
Was it when Fox News claims to be a cable news “pioneer,” or when they claimed to be “fair and balanced,” that wronged you?
A “NEWS CORP. IS AWESOME” ad appearing in the British press, featuring a timeline that included the line “1996… Fox News Channel, pioneer of fair and balanced news coverage, is born. Today, it dominates cable news in the US,” offended at least two people enough that they complained to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Agency.
FNC was not a “pioneer,” they claimed, because news channels had been around before Rupert Murdoch’s network. And the idea that they’re “fair and balanced”? Well, you’re familiar with that argument.
In the end, the ASA ruled in Fox News’ favor, saying in a statement: “We noted some people considered that Fox did not provide fair and balanced news coverage. We considered, however, that ‘fair and balanced’ would be seen as News Corporation’s opinion of the service they provided rather than an objective claim. We also considered that readers were likely to understand the claim ‘pioneer of fair and balanced news coverage’ as a reference to the channel being the first to provide what the advertisers considered to be ‘fair and balanced’ coverage, rather than a reference to Fox being the first dedicated news channel.”

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