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Readers Feel Column On FOX News Was Unfair, Unbalanced

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 5, 2008

FOX Is Most Balanced

Regarding "FOX News Channel Appears In Need Of Fairness And Balance In Political Coverage" (Nation/World, July 2):

I laughed when I read Walt Belcher's article criticizing FOX News. You cannot compare FOX's slanted treatment of candidates with that of their counterparts MSNBC and CNN, not to mention the other networks. I watch them all and FOX is the most balanced.

Chris Mathews and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC are the most slanted of the hosts. By contrast, Chris Wallace is the fairest of all the talk show hosts, on par with Tim Russert.

I would be curious to see on average how many liberals and conservatives are guests on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and FOX.

Occasionally Belcher stumbles into the political arena under the guise of "TV Critic" and reflects his bias. When it comes to unfair attacks, FOX is the least offensive of all the stations and Belcher should have done more research and compared and contrasted them all. I would expect him to enumerate similar coverage by the others.

TOM TAMARGO

Tampa

Not Feeling His Pain

Walt Belcher laments the conservative bias he perceives on FOX News Channel. I find it impossible to feel his pain since I was subjected for decades to the almost total domination of the media by his liberal friends.

Oddly, I recall no comment by Belcher about that bias.

Several studies by neutral parties have credited FOX for the most balanced reporting on TV. But those findings would of course not interest Belcher and those who share his views.

ETIENNE A. BRUNET

Tampa

Columnist's Bias Showing

The article by Walt Belcher certainly shows his liberal bias.

He never mentioned ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and all other networks that cover the news.

Their reporting is all slanted to the left and the liberals and, more particularly, Obama. Coverage on the other stations is 40-1in Obama's court. In fact, I have found that FOX has bent over backwards to cover more on Obama than McCain.

It is to the point that I am sick and tired of seeing Obama's face on TV with FOX awaiting a snippet on the Obama trail.

I believe that Belcher owes the readers and FOX News an apology for his errant reporting.

He does fair in his TV and movie reviews. He needs to stick to what he is fair at and leave political comments to others.

I am glad that FOX at least covers more on the conservative side; I just wish they would cover basically all conservative news since we will not receive it on any other TV or newspaper.

JACKIE SPRAWLS

Valrico

Others Are More Biased

Walt Belcher's criticism of FOX News' "Fair and Balanced" was not very fair and balanced. How can the so-called TV critic view one cable news channel without also taking a look at the venomous MSNBC which despises every conservative and Republican with a passion.

At least FOX brings on guests from every party, where MSNBC makes it no secret that only Democrats and liberals are welcome on their network to spew hatred against Republicans and conservatives.

JOSEPH MACKSOUD

Tampa

What About MSNBC?

Now that Walt Belcher has blasted FOX News for its perceived tilt to the right, can we expect a similar broadside against MSNBC for its unapologetic leftward leanings, as evidenced by the likes of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews?

KENNETH R. GILDER

St. Petersburg

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