Fox News is widely known as the news source of choice for Republicans.  The outlet is notorious for biased reporting in favor of the Republican Party, its politicians, and conservative causes. Catering to these constituencies has produced enormous profits.  Fox News is also remarkably influential in shaping the perceptions and views of conservative Americans.  But some argue there are significant downsides accompanying the way Fox News does business.

I decided to look into the Fox News juggernaut.  What enabled it to become the source of choice for Republicans and conservatives?  What aspects of its reporting make it different from other news sources?  How did it become so effective in shaping the perceptions and opinions of its viewers?   Are there downsides regarding the way Fox News reports the news?   And, if so, how can we respect its right to operate as it does while mitigating these negative consequences?

Fox News was created as an alternative to existing broadcast and cable television news, intended to appeal to conservative audiences without constraints or regulation.

In 1996, the Fox News Channel was created as a cable and satellite television channel by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.  From its inception the outlet was intended to appeal to conservative audiences—an alternative to television broadcast news (ABC, CBS, NBC) and CNN (Cable News Network).  These existing networks were seen as too liberally biased.

Creating Fox News as a cable television channel gave the outlet extra leeway when it comes to free speech and regulation of content by the Federal Communications Commission.

“Over-the-air broadcasts by local TV and radio stations are subject to certain speech restraints, but speech transmitted by cable or satellite TV systems generally is not.”

The Federal Communications Commission

Thus, broadcast television and radio stations are regulated on such matters as indecency, obscenity, hoaxes, and broadcast news distortion.  Cable channels, however, are free to distort the news, and are not restricted on opinion and commentary.  There are no requirements for objective and balanced reporting.  The information presented can be unreliable, one-sided, and polarizing.

Fox News has been the top-rated cable in all of television for the eighth straight year, and the highest rated cable news channel for more than two decades.

Within a few years of being launched, Fox News was alone at the top.  In 2023, it celebrated 22 consecutive years as the highest rated cable news channel.   The outlet has been the top-rated cable television channel every year since 2016. 

In 2023, on a 24-hour total day basis, Fox News pulled in a daily average of more than 1.2 million viewers.  This dwarfs the numbers for cable news channels MSNBC and CNN, which were 784,000 and 482,000, respectively.

Pew Research found that Fox News dominates MSNBC and CNN when it comes to other important metrics such as audience in the prime news slot, daytime news, total revenue, advertising revenue, and total profit. 

Fox News stands alone as the media organization most trusted by Republicans.

The chart below says it all.  As you can see, Republicans tend to distrust most media organizations. This includes broadcast TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, BBC), cable TV (CNN and MSBNC), print journalism (The NY Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek), and other organizations.  On the other hand, Fox News is trusted by some 53% of Republicans, significantly more than other conservative platforms such as Newsmax, One America News, and Breitbart. 

These numbers are confirmed by other studies.  Pew Research found that around two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (65%) say they trust Fox News for political and election news.

A more recent 2023 YouGov survey (see Table 1F, Trust in Broadcast News—Fox News) shows Republican trust in Fox News increasing to 55%. Republicans found the outlet very trustworthy (18%), and trustworthy (37%)  Another 24% of Republicans found Fox News neither trustworthy nor untrustworthy.  

Clearly, while Democrats tend to rely upon and trust numerous media organizations, Republicans only trust a small handful of organizations. Fox News is by far their most trusted source.

We can gain insight into why Fox News is so popular and trusted by comparing the reliability and bias ratings of its offerings with those of other broadcast and cable television news shows.

One of the ways that Fox News caters to conservative audiences is through the content of its reporting. News reporting is typically analyzed in terms of “reliability” and “bias.”  Generally speaking, reporting that emphasizes the facts is regarded as more reliable than reporting heavy on commentary and opinion.  Bias relates to the degree to which the reporting is one-sided—right or left—in its presentation.  

Let’s see how Fox News stacks up against broadcast television news (NBC, CBS, ABC), and cable television news, particularly CNN and MSNBC.  We’ll drill down to look at reliability and bias scores for the most popular Fox News shows and personalities as well as the most popular news shows and personalities for NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. 

The scores we’ll evaluate come from Ad Fontes Media, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media rating organization.  Scores for reliability range from 0-64, with scores above 40 being considered good, and scores below 24 being problematic.  Scores between 24-40 indicate a range of possibilities.  It is common for reporting heavy in opinion and analysis (as opposed to straight reporting of facts) to be downgraded in reliability.  Bias scores are on a scale of -42 to +42.  Higher negative scores are further left, and higher positive scores are further right.  Thus, scores closer to zero are considered minimally biased, or having a centrist bias.

Fox News diverges from other cable and broadcast television news in that its reporting is less reliable and more biased, especially when compared with network broadcast television news.

Let’s start with cable television news.  In ratings for 2023, Fox News swept the top five daily show rankings. The Five was the most watched show, averaging 2.89 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.49 million, Hannity with 2.36 million, Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.07 million and The Ingraham Angle with 1.96 million. MSNBC’s most watched show, ranking seventh overall, was Alex Wagner Tonight/The Rachel Maddow Show, which averaged 1.61 million. Maddow’s show, which airs only on Mondays, averaged 2.4 million viewers. CNN’s top show was Anderson Cooper 360, averaging 743,000 viewers.

Here are the Ad Fontes reliability and bias scores, with comments, for the shows named above:

• The Five (Fox News) reliability 25.63, bias 17.56—strong right bias and mixed reliability
• Jesse Watters Primetime (Fox News) reliability 16.91, bias 23.30—hyper-partisan right, unreliable and problematic
• Hannity (Fox News) reliability 19.81, bias 24.63—hyper-partisan right, unreliable and problematic

• Special Report with Bret Baier (Fox News) reliability 44.33, bias 8.93, skews right, reliable analysis/fact reporting
• The Ingraham Angle (Fox News) reliability 20.01, bias 25.71, hyper-partisan right, unreliable and problematic
• Alex Wagner Tonight/The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) reliability 36.71, bias -17.67, strong left bias, generally reliable
• Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) reliability 38.10, bias -13.47, strong left bias, generally reliable

Some clear patterns emerge from these data.  The only Fox News broadcast with good reliability is Special Report with Bret Baier.  The other four Fox New shows are low in terms of reliability because the presentations involve so much opinion and commentary.  Alex Wagner/Rachel Maddow Show and Anderson Cooper 360 are only generally reliable; but they are more reliable than four out of the five Fox News shows.  Again, the reliability scores are lower because of opinion and commentary in the reporting. 

When it comes to bias, all of the Fox News shows except Bret Baier are very strongly biased to the right.  Several of the shows are so extreme as to be “hyper-partisan right”, as compared with the CNN and MSNBC offerings that have a “strong left bias.”

As to broadcast television news (ABC, NBC, CBS), Pew Research reports the most watched shows are the evening newscasts by these three networks.  For 2022, an average of 7.63 million per night watched ABC; while the numbers for NBC and CBS were 6.73 million and 4.81 million, respectively. 

Here are the Ad Fontes reliability and bias scores and comments for the evening news broadcasts for these three networks:

• ABC World News Tonight with David Muir (ABC) reliability 48.00, bias -6.41, skews left, reliable, fact reporting
• NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC) reliability 46.89, bias -5.19, middle bias, reliable, analysis/fact reporting
• CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell (CBS) reliability 49.53, bias -4.07, middle bias, reliable, analysis/fact reporting

The patterns here are stunning. The three most popular broadcast television news shows all score very high in terms of reliability.   All three score well on bias, and two are seen as middle bias.  Yet only 15-18% of Republicans trust these sources.  Instead, they put their trust in Fox News shows that are very low in reliability and very high in right bias. The lone exception is the Special Report with Bret Baier.

The use of unreliable and highly biased reporting has enabled Fox News to become the most trusted news source for Republicans, with a viewership that mirrors the demographics, values, and positions of the Republican party.

Of those who name Fox News as their main political news source, 93% identify as Republican or lean Republican, according to Pew Research.

In the center of the chart above we see the demographics of those who rely upon Fox News as their main political news source.  Fox News viewers are 55% male, 69% age 50 or older, 27% college educated, 87% White, and 93% Republican/lean Republican. These demographics strongly reflect the demographics of the Republican party as recently reported by Pew Research:

• Males outnumber females among Republicans (54% to 48%)
• Republicans tend to be older (70% are 50-64 and 65+)
• Republicans tend to be less educated (29% high school or less, and only 37% of Republicans are college grads)
• Republicans tend to be predominantly White (85%)

Pew Research, and Newsweek also validate that Fox News viewers are older and more likely to be white than the U.S. adult population in general. To quote Pew Research, describing a November 2019 survey:  “Americans ages 65 and older account for around four-in-ten of those who say their main source is Fox News (37%), compared with 21% of all adults, according to the November survey. And around nine-in-ten who turn to Fox News (87%) identify their race and ethnicity as non-Hispanic white, compared with 65% of all adults.”

A PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) poll provides extensive demographic data on “Fox News Republicans,” contrasting how they differ from all Americans.  Techpenny also provides extensive data on Fox News viewer demographics.  Applying the results of these two polls, majorities of Fox News viewers and Republicans:

• Live in a rural area rather than an urban area.
• Are Protestant, rather than any other religious affiliation.
• Own a gun or have one in their household.
• Believe that the media is biased against Trump.
• Believe that climate change is not caused by human activity.
• Believe that immigration is a threat to the United States.
• Believe that the Black Lives Matter movement is harmful to society.
• Believe that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) should be repealed.
• Believe that the United States should prioritize its own interests over those of other countries.
• Believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world.
• Have a negative view of the Black Lives Matter movement.
• Have a negative view of the #MeToo movement.
• Have a negative view of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Have a negative view of the Muslim community.

There is almost nothing that prevents Fox News from using unreliable and highly biased reporting to remain the popular and profitable juggernaut it has become.

Legally speaking, Fox News is almost entirely free to conduct its business in the manner that it does. Both CNN and MSNBC are cable television channels that tend to cater to the liberal point of view.  Both of these channels have programming that is less reliable and more left-biased than network broadcast news.  Fox News just happens to be less reliable and more biased. Regardless, the First Amendment allows all these cable channels virtually unlimited control over reporting. They are free to inject opinion and commentary into their news reporting, even if it is misleading, one-sided, and polarizing.

There is, however, one limit on the way Fox News and other media outlets conduct their business.  All media outlets are subject to libel and defamation laws. Fox News learned this lesson the hard way. 

In Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network, the network was sued on account of false statements that Dominion’s voting machines had been rigged to steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump. Fox News argued that it was reporting “pure opinion” regarding what others were saying. Such opinion was protected speech under the First Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.  Following these decisions, Dominion had to prove that Fox News commentators acted with “actual malice.”  They had to know what they published was false, or they had to recklessly disregard whether it might be false.  This standard of proof in libel and defamation cases is considered very hard to meet.

The case was settled with a $787 million award to Dominion.  It prevailed because there were Fox News internal communications indicating several hosts and top executives were aware the network was reporting false statements but continued doing so to make money and retain viewers. 

While Fox News is essentially free to use unreliable and highly biased reporting to remain successful and influential, the downside is that this contributes to political polarization, division, and gridlock in America.

When reporting impedes Americans from knowing the truth or being able to agree on the facts, it’s not possible to reconcile differences or even change one’s views.  Pew Research found that almost eight-in-ten Americans say, “when it comes to important issues facing the country, most Republican and Democratic voters not only disagree over plans and policies, but also cannot agree on basic facts.” (emphasis added)

We have seen that Fox News knowingly lied in its reporting on the 2020 election being stolen from Trump in order to keep its viewers and make money.   Even now, Republicans have not let go of this lie.  An October 2023 PRRI poll found:  

“More than six in ten Republicans (63%) continue to say that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, compared with 31% of independents and 6% of Democrats. Two-thirds of Americans who most trust Fox News (65%) and nearly all Americans who most trust far-right news outlets (92%) believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.”

A 2022 Economist You/Gov Poll revealed an even bigger gap on a slightly different question.  It found that 74% of Republicans believe that Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election (see table 122).

Most of the time the truth or the facts are not so black and white. It has not yet been proven in a court of law that Trump broke the law to stay in power or that he committed serious federal crimes.   But the PRRI poll noted above found very large disparities in the opinions of Republicans (Fox News viewers), Independents, and Democrats:

Another poll in July 2023 found that 91 percent of respondents who listed Fox News as the media source they trust most do not think Trump violated federal law.

Finally, we again need to acknowledge that Fox News is not the only cable outlet that uses biased reporting that is heavy on opinion and commentary.  However, reporting by channels like MSNBC and CNN is more reliable and less biased than that of Fox News.  Also, importantly, we have seen that Democrats trust and use a wide variety of outlets other than CNN and MSNBC.  Most of these outlets have high reliability and low bias scores. Fox News is thus the leading contributor to polarization because it has so big an audience, it is so trusted by Republicans, and its reporting is comparatively less reliable and more biased than other popular outlets.

Another way to confirm whether unreliable and highly biased reporting by Fox News contributes to polarization is to actually watch the channel and compare it with other broadcast and television news shows.

If Fox News is your trusted source, try watching broadcast television news (ABC, NBC, or CBS) and cable news (MSNBC or CNN) and compare coverage.  Try to do it on the same day so that similar stories are covered.  For instance, picking one of the network evening news broadcasts and a CNN or MSNBC news show will do the job.  If you don’t have a DVR, you can often access recent news broadcasts from the websites of these outlets. 

If your most trusted source is other than Fox News, try watching Fox News in conjunction with your trusted source.  Watch one of the most popular Fox News shows (such as Hannity or Jesse Watters Primetime), and Special Report with Bret Baier. 

I’ve tried this experiment many times.  My experience is that I don’t see that much difference in reliability and bias when it comes to network broadcast news and Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News.  These shows come with reporting of facts and minimal opinion and commentary.  On the other hand, when I watch the popular Fox News opinion and commentary shows, I find myself taken aback by the extent of opinion, commentary, and one-sidedness.  The coverage often strikes me as hyper-partisan propaganda.  It is alienating.  When I watch popular CNN and MSNBC news shows, I clearly see the left bias; but the coverage is less partisan and more reliable than that of Fox News. 

If you’re a Fox News viewer, I think you’ll find the network television news broadcasts to be similar to Special Report with Bret Baier.  I think you’ll find that there is an attempt to cover all sides of the story, mostly by reporting facts and minimizing opinion or commentary.  On the other hand, when you watch the popular CNN or MSNBC new shows, you’ll probably see them as left-biased.   If you primarily rely upon and trust the Fox News opinion and commentary shows, you could feel taken aback by CNN or MSNBC coverage.

Final thoughts: If America is to overcome its divisions and hyper-partisan politics, Fox News viewers should lead the way by adding and trusting new sources that are highly reliable and minimally biased.

More than any other single media source, Fox News has contributed to polarizing and dividing America.  It is by far the most trusted and popular news source for Republicans. And it has used unreliable and highly biased reporting to achieve and maintain its very profitable status.  Fox News has a right to operate in this manner, and Americans must remain free to chose this channel for the way it presents the news.  

On the other hand, if American is to overcome its divisions and hyper-partisan politics, each of us needs to take responsibility for becoming better informed.  That responsibility requires us to choose and rely upon reporting that is highly reliable and minimally biased.  The Fox News juggernaut thwarts this quest.  Consequently, those who rely upon and trust Fox News should strongly consider augmenting their news sources to include more reliable and less biased reporting.  In fact, all of us should join Fox News viewers in the search for more reliable and unbiased news.