OH REALLY? – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Ah, when liberals see the light it is a rare but beautiful occasion.  The Columbia Journalism Review is a product of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia, my alma mater and a very liberal one at that.   The Review has now come to a welcome conclusion about Fox News:

Pop quiz: which cable news network is more welcoming of opposing voices? The answer: Fox News.

Oh, some of you may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but a new piece from the Columbia Journalism Review credits Fox News for giving a platform, even when the deck is stacked, for liberals on the right-leaning network.

The feature contains statements from Tamara Holder, one of Fox News’ most prominent liberal voices, and Sally Kohn, who used to be another such voice before she moved to CNN this year. Holder says going on Fox News is good because the network gets great ratings, while Kohn says she doesn’t like “preaching to the choir.”

Which brings us to MSNBC. Fox News has all sorts of Democrats and liberals, including Dennis Kucinich and James Carville, two very reliably liberal individuals. But what about Fox News’s counterpart? Well, the CJR feature says, MSNBC has a few “moderate conservatives” like Joe Scarborough and Michael Steele, and these do not normally lead to big debates of any sort with the hosts.

Meanwhile, on a typical Fox News primetime lineup, you’ll have appearances by Kirsten Powers, Juan Williams, Carville, and Alan Colmes, among others, and there have been occasional shouting matches.

COMMENT:   The opposition hasn't yet figured out the secret of Fox News – that it's a thoroughly professional news organization that provides a balance between conservatives and liberals and – this is the key point – does stories the other guys refuse to do, stories that are personally interesting to most Americans, and speak to their needs. 

Maybe the others will learn, but their ideological bias is so great that I doubt it.

March 4, 2014