How Should A True Liberal Regard FOX?

Johnny $ has it exactly right.  The so-called “liberal blogosphere” is going into hyperbolic overdrive because we  brought on Howard Wolfson as a FOX News contributor.  Wonkette calls Howard a sellout; Markos accuses him of “whoring himself to the opposition;” and a Huffington poster refers to him as a “right-wing zionist.”

Often quoted is a four-year-old poll that claims that only 7 percent of Fox viewers supported John Kerry, while 88 percent were for Bush.  That’s the argument?  Other, more thorough studies show very different results.  Mediamark research shows that only 38% of FOX viewers self-identify as conservatives. Pew Research has numbers that fall somewhere in-between citing a survey that shows Republicans outnumber Democrats by two-to-one (43% to 21%) among the core FOX News Channel audience

But even if the 88%-7% figures were a true reflection of the FOX News viewership (and J$ explains why it isn’t), one would think that progressives would welcome the opportunity to change the paradigm and welcome any move by FOX to live up to its “Fair and Balanced” mantra.  I am often renounced by the same liberal blogophere of which I am a part (even on this, my own, site, as free speech reigns) simply for being a part of a news organization some progressives disdain.  So they’d rather just cede the ground, have no one on the left appear on the channel, and then continue to bash it. When I criticized Democrats for not participating in a FOX News debate, I was especially excoriated by Kos and others on the left, accused of being a mouthpiece for my FOX bosses.

Wouldn’t it be more productive to encourage those of us who are given such a platform to do more than just preach to the choir to use the opportunity that FOX, with its huge audience, affords, to reach out to viewers untapped by the left?  It is not only the more productive position to support those of us who do so; it is the more “progressive” position.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.