Why Can't Conservatives be on TV too?

By Phil Fraietta
Fraietta@Fordham.edu

For those of us who watch Fox News it is no secret that the channel is far from “fair and balanced.” With commentators such as Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Mike Huckabee and now Glenn Beck, I am comfortable saying that Fox News is a conservative political commentary network.

My question to those on the left however is, so what? The left makes it no secret that they are offended by the existence of Fox News. For some reason, conservative political commentary has no place on television in the eyes of the left. My own roommate (a liberal) often times laughs at what is said on Fox News programs and has on more than one occasion stated he believes they’re simply making things up.

It is not as if the left does not have its own political commentary on television. To see leftist political commentary all you need to do is turn to MSNBC. The channel runs liberal political commentators such as Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow (who just the other day stated she believes President Bush has been the worst President in the history of the Republic).

Unlike those on the left, however, fellow conservatives and I do not have a problem with MSNBC; we just don’t watch it! America is a nation that emphasizes the idea of free speech. Therefore I see nothing wrong with one television network running conservative commentary and another running liberal commentary. The American public will decide which network they most agree with and most enjoy watching.

That decision has already been made—Fox News. Nielsen TV Ratings consistently show Fox News doubling MSNBC in Prime Time ratings, which is when the political commentary programs air. For example, for the eight o’clock hour on Thursday December 4, The O’Reilly Factor drew 3,149,000 viewers, compared to the 1,553,000 viewers drawn by Countdown with Keith Olbermann. For the nine o’clock hour, Hannity & Colmes drew 2,131,000 viewers, compared to the 1,242,000 viewers drawn by The Rachael Maddow Show.

So, my overall message to liberals here is simple—stop whining! Conservatives have just as much of a right to have political commentary on television than liberals do. The fact that the American public prefers Fox News is not a sin; it proves that America is still a center-right nation. If liberals want to change this fact they should try and compete with Fox News by creating better programs on networks such as MSNBC, rather than attacking the existence of Fox News all together.