Behind the Scenes

As we have pointed out in class and as many would agree, FOX News tends to swing toward the right. That being said, it did not come as a shocker when I found out that Frank Luntz was quizzing the focus group on FOX in regards to the 2008 vice presidential debate Thursday night. Many of you may have seen focus group analyses across the bottom of your screen last night. CNN, for example, was running a viewer response line for uncommitted voters in Ohio. CBS also ran a poll that surveyed uncommitted voters. According to their results, the undecided thought vice presidential nominee Joe Biden did the best job by a margin of more than two to one!

So what happened with FOX's analysis? Quick reminder for readers: In Professor Honald's class, we were assigned to read segments of George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant." In chapter one, Lakoff refers to Luntz as the man "who puts out big books of language guidelines for conservatives only, which are used as training manuals for all conservative candidates..." 

It's no wonder then that this particular focus group on FOX thought Palin did an excellent job, and even perhaps won the debate. 

Even more interestingly enough, the focus group was funded by Budweiser, owned by Anheuser-Busch, of which Cindy McCain's Hensley company is the third largest distributor. Oh, the things you can line up on mainstream media when the resources are plentiful!

As for FOX's coverage of the vice presidential debate on the Web, it also leaned to the right. According to the debate analysis coverage, "it was Palin's cool and confident performance that prompted analysts to suggest that after more than  week of bad news for Republicans, John McCain can ride a new wind in final month of the race."

I think that may be stretching the truth in comparison to other news outlets. 

FOX also reported that Palin pulled off a "bravura performance" according to some analysts. What analysts were they referring to? Some included editors from the Dallas Morning News. Hmm.