a total drop of over 58%).<ref>http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/fncs_2554_prime_downward_spiral_20939.asp</ref><ref>http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/narrative_cabletv_contentanalysis.asp?cat=2&media=5</ref> Fox still held eight of the ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, with ''The O'Reilly Factor'' and ''Hannity & Colmes'' coming in first and second places, respectively. Since then Fox's ratings have surged.<ref>http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/ranker_april05.pdf</ref>


==Controversies and allegations of bias==
{{sources}}
[[Image:215-2.gif|thumb|Statistic from a 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center shows Fox audience conservative]]
{{NPOV}}
{{Main|Fox News Channel controversies and allegations of bias}}
{{seealso|Media bias|Propaganda model|Conservative bias|Advocacy journalism}}

Since its conception, the network has been among one of the most heavily criticised of mainstream media outlets, alleging claims of an intentional design and delivery of a content with a bias supporting neo-conservative/Republican Party opinion for ratings, profit and political impact; all while representing itself as a "fair and balanced" objective news outlet.{{fact}} [[Outfoxed]], a [[documentary film|documentary]] by [[Robert Greenwald]], is one example of this criticism.

A poll conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the [[University of Maryland]] and Knowledge Networks found Fox viewers were less informed about current events than people who don't watch/read the news at all. <ref>[http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/international_security_bt/102.php?nid=&id=&pnt=102&lb=brusc Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War: Study Finds Widespread Misperceptions on Iraq Highly Related to Support for War] worldpublicopinion.org</ref><ref>[http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqMedia_Oct03/IraqMedia_Oct03_pr.pdf Study Finds Widespread Misperceptions on Iraq] The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) (PDF file)</ref>

[[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] labeled Fox "The Most Biased Name in News," citing numerous instances of slanted reporting, stacking its staff with conservatives, management influencing editorial decisions, and engaging in "tabloid sensationalism."<ref>[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067 The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt] By Seth Ackerman. [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] July-August 2001</ref>

One controversial element of the Fox model is the channel's opinion segments, which are included in the vast majority of its daily cablecast. At the closing of most shows, the host takes approximately one to two minutes to give his or her personal take on the day's events, and while this is not unheard of in the cable news world, critics claim Fox's lineup includes a disproportionate amount of such commentary.{{fact}} Fox News and its on-air commentators explain that they are by intentional design not bound to the journalistic standard of objectivity at any time during these programs as they are opinion-driven programs, except when they introduce a Fox News update or report segment.{{fact}}

Opinion-driven programming includes most of the channel's ratings-heavy prime-time schedule and the Fox and Friends morning program. While this morning program is very clear when it transitions to and returns from objective news segments hosted by Lauren Green, its entertaining trio of hosts make no attempt to be ojective when discussing the days politicized stories, often interjecting commentary on news stories as Lauren Green ends her objective news report. The network, however, markets with claims of neutrality in reporting, while most personalities working for Fox News claim it to be the most objective news channel in the United States.{{fact}}

Fox News has rejected all allegations of bias and adopted the slogans "We Report, You Decide," "[[Fair and Balanced|Fair & Balanced]]," and "Real Journalism."

===Rebuttals of bias allegations===
Tim Groseclose, a professor of [[political science]] at [[UCLA]], published a study comparing political bias from such news outlets as the New York Times, USA Today, the Drudge Report, the Los Angeles Times, and Fox News’ Special Report. Groseclose found that Fox News' ''[[Special Report with Brit Hume]]'' had an [[Americans for Democratic Action]] rating that was closest to the political center, and concluded that ''Special Report'' was the most centrist news program on television. Groseclose used the number of times a host cited a particular [[think tank]] on his or her program and compared it with the number of times a member of the [[U.S. Congress]] cited a think tank, correlating that with the politician's Americans for Democratic Action rating.<ref>http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/groseclose/Media.Bias.pdf</ref> However, this study has drawn mixed reactions. In particular, Geoff Nunberg, a professor at UC Berkeley, criticized the methodology of the study through a blog and says that its conclusions are invalid.<ref>http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001169.html</ref> Yet, Nunberg's own critique is rebutted by Groseclose and Professor Jeff Milyo, saying Nunberg "shows a gross misunderstanding [of] our statistical method and the actual assumptions upon which it relies."<ref>http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001301.html</ref>

==Trademark disputes==
In the late 1990s, as Fox News reached most major cable markets, a handful of observers began to use [[world wide web]] to mock FNC's putative bias, triggering the first publicly aired trademark disputes between Fox News and its critics. In late 2001, [http://www.fauxnewschannel.com Faux News Channel.com] created the "Faux" Fox News logo.<ref>http://www.fauxnewschannel.com/logo.html</ref>

In 2003, [[Penguin Books]] published ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'', by the liberal comedian and writer [[Al Franken]]. The book criticized many conservative individuals and institutions on grounds of inaccuracy; it included Fox News among the media outlets described as biased. Before the book was released, Fox brought a [[lawsuit]], alleging that the book's subtitle violated Fox's [[trademark]] in the promotional phrase "Fair and Balanced." On that basis, Fox moved for a preliminary [[injunction]] to block the publication of the book. The [[United States District Court]] Judge hearing the case denied the motion, characterizing Fox's claim as "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." Fox then withdrew the suit.

In December 2003, the [[Independent Media Institute]] brought a petition before the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] seeking the cancellation of Fox's trademark in the phrase "Fair & Balanced" for being deceptively misdescriptive.<ref>http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?qt=adv&pno=92042790&qs=&propno=&propnameop=&propname=&pop=&pn=&pop2=&pn2=&cop=&cn=</ref> After losing early procedural motions, the IMI withdrew its petition and the USPTO dismissed the case.<ref>http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92042790&pty=CAN&eno=1</ref>

==International transmission==
The channel is now available internationally, though its world programming is the same as its American programming, unlike [[CNN International]], which airs regional programming that is largely independent of its U.S. broadcasts.

===United Kingdom===
Fox News is also carried in the [[United Kingdom]] with global weather forecasts instead of most advertisements, by the [[British Sky Broadcasting]] (BSkyB) satellite television network, in which News Corporation holds a 38 percent stake. It is a sister channel to BSkyB's [[Sky News]], which is more popular in the region. Fox News is usually broadcast as a [[VideoGuard]] [[encrypted]] channel but during major news stories it may be simulcasted on [[Sky News]] [[Sky Active|Active]], which is free to air. A fault in certain [[Pace (Company)|Pace Micro]] [[Sky Digibox]] receivers, notably the DS-430N which was Sky's default issue for some years, has left them able to decrypt the channel with no active subscription card since [[March 1]], [[2006]]; although no reason is known as to why.

===Canada===
On [[December 14]], [[2000]], the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) approved '''Fox News Canada''' on behalf of the [[Global Television Network]], for broadcast in [[Canada]]. Fox News Canada was to be a domestic Canadian version of Fox News.<ref>http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2000/DB2000-565.htm</ref> The channel, or ''specialty television service,'' was never implemented by Fox, and the deadline for commencement of the service expired on [[November 24]], [[2004]]. That same day, a similar licence was granted to [[Rogers Communications]] for "MSNBC Canada", which went to air in September, 2001. During this period, it was stated by supporters of Fox News, including various Fox News hosts such as Bill O'Reilly,{{fact}} that the station was being "banned in Canada," when in fact, the opposite was the case. The CRTC's previous refusal to grant Fox News an outright license had been contested by some Canadians, as well as American fans of the channel, who believed the decision to be politically motivated. However, it is rare for any American cable network to be licensed in Canada, when there is an alternative Canadian station.

On [[November 18]], [[2004]] the CRTC announced that a digital license would be granted to Fox News.<ref>http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pb2004-88.htm</ref> In its proposal, Fox News stated, with reference to Fox News Canada, that "Fox News does not intend to implement this service and therefore will not meet the extended deadline to commence operations."<ref>http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pb2004-45.htm</ref> On [[December 16]], [[2004]], Rogers Communications became the first Canadian cable or satellite provider to broadcast Fox News, with other companies following suit within the next several weeks.

===Australia===
In [[Australia]] Fox News Channel is broadcast on the three major Pay-TV providers, [[Austar]], [[Optus Television]] and [[Foxtel]]. Foxtel is 25% owned by News Corporation. The Australian syndication previously featured some local programming, including a [[John Laws]] current affairs programme in place of "Fox & Friends". Currently, it is a direct feed of the US broadcast.

===Brazil===
Since [[2002]] Fox News has been broadcast to [[Brazil]], but the commercials are replaced with weather forecasts and their own Brazilian ads. It is broadcast by [[Sky Brazil]] (satellite operator, a joint-venture between [[News Corporation]] and [[Globopar]]) and in the digital packages of [[Net Serviços de Comunicação S/A|NET]]. (A cable television operator, a joint-venture between [[Telmex]] and [[Globopar]].)

===New Zealand===
In [[New Zealand]], Fox News is broadcast on the [[Prime Television (New Zealand)|Prime]] terrestrial network's nightime period. Because of the late time zones in the U.S., Fox News only gets to broadcast their late night programming, notably "Fox and Friends." Local advertisements and weather maps replace U.S. advertising. The weather map temperatures are, of course, presented in degrees Celsius.

===Other countries===
Fox News Channel is also carried in more than 40 countries including [[Argentina]], [[Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Belize]], [[Bermuda]], [[Cambodia]], [[Cayman]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]], [[Costa Rica]], [[Denmark]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Finland]], [[Grenada]], [[Germany]], [[Guam]], [[Guatemala]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Iceland]], [[Indonesia]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Israel]], [[Italy]], [[Jamaica]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyz Republic]], [[Macau]], [[Malaysia]], [[Maldives]], [[Mexico]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Nigeria]], [[Norway]], [[Pakistan]], [[Palau]], [[Panama]], [[Peru]], [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Philippines]], [[Russia]], [[Singapore]], [[Saint Kitts]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Spain]], [[Sweden]], [[Thailand]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Tonga]] and [[Venezuela]]. (Service to [[Japan]] stopped in the summer of [[2003]]. It can be seen at Americable (distributor for American bases),<ref>http://americablejapan.com</ref> Mediatti (Kadena Air Base),<ref>http://www.mccokinawa.com/cable</ref> and Pan Global TV Japan.)<ref>http://www.panglobaltvjapan.com/</ref>

==References==
<div class="references-small">
<references />
*{{cite book | first = Scott | last = Collins | title = Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN | id = ISBN 1591840295 }}
</div>


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.foxnews.com Official Site]
{{memoryalpha article|The Alternative Factor}}
*[http://www.newscorp.com/ News Corporation] - Fox's parent company.
<BR/>

{{TOS Navigation_(Season_1)|[[Arena (Star Trek)|Arena]]|[[Tomorrow is Yesterday]]|[[Errand of Mercy]]|[[The City on the Edge of Forever]]}}
===Unofficial pages===
*[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/ailesroger/ailesroger.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications: Ailes, Roger]
*[http://www.outfoxed.org/ ''Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism''] - The critical documentary's website.
*[http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/tv/vpro/tegenlicht/bb.20041024.rm?title=Bekijk%20hier%20de%20uitzending%20OUTFOXED Outfoxed] streaming [[Dutch language|Dutch]] VPRO [http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/afleveringen/19365659/ documentary] by [http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/service_info/19361409/ Tegenlicht]. Introduction, several seconds, in Dutch with story itself in English and Dutch [[subtitles]]; 50 min. Broadband internet needed.
*[http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/sticksandstones.html The Fifth Estate: Sticks and Stones], [[CBC]] - Bob McKeown investigates Fox News for The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 45 min.
*[http://www.fauxnewschannel.com/ "The Most Powerful Smell in News"] - Origin of the "Faux News" logo.

{{News Corporation}}

[[Category:1996 establishments]]
[[Category:Foreign television channels broadcasting in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Fox News Channel|Fox News Channel]]
[[Category:24-hour television news channels]]
[[Category:XM Satellite Radio channels]]
[[Category:Sirius Satellite Radio channels]]
[[Category:Digital only radio stations]]


[[ang:Fox News]]
[[Category:Star Trek: The Original Series episodes|Alternative Factor, The]]
[[de:Fox News Channel]]
[[eo:Fox News]]
[[fr:Fox News Channel]]
[[nl:Fox News Channel]]
[[ja:FOXニュース]]
[[pt:Fox News]]
[[sv:Fox News Channel]]

Revision as of 23:38, 10 May 2006

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

Fox News Channel
TypeCable television network
Country
United States
AvailabilityUnited States and others; see "International transmission" section below for other availability
OwnerNews Corporation
Key people
Roger Ailes, Chairman & CEO
Launch date
October 7, 1996
Official website
foxnews.com

The Fox News Channel is a leading American cable and satellite news channel. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, and is a subsidiary of News Corporation, under major shareholder and chief executive officer Rupert Murdoch. As of January 2005, it is available to 85 million households in the U.S. and to further viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its New York City studios. In a 2006 poll conducted by Reuters and the BBC, 11 percent of Americans named Fox News as the most trusted news source, which is more than any other source in the U.S. including ABC (4 percent), NBC (4 percent) and CBS (3 percent).[1]

The network was launched on October 7, 1996 to 17 million cable subscribers. The network slowly rose to prominence in the late 1990s as it started chipping away at the ratings of competitor CNN. As of 2005, Fox News's long-term viewer ratings exceed those of competing news channels (Nielsen's Points ratings) while CNN outnumbers Fox News in terms of numbers of individual viewers (Nielsen's Cume ratings).[citation needed]

History

File:IraqWarCoverage-FNC.jpg
Fox News Channel Iraq war coverage

Rupert Murdoch established Fox News to counter a news media that he believed was predominantly liberal.[2] Murdoch had significant experience with cable news after starting the Sky News rolling news service in the United Kingdom.

In February 1996, after Roger Ailes (who would later become the president of Fox News) was relieved of duties at America's Talking, in preparation for conversion of the network to MSNBC, Murdoch called Ailes to start the network. A group of Ailes loyalists who followed him throughout the NBC empire joined him at Fox. From there, the CNBC expatriates, who joined a team already in place at Fox News, created the programming concept and proceeded to select space in New York. Ailes, often agitated and verbally abusive, worked individuals through five months of grueling 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before launch, on October 7, 1996.

At launch, only ten million households were able to watch Fox News, with none in the major media markets of New York City and Los Angeles. According to published reports, many media reviewers had to watch the first day's programming at Fox News studios because it was not readily available. The rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single topic shows like Fox on Crime or Fox on Politics surrounded by news headlines. Interviews had various interesting facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time was called The Schneider Report, with Mike Schneider giving a fast paced delivery of the news. During the evening, Fox had opinion shows: The O'Reilly Factor (then called The O'Reilly Report), The Crier Report hosted by Catherine Crier, and Hannity & Colmes. From the beginning, FNC has also had a number of different slogans it included in daily broadcasts including: "America's Newsroom," "The Most Powerful Name in News," "Fox Means Business," "Fair and Balanced," and "We Report, You Decide."

File:Foxnewsalert.png
Fox News Alert title card

From the beginning, Fox News has had a heavy emphasis on the visual presentation of news. Graphics were designed to be colorful and attention grabbing, and to allow people to get the main points of what was being said even if they couldn't hear the host, through the use of on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker, and "bullet points" when a host was giving commentary. Some of these commentary sections were criticised by Ofcom, the media regulator in the United Kingdom, where the Fox News Channel is broadcast on Sky Digital Satellite, as it was deemed that there was not enough of a distinction between news and opinion present on-screen.

The network at times differentiates commentary from news with a constant graphic reading "COMMENTARY" during features such as Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo." This gives the impression that the rest of the program is objective journalism. Fox News is very clear that programs like The O'Reilly Factor and Fox & Friends are not news programs, and are not held to the journalistic standard of objectivity at any time during the broadcast of those programs.[citation needed]

Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert," which interrupted regular programming when a breaking news story occurred. Each News Alert was designed to be attention-catching with a swooshing graphic filling the screen and a piercing chime instead of the regular news music. At the beginning of FNC, the Fox News Alert was used fairly rarely, giving the chime more cachet, but currently it is used regularly to announce scheduled events or repeat existing news instead of only breaking news stories, with Fox News Alerts sometimes several times each hour instead of just a few times a day.

Fox News was also the first network to put up the American flag after the September 11, 2001 attacks, a feature in the upper left-hand corner that has persisted to this day.

To accelerate its adoption by cable companies, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the network. This contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators pay stations carriage fees for the programming of channels. When Time Warner bought out Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting, a federal antitrust consent decree required Time Warner to carry a second all-news channel in addition to Time Warner's own CNN. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the secondary news network, instead of Fox News. Fox News claimed that this violated an agreement to carry Fox News, and Ailes used his connections to persuade Mayor Giuliani to carry Fox News and Bloomberg Television on two underutilized city-owned cable channels, which he did.

New York City also threatened to revoke Time Warner's cable franchise for not carrying Fox News.

A lawsuit was filed by Time Warner against the City of New York claiming undue interference and for inappropriate use of the city's educational channels for commercial programming. News Corporation countered with an antitrust lawsuit against Time Warner for unfairly protecting CNN. This led to an acrominous battle between Murdoch and Turner, with Turner publicly comparing Murdoch to Adolf Hitler while Murdoch's New York Post ran an editorial questioning Turner's sanity. Giuliani's motives were also questioned, as his then-wife was a producer at Murdoch-owned WNYW-TV. In the end, Time Warner and News Corporation signed a settlement agreement to permit Fox News to be carried on New York City cable system beginning in October 1997, and to all of Time Warner's cable systems by 2001, though Time Warner still does not carry Fox News in all areas.[3] In return, Time Warner was given some rights to News Corporation's satellites in Asia and Europe to distribute Time Warner programming, would receive the normal compensation per subscriber paid to cable operators, and News Corporation would not object to Atlanta Braves baseball games being carried on TBS (which normally would not happen because of the Fox television network's contract with Major League Baseball).

Management

The CEO, Chairman, and President of Fox News is Roger Ailes. After he began his career in broadcasting, Ailes started Ailes Communications, Inc and was successful as a political strategist for Presidents Nixon and Reagan and with producing campaign TV commercials (the Willie Horton ad is a notable example) for Republican political candidates. His work for former President Richard M. Nixon was chronicled in the book The Selling of the President: 1968 by Joe McGinniss. Ailes withdrew from consulting and returned to broadcasting in 1992, including Rush Limbaugh's television program during 1992-1996. He ran the CNBC channel and America's Talking, the forerunner of MSNBC for NBC. More recently, Ailes was named Broadcaster of the Year by Broadcast and Cable Magazine in 2003.

Fox News Channel programming

Fox News presents a wide variety of programming, with up to 15 hours of live programming per day. Most of the programs are broadcast from Fox News headquarters in New York City with its street-side studios on Sixth Avenue (1211 Avenue of the Americas) in the west extension of Rockefeller Center. Audio simulcasts of the channel are aired on XM Satellite Radio channel 121 and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 131.

The following is the usual weekday lineup (as of September 2005, all times Eastern):

The following is the usual Saturday lineup (as of February 2006, all times Eastern):

The Sunday programming lineup (all times Eastern)) alters slightly from Saturday, including a two-hour block of Fox News Live at 10:00 a.m., another hour of Fox News Live at 4:00 p.m., The Big Story Weekend begins at 5:00 p.m., Fox News Sunday is broadcast on FNC at 6:00 p.m., and War Stories with Oliver North runs in place of Heartland at 8:00 p.m.

Fox Network programming

Fox News also produced several newsmagazine shows for its Fox Network affiliates including Fox Files and The Pulse, although both were cancelled after short runs due to poor ratings.

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace currently airs on many Fox affiliates and is similar in format to other Sunday morning political discussion programs. The Fox Network does air Fox News's live coverage of events such as the State of the Union Address. However, the live event coverage on the Fox network is different than Fox News Channel's live event coverage. Fox News also produces national news segments to air on the local Fox affiliate's news programs.

There are rumors that Fox News will start an evening newscast and/or a morning news programs for the Fox Network. It is unknown when these possible shows will materialize. However, Fox News and the Fox broadcast network is thought by news insiders to be using its new syndicated newsmagazine Geraldo at Large (which airs in prime slots on all of Fox's owned and operated statons [O&Os]) as a test run of rolling out a national newscast. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is now also chairman of the Fox Television Stations division, and has been pushing for the network's O&Os to have a more uniform image and presentation in their newscasts.

Fox News is confirmed to produce a program called On Scene (focusing on crime-related stories) on Fox's soon to be launched sister network, My Network TV, also under Roger Ailes's control.

Fox News website

File:Ads foxnews com.gif

Fox News also boasts a website with a number of political columnists and webblogs. Fox News entertainment correspondent Mike Straka and Italian-American priest Jonathan Morris maintain their own weekly blogs. Columnists include a swath of political conservatives and one conservative Democrat.

Conservatives/Republicans:

Democrat:

Fox News Radio

File:Ads foxnews radio.gif

In 2003, Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations. On June 1, 2005, Fox News Radio expanded to a full service news operation, employing sixty people and providing five minute newscasts at the top of the hour and one minute newscast at the bottom of the hour. Fox News Radio is hosted by both FNC television personalities and others working solely for radio. At launch, sixty stations participated in the network, with more joining under a deal struck between Fox and Clear Channel Communications converting many Clear Channel stations to carry Fox News Radio newscasts and allow Fox News Radio to use news content produced by Clear Channel and distribute it nationally.

Fox also produces Fox News Talk for both satellite radio services, with talk radio programs syndicated by and featuring Fox News personalities.

Fox News Channel personalities on radio

Fox News Radio also syndicates radio programs hosted by its TV personalities. (All times Eastern.)

Two other radio programs hosted by Fox News Channel personalities are distributed by other companies. The Radio Factor hosted by Bill O'Reilly is syndicated separately by CBS-owned Westwood One (the show began in 2002); however, satellite rights are held by Fox News Talk. The talk radio program hosted by FNC's Sean Hannity is syndicated by ABC Radio (show started in 2001). Both were grandfathered, as their shows began before Fox News Radio.

Aside from Hannity, the Fox News Channel radio hosts also appear on the Fox News Talk satellite radio channel, along with the satellite-only program Fox Across America hosted by Spencer Hughes. Hannity's program, The Sean Hannity Show, appears on the ABC News & Talk satellite channel.

Personalities

Regular guests & contributors

Former personalities

Ratings

Fox News currently leads the cable news market, earning higher points ratings than its chief competitors CNN and MSNBC combined by average viewership. Measured by unique viewers, however, CNN achieves 11% higher ratings than Fox News. Many commentators attribute this to Fox's somewhat longer duration "talk" programs interspersed with news updates which cause viewers to tune in for longer periods as compared to CNN's generally shorter news segments. Others claim that Fox News garners more loyal fans than CNN, MSNBC, and others due to being the sole network to appeal to conservatives by openly rejecting the supposed bias of the "mainstream liberal media."

The BBC reported that Fox News saw its profits double during the Iraq conflict, due in part to what the report called patriotic coverage of the war. By some reports, at the height of the conflict they enjoyed as much as a 300% increase in viewership, averaging 3.3 million viewers daily.[4]

In 2004, the perceived gain in ratings began to become more apparent. Fox News' coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Boston ranked higher than that of its two closest cable competitors combined. In September, Fox News Channel's ratings for its broadcast of the Republican National Convention beat those of all three broadcast networks. During President Bush's address, Fox News notched 7.3 million viewers nationally, while NBC, CBS, and ABC scored ratings of 5.9, 5.0, and 5.1, respectively.

In April 2005, however, CNN sent out a press release stating that Fox's viewership of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 had dropped over a period of six months since the peak of the November 2004 elections (to a total drop of over 58%).[5][6] Fox still held eight of the ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, with The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes coming in first and second places, respectively. Since then Fox's ratings have surged.[7]


Controversies and allegations of bias

File:215-2.gif
Statistic from a 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center shows Fox audience conservative
Main article: Fox News Channel controversies and allegations of bias
See also: Media bias, Propaganda model, Conservative bias, and Advocacy journalism

Since its conception, the network has been among one of the most heavily criticised of mainstream media outlets, alleging claims of an intentional design and delivery of a content with a bias supporting neo-conservative/Republican Party opinion for ratings, profit and political impact; all while representing itself as a "fair and balanced" objective news outlet.[citation needed] Outfoxed, a documentary by Robert Greenwald, is one example of this criticism.

A poll conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks found Fox viewers were less informed about current events than people who don't watch/read the news at all. [8][9]

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting labeled Fox "The Most Biased Name in News," citing numerous instances of slanted reporting, stacking its staff with conservatives, management influencing editorial decisions, and engaging in "tabloid sensationalism."[10]

One controversial element of the Fox model is the channel's opinion segments, which are included in the vast majority of its daily cablecast. At the closing of most shows, the host takes approximately one to two minutes to give his or her personal take on the day's events, and while this is not unheard of in the cable news world, critics claim Fox's lineup includes a disproportionate amount of such commentary.[citation needed] Fox News and its on-air commentators explain that they are by intentional design not bound to the journalistic standard of objectivity at any time during these programs as they are opinion-driven programs, except when they introduce a Fox News update or report segment.[citation needed]

Opinion-driven programming includes most of the channel's ratings-heavy prime-time schedule and the Fox and Friends morning program. While this morning program is very clear when it transitions to and returns from objective news segments hosted by Lauren Green, its entertaining trio of hosts make no attempt to be ojective when discussing the days politicized stories, often interjecting commentary on news stories as Lauren Green ends her objective news report. The network, however, markets with claims of neutrality in reporting, while most personalities working for Fox News claim it to be the most objective news channel in the United States.[citation needed]

Fox News has rejected all allegations of bias and adopted the slogans "We Report, You Decide," "Fair & Balanced," and "Real Journalism."

Rebuttals of bias allegations

Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science at UCLA, published a study comparing political bias from such news outlets as the New York Times, USA Today, the Drudge Report, the Los Angeles Times, and Fox News’ Special Report. Groseclose found that Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume had an Americans for Democratic Action rating that was closest to the political center, and concluded that Special Report was the most centrist news program on television. Groseclose used the number of times a host cited a particular think tank on his or her program and compared it with the number of times a member of the U.S. Congress cited a think tank, correlating that with the politician's Americans for Democratic Action rating.[11] However, this study has drawn mixed reactions. In particular, Geoff Nunberg, a professor at UC Berkeley, criticized the methodology of the study through a blog and says that its conclusions are invalid.[12] Yet, Nunberg's own critique is rebutted by Groseclose and Professor Jeff Milyo, saying Nunberg "shows a gross misunderstanding [of] our statistical method and the actual assumptions upon which it relies."[13]

Trademark disputes

In the late 1990s, as Fox News reached most major cable markets, a handful of observers began to use world wide web to mock FNC's putative bias, triggering the first publicly aired trademark disputes between Fox News and its critics. In late 2001, Faux News Channel.com created the "Faux" Fox News logo.[14]

In 2003, Penguin Books published Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, by the liberal comedian and writer Al Franken. The book criticized many conservative individuals and institutions on grounds of inaccuracy; it included Fox News among the media outlets described as biased. Before the book was released, Fox brought a lawsuit, alleging that the book's subtitle violated Fox's trademark in the promotional phrase "Fair and Balanced." On that basis, Fox moved for a preliminary injunction to block the publication of the book. The United States District Court Judge hearing the case denied the motion, characterizing Fox's claim as "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." Fox then withdrew the suit.

In December 2003, the Independent Media Institute brought a petition before the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking the cancellation of Fox's trademark in the phrase "Fair & Balanced" for being deceptively misdescriptive.[15] After losing early procedural motions, the IMI withdrew its petition and the USPTO dismissed the case.[16]

International transmission

The channel is now available internationally, though its world programming is the same as its American programming, unlike CNN International, which airs regional programming that is largely independent of its U.S. broadcasts.

United Kingdom

Fox News is also carried in the United Kingdom with global weather forecasts instead of most advertisements, by the British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) satellite television network, in which News Corporation holds a 38 percent stake. It is a sister channel to BSkyB's Sky News, which is more popular in the region. Fox News is usually broadcast as a VideoGuard encrypted channel but during major news stories it may be simulcasted on Sky News Active, which is free to air. A fault in certain Pace Micro Sky Digibox receivers, notably the DS-430N which was Sky's default issue for some years, has left them able to decrypt the channel with no active subscription card since March 1, 2006; although no reason is known as to why.

Canada

On December 14, 2000, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved Fox News Canada on behalf of the Global Television Network, for broadcast in Canada. Fox News Canada was to be a domestic Canadian version of Fox News.[17] The channel, or specialty television service, was never implemented by Fox, and the deadline for commencement of the service expired on November 24, 2004. That same day, a similar licence was granted to Rogers Communications for "MSNBC Canada", which went to air in September, 2001. During this period, it was stated by supporters of Fox News, including various Fox News hosts such as Bill O'Reilly,[citation needed] that the station was being "banned in Canada," when in fact, the opposite was the case. The CRTC's previous refusal to grant Fox News an outright license had been contested by some Canadians, as well as American fans of the channel, who believed the decision to be politically motivated. However, it is rare for any American cable network to be licensed in Canada, when there is an alternative Canadian station.

On November 18, 2004 the CRTC announced that a digital license would be granted to Fox News.[18] In its proposal, Fox News stated, with reference to Fox News Canada, that "Fox News does not intend to implement this service and therefore will not meet the extended deadline to commence operations."[19] On December 16, 2004, Rogers Communications became the first Canadian cable or satellite provider to broadcast Fox News, with other companies following suit within the next several weeks.

Australia

In Australia Fox News Channel is broadcast on the three major Pay-TV providers, Austar, Optus Television and Foxtel. Foxtel is 25% owned by News Corporation. The Australian syndication previously featured some local programming, including a John Laws current affairs programme in place of "Fox & Friends". Currently, it is a direct feed of the US broadcast.

Brazil

Since 2002 Fox News has been broadcast to Brazil, but the commercials are replaced with weather forecasts and their own Brazilian ads. It is broadcast by Sky Brazil (satellite operator, a joint-venture between News Corporation and Globopar) and in the digital packages of NET. (A cable television operator, a joint-venture between Telmex and Globopar.)

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Fox News is broadcast on the Prime terrestrial network's nightime period. Because of the late time zones in the U.S., Fox News only gets to broadcast their late night programming, notably "Fox and Friends." Local advertisements and weather maps replace U.S. advertising. The weather map temperatures are, of course, presented in degrees Celsius.

Other countries

Fox News Channel is also carried in more than 40 countries including Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cambodia, Cayman, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Grenada, Germany, Guam, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga and Venezuela. (Service to Japan stopped in the summer of 2003. It can be seen at Americable (distributor for American bases),[20] Mediatti (Kadena Air Base),[21] and Pan Global TV Japan.)[22]

References

  1. ^ http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/6/122755.shtml?s=ic
  2. ^ ""Broadcast News"". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ ""Time-Warner Cable channel list in Mt. Vernon, NY"" (PDF). Time Warner. Retrieved March. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ ""War coverage lifts News Corp"" (PDF). The British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/fncs_2554_prime_downward_spiral_20939.asp
  6. ^ http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/narrative_cabletv_contentanalysis.asp?cat=2&media=5
  7. ^ http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/ranker_april05.pdf
  8. ^ Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War: Study Finds Widespread Misperceptions on Iraq Highly Related to Support for War worldpublicopinion.org
  9. ^ Study Finds Widespread Misperceptions on Iraq The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) (PDF file)
  10. ^ The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt By Seth Ackerman. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting July-August 2001
  11. ^ http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/groseclose/Media.Bias.pdf
  12. ^ http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001169.html
  13. ^ http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001301.html
  14. ^ http://www.fauxnewschannel.com/logo.html
  15. ^ http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?qt=adv&pno=92042790&qs=&propno=&propnameop=&propname=&pop=&pn=&pop2=&pn2=&cop=&cn=
  16. ^ http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92042790&pty=CAN&eno=1
  17. ^ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2000/DB2000-565.htm
  18. ^ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pb2004-88.htm
  19. ^ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pb2004-45.htm
  20. ^ http://americablejapan.com
  21. ^ http://www.mccokinawa.com/cable
  22. ^ http://www.panglobaltvjapan.com/
  • Collins, Scott. Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN. ISBN 1591840295.

Unofficial pages

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Alternative_Factor&oldid=52574405"