These Reporters Watched 18 Straight Hours of Fox News

By Chris Ariens 

New York Times reporters John Koblin and Nick Corasaniti’s digest of cable news watching on Thursday doesn’t reveal anything that readers of this site don’t already know: that the Fox News selection of stories on any given day will run counter to what you’ll find on other news channels and shows.

Different viewers = different coverage.

Still, Koblin and Corasniti watched 18 hours of Fox News–from 6 a.m. until midnight Thursday–“to see how its coverage varied from that of its rivals.” Among other things, they found “an implicit defense” of Pres. Trump was “a consistent theme.”

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The 2,700-word piece, complete with fact checks, and specific hour comparison break-outs, shows how Fox’s coverage of stories is often layered with the coverage of the coverage: how mainstream media isn’t reporting certain stories, which has been a hallmark of Fox’s renegade posture for all of its 20 years. On Thursday, that included a rape case in Maryland that got all-day coverage on Fox News, but little reporting elsewhere, nationally:

FNCMaryland

Koblin and Corasaniti also reveal how the same story can be covered differently within Fox News:

HunterFNCThe ability of different Fox News programs to lurch between news and opinion was demonstrated clearly when it came to representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California

On Special Report, Mr. Baier said that Mr. Hunter was under investigation by the Justice Department for misspending campaign funds. Less than two hours later, Mr. Hunter along with Representative Chris Collins, Republican of New York appeared live on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss the health care bill. Mr. Hunter argued that the bill would “save America.”

Eric Bolling, who was filling in for the host, Bill O’Reilly, did not raise the investigation with the congressman.

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