BIAS ALERT: Fox Upset CNN Doesn’t Follow the Right Narrative.
With the irony of livestock eating the farmer, or in their case the hens eating the fox, Fox News provides yet more evidence nuance just ain’t their style.
Lately Fox has started pointing out the bias of other news sources as their implementation of DARVO, the right’s manure spreader of choice, probably because the notoriety of their BIAS has dominated social media.
With a headline of “BIAS ALERT: CNN Puts Its Spin on Mitt’s Good News” blaring its tune out on iGoogle, Fox links to its story “CNN story shows economists favor Romney — but headline stresses they do so ‘reluctantly’”
where Fox tearfully tells the story of how CNN is treating poor Romney by not spinning a survey they did with economists.
A recent CNNMoney story reported that the Republican presidential nominee, despite trailing in a number of swing state polls, is the overwhelming choice among economists surveyed. They picked him, according to CNNMoney, by a 3-to-1 margin. However, CNNMoney made sure to stress in the headline that they did so “reluctantly.”
The article was part of a CNNMoney survey in which nine of 17 economists picked the Republican presidential nominee when asked whose election would help the economy grow more.
Here’s the first paragraph of the CNN article.
“Economists think Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would be better for the economy than President Obama. But they’re not very enthusiastic about either of them. “
[bolding mine]
And here, my friends, is the ‘tell’.
And many of those picking Romney were more critical of, as opposed to excited about, the Republican challenger’s plans.
“Romney’s policies would likely be less bad for the economy than Obama’s,” said Bill Watkins, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran University.
You’ll note that, although they pick Romney over Obama, Romney is a reluctant choice, chosen as it were as the lesser problem of the two, in their minds, problematic paths. Pointing out that the economists were not as a rule happy with either candidate, but slightly less unhappy with Romney, is not so much spin as it is bringing home the intricacies of difficult choices when it comes to complex matters like the economy.
“Several of the economists who thought Romney would be better for the economy pointed out what they thought were flaws in Obama’s record. These economists felt there is too much regulatory uncertainty hanging over businesses and that gridlock between the White House and Republicans in Congress also is a drag on hiring and growth.
“Romney might be more likely to get Congress to do something, whereas Obama has shown he can’t,” said David Wyss, a fellow at Brown University”
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What I find interesting, and what Fox ignores, is the reason some of them give for the difficulties Obama has had and the reason they chose Romney - Republican stalling. Of course a Republican candidate would have an easier time of getting bills past a Republican house/senate.
In those cases Romney was chosen proximately because Obama can’t move the Republican controlled House, but ultimately because of Republican intransigence.
What Fox News is really pissed at is that CNN didn’t follow Fox’s example of the right spin, which is faster, harder and more encompassing than any other news source.
Fox News is just realizing the hens can be dangerous.