because propoganda and people yelling is more interesting than news. the programming is aimed at making people get an emotional high so they keep coming back for more

This is called the bandwagon fallacy.
"If everyone else is doing it, it must be right!"

They have high ratings because they are the news network that gives the most people what they want to a satisfying degree. It's just economics.

More pix plz?

>>8320293
I definitely agree, but I can't really find any data on this. He's such a fucktard though he probably won't care. I sent him a link substantiating some other claims I made, and he disregarded them, claiming "the Internet has a liberal bias."

>>8320236

I don't know why everyone hates Fox. They don't always represent the news in the most unbiased way, but I would call bullshit if anyone said the same about another news organization.

People like stories, drama, and extremism. It's not like Fox suddenly appeared on the scene and changed everything, there was a gradual shift in the way infotainment was impressed upon the populace and Fox News was just the next logical incarnation of that.

Bare in mind, it's not the biased nature of fox that is new, only the pervasiveness. Look up "Yellow Journalism" - the issues has been around for a long, long time. In this era, however, it's available 24/7.

It's popularity is made possible by its form - not its substance.

>>8320355
they're a huge vein of paranoia in the fox news/republican crowd so it's not surprising. after a few more years, you'll give up trying to argue with them and just make fun of them viciously. in the long run, making them feel stupid by laughing at them is more effective than reasoned argument

>>8320403
>making them feel stupid by laughing at them is more effective than reasoned argument
>I could use reason, but instead I pander to men's irrationality.

>>8320434
the point is that they're not particularly rational people. they're largely uneducated, and many of them have a strongly anti-intellectual bent. even if you presented them with a completely sound argument that conclusively proved something, they're more likely to deny it on principle than consider that their preconceptions could be wrong.

It just proves that more Conservatives can't recognize the idiocy of biased media.

>>8320334
I don't get this. I've never heard a good thing about Fox News in my life.

that vag looks delicious. just putting that out there.

>>8320548
She's got gray shit all over her pussy, and it's a fucking mess down there. I just want to clean it all up.

I like Fox News better than the other American news networks because they tend to cover actual news stories and less celebrity gossip. When the Wikileaks recently released the Iraq video, for example, it was the top headline on Fox News while CNN's and MSNBC's top stories were about a Tiger Woods' press conference. I actually like that they are blatantly biased because at least I know where they stand, even if I disagree with their political slant. I can't say the same about other supposedly "neutral" and "unbiased" news organizations that are just as biased as Fox News, but much more subtle and less sensational.

Having said that, I still get the bulk of my news from al-Jazeera, because despite it's anti-Israel bias, it's one of few serious and professional news networks out there.

>>8320485
This should tell you something about the people you hang out with.

>the point is that they're not particularly rational people. they're largely uneducated, and many of them have a strongly anti-intellectual bent. even if you presented them with a completely sound argument that conclusively proved something, they're more likely to deny it on principle than consider that their preconceptions could be wrong.

I could agree that Christians are not particularly rational people, or that people in general don't meet the standards of rationality which I hope to expect, but you're grouping these people by what TV channel they watch. I watch Fox News every day, but I don't hold conservative values. I do see them practicing anti-intellectualism, being openly Christian, and inconsistent in their philosophies, but it's important to know the mistakes people are making, and be able to hear multiple slants on the same situation.

>>8320634
> gets news from Fox News and Al-Jazeera

You are fucking hardcore.

Pandering.

>>8320637
Why is it important to hear slants on the situation, especially if you're telling everybody you're not slanting your news? The best way to go would be to present the news, unbiased, and let people make up their own damn minds.

Slanting your news and telling people it's not slanted just confuses the fuck out of retarded people, and it just creates the kind of shit that you see spewed out of Fox News every single day.

Fox has high ratings because a lot of people watch it. That's technically an answer to your question, and it's undeniable in its logic.

The question then becomes: why do a lot of people watch Fox news? the answer would then be: because they choose to. Why do they choose to? Because they like it. Why do they like it? well, now, here's where it gets interesting.

In order for people to prefer one news network, that must mean that they prefer it OVER other news networks. All that you can really tell that this means by using logic is that Fox content pleases the greatest number of people.

Nothing about credibility can be definitively stated by using the fact that Fox is popular.

The mistake that your friend is making is making the assumption that people choose their news network based on credibility. This is not only not evident in the fact that Fox is popular, but does not hold up when you use polls and science to find out what makes people make choices. You're going to find instead that people choose fox because their political stance reinforces the political stance of the audience. they're choosing to be told what they want to hear.

>>8320940
>>8320940
>>8320940

This, so much.

The reason FOX news has such high ratings is because the surrounding programming is better. Fox simply has better sitcoms, dramas, and the like, at least in terms of popularity. You've gotta understand the typical suburban setup - kid comes home from school, doing homework and/or watching TV, Dad gets home, Mom makes dinner, they eat while watching TV, or at least while it's on. Fox news airs around dinner time for most families, or shortly before, so they just leave it on that channel, and when they get their questionnaires, they just write down that they watched it because it was on.

You can argue about whether this is a good or bad result of capitalism, but that's why. More popular programming around the news segment.

The people who watch fox never watch any other station, for one. They keep their ratings up by playing off of white, conservative, America's fears. And they are good at it.

Oh look, I just destroyed FOX's credibility in one post...

http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html

Ehh, don't worry about it, they'll just lie and call me a liar. Thus preserving their non-existent credibility.

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO READ WHAT YOU SAID WITH A PICTURE LIKE THAT

FUCKING MMOOOARR
SAUCE
SAUCE
SAUCE
SAUCE O GOD SAAAUUUCCEEEEE

Liberals tend to be more educated, and thus get their news from online sources, news magazines, newspapers and the like.

Not to say that conservatives are all stupid. The people that watch Fox News are usually the lower income, blue collar conservatives.

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http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.h
tml

>>8321643
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre

The big question is, why are they allowed to lie?

Because they're the only blatantly conservative station on TV.

FUCKING DUH

They have a monopoly on the conservative mindset while cnn, msnbc and the others compete over democratic cock.

SO FUCKING OBVIOUS

>>8321674
I went as far as to look up the definition of "news"...

While it say in reference to reporting on "facts", it never says those current events have to be true.

Unfortunately a fact is not always the truth.

> Unfortunately a fact is not always the truth.
wat

>>8321831
According to FOX NEWS it's not...

>>8321658
The laws are different for print media and broadcast media.

If you beam out TV, the FCC cares more about the legitimacy of your commercials and the your respect of 'decency/nudity' laws.

The FCC does not care if your shows are based on truth or fiction. SNL's Weekend Update has nothing to do with truth and nobody cares. Fox just goes down the same entertainment-rich road but slaps a "news" sticker on their production.

I think that Fox's rating dominance is due to two main factors. They are the only conservative news option, and the demographics that are more likely to get their news from TV are more likely to be conservative.

>>8321632
If liberals tend to be more educated, why can't they form an opinion outside of standard run-of-the-mill talking points?

>>8322643
> why can't they form an opinion outside of standard run-of-the-mill talking points?

Sounds like a Republican talking points to me.