Just a couple weeks after the citizens of Canada voted to shut down their version of Fox News, I find myself again tuning in to the original American version and getting frustrated by the bias. It might be a popular belief that Canada is not a real country, but in this case, we should follow their lead.
Many ridiculous things have been said on Fox News, but after it declared the existence of “no-go zones” in Paris, the United Kingdom and other European countries, people around the world had every right to make fun of the United States once again.
The “no-go zones” rumor was created right after the Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris. According to Fox News, Sharia law is enforced in these areas, only Muslims are allowed to enter them, and they are supposed to be set up like a country with their own court and police.
Terrorism analyst Steven Emerson went on to say in his Fox News interview that London has its own Muslim police officers who will beat up those not dressed in accordance to the Islamic religion and that the city of Birmingham is completely Muslim and unaccepting of other cultures.
This is pure comedy for every European and anyone who has actually been to the United Kingdom and Paris recently, because clearly Emerson has not.
There is no other network here in the U.S. that harms this country’s reputation as much as Fox News.
News networks in most parts of middle and northern Europe try to be as unbiased as possible, so every time a YouTube video of Fox News goes viral, Europeans from those places cannot believe people are watching and trusting this kind of reporting.
Even my journalism teacher in Norway showed us the movie “Outfoxed,” a documentary about Fox News, and let us write a four-page essay about why such dramatic and subjective reporting is bad for our society and journalism in general.
It even hurts Fox News itself. After not researching the “no-go zones,” France has now decided to sue the network. Fox ended up apologizing for their mistake but still has embarrassed itself more than ever in front of the whole world.
#FoxNewsFacts was even trending worldwide on Twitter for a good two days. Too bad the average Fox News viewer is 68 years old, so he or she most likely did not witness how great people’s use of sarcasm was while the hashtag lasted, according to Politico.
In more recent news, one of Fox News’ biggest
personalities and host of the entertaining show “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly, is in some serious credibility trouble. A report by Mother Jones magazine created a wave of investigations into O’Reilly’s former war tales and reportages.
In 2006, he stated that he was under siege in the L.A. riots. He said that protesters targeted him and his crew and that concrete literally was raining down on them. Meanwhile, six former colleagues told The Guardian that these events never happened.
He also stated that he saw people killed in both El Salvador and Northern
Ireland as a globetrotting reporter for CBS News in the ’80s. After mounting pressure in recent days. O’Reilly and a Fox spokesperson clarified the host meant he had seen photos of the carnage.
How can people like Bill O’Reilly call themselves journalists when they admit to lying on national television? He is begging to be mocked by satire shows. It is sad to think about how satire’s focus in the U.S. is to make fun of news,
while the focus in Europe is to raise awareness of how dumb some politicians are. It should not be able to parody news because journalists should be factual.
In the end, there are two positive things Fox News gives the world: jobs and satire shows like “The Daily Show.” It is a constant talk show where the conservative view will always dominate and a place where people who cannot think for themselves get their opinions.
Please, America. Fox News is part of the reason the rest of the world does not like you. Do something about it.
Markus Hüfner is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Kristiansand, Norway. You can reach him on Twitter @MHufner_TDR.