This Is What Fox Means By "Fair and Balanced"

Generally, I do not think about the emails I get that ask for my opinion on a news story or a product. I can barely answer the emails of people I love, let alone reporters'. Also, I have no interest in being on TV.*

*Unless it involves a large paycheck or a home makeover. 


So I got one of those emails last week. The only reason I read it all of the way through was because the story is from my former junior high school.  Here it is:

Hi

My name is Megen – I’m a segment producer at Fox & Friends, the morning show of the Fox News Channel.

I’m trying to find a NJ parent who can comment on a recent story out of NJ…

One middle school in NJ (Benjamin Franklin Middle School) has a new math homework policy – the teachers give an allotted time homework should take (10-20 minutes) and if the student doesn’t finish in that time, parents can sign the paper and the child still gets full credit.

I’m looking for a mom of a middle school student who is upset by this – who believes this is going too easy on kids and is against the idea of giving out “A’s for effort” so to speak.

Any help you could provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Megen.Macdonald@foxnews.com

I emailed Megen back (after a snarky mention of the email on Facebook, which garnered more attention than my usual updates) and asked if she wanted to hear the opinions of people who LIKED the policy. I kept hoping to hear, "Oh, I've already got those people, thanks!"

Instead, I have not heard from Megen. 

I emailed the person who forwarded me the email and asked if she knew anything or was a personal friend of Megen's. 

I have not heard from her either. 

I have been told that I'm just "too liberal" to understand Fox News. I have been told that Fox News is the channel for people who don't like "liberal media bias". I always rolled my eyes over this. I didn't get it. There were talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann who were filled with bias, then there was the actual news. How could stating the facts represent liberal media bias?

Now I get it. Liberal media bias means talking to people on both sides of an issue. Liberal media bias means forming an opinion after you've heard all sides, not choosing a side and then finding people who agree with it. Liberal media bias means actually reporting the NEWS, not telling people what to think. 

Silly me.