Fox News and its viewers

by Charles Peters
Magazine

Here’s a clue to the political orientation of the Fox News audience: Bob Beckel is the token liberal—and a very moderate one at that—on a Fox panel show called The Five. Dana Perino, the former Bush press secretary and another member of the show’s panel, recently told a reporter that when viewers stop her in public, they often ask, “Does Bob Beckel really believe those things he says?” In other words, Fox viewers find even moderately liberal ideas so bizarre that they can’t believe anyone would actually hold them.

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Charles Peters

Charles Peters is the founding editor of the Washington Monthly and the author of a new book on Lyndon B. Johnson published by Times Books.