Fox News host Bill O’Reilly kicked off his January 31 show talking about one of his favorite subjects: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
Specifically he wanted to promote his Super Bowl interview with Barack Obama, who was talking to Fox because Fox is a beloved American media outlet:
Although the President sometimes criticizes Fox News, he knows the power of it. The Public Policy Polling group recently surveyed registered voters about who they trust in TV news. Fox News won by a landslide: 35 percent of the public trust FNC. Second, PBS 14 percent; CNN clocked in at 10 percent; just 6 percent of Americans trust MSNBC. So, like us or not, we are a force in the USA, despite the dishonest pounding we take from crazed left-wing critics.
Of course, the other reason Obama did an interview on Fox during the Super Bowl pregame show was because Fox was airing the Super Bowl, and hence the pregame show.
But about that poll: O’Reilly is misrepresenting the question, as the figures he cites are about which one outlet respondents trusted most—not which ones they trusted, which the pollsters asked separately. It’s simply false to say that “just 6 percent of Americans trust MSNBC” when actually 34 percent of respondents said that they do.
When the poll asked whether or not respondents trusted each of eight outlets—ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and Comedy Central—PBS scored highest, with 57 percent saying it was trustworthy and 24 percent saying it wasn’t. Fox, by comparison, got a 44/42 percent split on that question.
But it is true that when respondents were asked to name which of the eight was their single most trusted source, Fox News was named most often—by a little more than a third of the sample. So it won that one. But look at the headline on that PPP poll: “Fox News Once Again Most and Least Trusted Name in News.”
That’s right: “Fox News also leads the ‘least trusted’ list in our annual poll. 33 percent give it that designation.”
When fellow Fox host Howard Kurtz pointed this out after O’Reilly’s commentary, saying that he thought this “reflects the polarized environment” of the country, O’Reilly wasn’t having any of that:
I don’t think the least trusted has anything to do with anything. If you look at the presidential race, all right, it’s about plurality of victory.
Of course, the question of trust in media outlets is unlike presidential elections, in that the public is not selecting the one media outlet that the entire nation will trust. If it were, under presidential election rules, the outlet would have to get a majority—not a plurality—in the electoral college. (Looking at the popular vote, no president has won with as little as 35 percent of the popular vote since John Quincy Adams in 1824.)
O’Reilly went on (to Kurtz’s strenuous agreement):
O’REILLY: And you saw the gap between Fox News, 35 percent.
KURTZ: Oh, a huge gap.
O’REILLY: And the next was PBS.
KURTZ: Right—way down.
O’REILLY: OK, way down. So that means that—and it’s not all conservative people. This was a random poll. Random poll, all right? They didn’t say, we’re going to dial up the conservatives.
KURTZ: Right, right, right.
O’REILLY: This was who they trust. So that is the fact, and these pinheads can spin it any way they want, that’s a fact.
Actually, the findings are pretty strongly partisan. Looking at who said they trusted which outlets, the poll found that Republicans strongly prefer Fox News and distrust most other media outlets; meanwhile, Democrats trust other outlets much more than they trust Fox. As the pollsters put it, Fox “leads the way because of its continuing near total support among Republicans as the place to go for news—69 percent of Republicans say it’s their most trusted source, with nothing else polling above 7 percent. ”
Fox News is certainly the place for Republicans to go to be told what they want to hear—including that their favorite news outlet is the one that Americans in general find most trustworthy.
Anyone with any knowledge of statistics can see how absurd O’Reilly’s claim is. The only question is whether O’Reilly himself believes it or whether he’s just intentionally being misleading.
Not surprising, but no less scary, that Fox could manage a rough split on trustworthiness
But that PBS could do relatively well on that question, and that I assume the other outlets did no worse than Fox, is a cause for alarm in its own right, don’t you think?
“”Fox News is certainly the place for Republicans to go to be told what they want to hear–including that their favorite news outlet is the one that Americans in general find most trustworthy.””
“Mirror Mirror on the wall, whose the most trusted one of all.”
Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh talking themselves in the mirror at night. You have to practice to say that with a straight face; if your anything significant on the Fux Snooze Nitwork.
I have done extensive fact checking and also method checking on all news outlets and found that the Mainstream Media(Non Fox) will put out a headline to grab attention about what some Conservative said and then they wont show you the Conservative saying what they said he or she said. But they will show you some Liberal host telling you what they said(getting it wrong of course) and then telling you what you should think about it.
Where as Fox aired the actual video of the Conservative saying what the headline says the Conservative said and lets you decide for yourself!!
I tried to do that in reverse.
Again Fox news let the Liberal speak with some commentary aftwards
And all the other major news outlets let the Liberal speak and then told you what to think about it afterwards just the same with some damage control about what Conservatives may say about what the Liberal said.
The fact is clear, Fox is CONSERVATIVE BIASED.
THE rest of the Media outlets are FAR BEYOND LEFT BIASED!! THEY ARE LEFTIST CONTROLLED!
You can complain all you want about this and try to post how wrong I am.
But until you do this type of sampling and checking for yourself and stop thinking you are getting the truth from your leftist source then you don’t know you are being fooled.
After all, Obama admitted what he thinks works when O’Reilly interviewed him. Yes he did it by mistake!
He said that he thinks people think the Scandal is a Scandal because Fox news tells them it is! Well, isn’t it funny that when it happened Obama said he would make sure something was done about it. NOW all of a sudden it is only a scandal because FOX tells people it is!
SO,
Obama admits that News sways the thoughts of the individual!
Which basically he has proved me right for the past 5 years that he has been using the media to sway Leftist ideology to his views!
//Padremellyrm””Fox News is certainly the place for Republicans to go to be told what they want to hear–including that their favorite news outlet is the one that Americans in general find most trustworthy.””//
Actually, Obama made it clear that he thinks Americans are fooled into believing whatever the news tells them to believe.
Well, NOT IN MY CASE!
But in saying that Obama did just admit that he knows people are swayed by what their favorite news source says!
Since I get my news from Liberal sources I would say I am far from Exempt from this.
But YOU ARENT!! Why? Obama KNOWS YOU ARENT!! If you listen to Liberal sources because you hate Fox news and think they lie then you are the fooled!
I know Liberal sources are lying and I listen to them so THAT I know what they are lying about! I never listen to Fox news so that people like you can never tell me I got what I say from Fox news!!
//”Mirror Mirror on the wall, whose the most trusted one of all.”
Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh talking themselves in the mirror at night. You have to practice to say that with a straight face; if your anything significant on the Fux Snooze Nitwork.//
Sadly you don’t even realize how fooled you truly are. Obama knows! He even said it!
@Mike: About that extensive fact and method checking… As they say on the internet: pic’s or it didn’t happen.
Fox News Trustworthy ??? Ha Ha Ha. ORiley Trustworthy? Ha Ha again
What a joke fox news is and all the simpletons on that channel.
Poor Losers and they are going to be worse losers after next elections. Most people are just NOT THAT DUMB
I trust Faux Noise – If they say it I can be absolutely certain the opposite is true. The other outlets take a bit more critical thinking.
Didn’t this crowd on international propagandists almost get kicked out of England not too long ago?
I absolutely knew that this poll would garner this reaction by FAIR.I could of written your response.And in the end you are half right.polls and figures can be viewed many ways.But one thing cant.One thing cant be faked.On thing is not a momentary brain fart to a question.Want to know what that is?Ratings.ratings my little libs.And Fox is off the celestial chart.While many of these others languish in the pits of airport terminal hell.So the people HAVE spoken.They speak every moment of every day.With their changers.That overwhelmingly go to FOX.Or do you believe people go there because they DONT trust them as a news service?
michael e, Faux Noise only leads among cable news stations. It’s blown away when the broadcast network news is on, and many of us get our news from non-televised sources entirely. You’ve just proven how dumb and delusional Faux Noise dittoheads are.
@michael e: Yeah, maybe you “could of” written the responses. But would it have been at all readable?
Um, I’m curious, which outlet(s) make up the OTHER 35% of that tally???
He pin heads…I dont get to watch FOX.But if you are going to attempt to prove they are small fish in this big pond,and that really no one listens(except morons)…..You are going to have to save your left wing myopic bull for the uneducated voter type.Fox is huge and still exploding.I only have to check the ratings.Sorry if that ties your knickers in a bind.Speaking of FOX i did see it this morn.They had david Webb (well known black conservative talk show host)He marched with the NAACP this week.Asked hundreds if the tea party was racist.yes they all answered.Give an example says he…….No one had anything to say.You really are a bunch of odd ducks.
michael e: “He [sic] pin heads [sic, one word]…I dont [sic]…FOX.But [sic] if you are going to attempt to prove they are small fish in this big pond,and [sic, and they are very small in the total news pond, just big in the small cable news pond] that really no one listens(except [sic] morons)…type.Fox [sic] is huge and still exploding.I [sic, and no it’s not]…ratings.Sorry [sic]…bind.Speaking [sic]…i [sic]…morn.They [sic] had david [sic] Webb (well known black conservative talk show host)He [sic, and never heard of him]…week.Asked [sic] hundreds if the tea party [sic] was racist.yes [sic] they all answered.Give [sic] an example says he…….No one had anything to say.You [sic, and very unlikely, one only has to look at it’s nearly exclusively white membership]…”
That’s what I thought, moron.
michael e- Ratings do not equal credibility. And in Fox’s case, they represent (sadly) how many uneducated, narrow-minded, bigoted, and misogynistic “Mercans” there are in this country.
TJ and vrede….So in essence ,you dont like them -so they suck.Will the real liberal please stand up.Only kidding, we all know you by your acceptance of the viewpoints of others.And thanks for telling us FOX is going under.We actually did not know that.Like you Im proud to be one of the six listeners to Democracy now
Hey vrede Your sucjh a moron.You just said the tea party is racist because they are mostly white.We were talking about the mostly black NAACP spreading bullshit that keep blacks from thinking for themselves.In the last election 98% of blacks voted…..black!Have not seen numbers like that since Klan country in Mississippi 1959.Yet you see people who are constitutionalists as race baiting community activists?Classic
michael e,
It’s spelled “Vrede”.
I haven’t posted about why Faux Noise sucks, this article does a good enough job of that. Fail.
I’m not a liberal. Fail again.
Neither I nor TeeJae said Faux Noise “is going under.” You lie.
I don’t listen to “Democracy now (sic)”.
“sucjh (sic) a moron” – Irony.
What I said is that you’re a gullible fool if you actually believe that “hundreds” at an NAACP march could not come up with a single way the TP is racist. I merely cited one obvious one. Fail again.
93% of blacks voted for Obama in 2012, not your “98%”. More importantly, blacks have long voted for the Dem in overwhelming numbers whatever his or her race. This is not hard to look up, you are an ignorant slacker.
You’ve run away from your delusions about Faux Noise’s importance given that it only leads among cable news stations, is blown away when the broadcast network news is on, and many of us get our news from non-televised sources entirely. Coward.
“essence ,you (sic) dont (sic)…suck.Will (sic)…up.Only (sic)…others.And (double sic)…that.Like (sic)…Im (sic)…vrede (sic, 2nd time) Your (double sic)…moron.You (sic)…tea party (sic)…mostly (almost exclusively) white.We (sic)…themselves.In (sic)…black!Have (sic) not seen numbers like that since Klan country in Mississippi 1959.Yet (sic, and there were almost no black candidates in Mississippi in 1959, while blacks were largely prevented from voting at all, history much?)…activists?Classic (double sic)”
Thank you for demonstrating again what whiny, uninformed, lazy, dishonest, illiterate dupes Faux Noise/TP/constitutionalists are. Please keep posting.
Vrede In philadelphia a lot of wards had 100% “for Obama”.One came in at 106%.Now in these huge wards those numbers are statistically impossible.So at least we have put the idea of fraud to bed.It occurred ,and in the future must be stopped..As far as my joke about clan country you took it to literal.But point of fact it is correct.A poll was done in “klan “mississippi 1959 asking if “you would vote for a black man”.This was asked of white people.A poultry 5% said yes.How horrifying.How racist.How………like today it seems when looking at black voting practices on the flip side.How dare you throw it off in a cavalier fashion that blacks have often done this.Maybe whites should go back to 95% voting their race.Then you cab]n defend us as NOT being racist.Dont even try to float that idiocy.And by the way it matters not one wit what you think of constitutionalists.We may be tall short,fat, tall or thin.Bald,toothless lazy and stupid.Or smart, devilishly handsome with a tongue of gold.What WE are matters not at all.What does matter is that thing we carry in our pocket.What lives in the hearts of every American.The constitution.And by the God above- you WILL abide by it along with your reps who have sworn an oath on it.You will until the day you are able to overturn it.Dont hold your breath
Dang, michael e, you remain an illiterate and whiny idiot.
The point I made is that, “blacks have long voted for the Dem in overwhelming numbers whatever his or her race”. This is largely because the modern GOP is so racist. Your attribution of their vote for Obama as being solely due to race is way foolish and dishonest given this longstanding voting pattern.
Plus, you ran away from screwing up the actual percent that did vote for Obama, just as you’ve dodged having misquoted TeeJae and myself. Why are cons like you such cowardly shunners of personal responsibility?
After many, many studies the voting fraud you imagine has never been shown to be real. It’s not surprising at all that you’ve been duped again.
My opinion of “constitutionalists” in general, and TPers and Faux Noise viewers, is hardly the issue here. Rather, it’s hilarious how you are presenting them. Thank you, please keep posting, you represent your ilk well.
The say the they are the most trusted, but polls also say they rank highest in unfavorable comments. So conclusion is that they are indeed the most powerful and influential component in USA. But not necessarily a force for good. If there was a God, would he strike a down lightning at Fox news?
In September 2009, the Pew Research Center published a report on the public view of national news organizations. In the report, 72 percent of polled Republican Fox viewers rated the channel as “favorable”, while 43 percent of polled Democratic viewers and 55 percent of all polled viewers shared that opinion. However, Fox was given the highest “unfavorable” rating of all national outlets studied (25 percent of all polled viewers). The report went on to say, “partisan differences in views of Fox News have increased substantially since 2007”.