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"CNN just doesn't get it;...nor do they even care!"

Written By: J. Guild

Right off the bat,I think the publishing date of this book is important. It was published in April,2004 and that is a relatively a long time ago for a book of this nature;and on top of that had to be written sometime before that. Therefore anything in the book is 4 years ago or longer. In a world where events , communications and technology are moving so fast,sometimes the old maxim ,"It's hard to see the forest for the trees",sure applies. For that reason,I believe reading this book now,really shows how well the author analyzed the subject.
The title and line on the cover is misleading. It is more about CNN than Fox.A book like this should ,just like the news,be as free from bias as possible.If not free,then at least balanced. That cannot be said about this book. If you look at the background of the author;you see he has a strong Liberal leaning and it comes through over and over again throughout the book. It is evident where the author discusses, on page 192 and 192 ,that Phil Donahue had a homey reassurance,was ernest and nonthreatning,an unmistakable liberal "bent",with frequent guests like Jesse Jackson,Ralph Nader and Gloria Steinmen;but that his show featured a less than stirring debate with a conservative firebrand Pat Buchanan.He doesn't use the same sort of name calling when talking about ,as Hannity would say,"his Liberal friends".
In the early days,CNN had the "Jump"on the competition in News Chanels,for the simple fact that there was no competition.As a matter of fact ,I enjoyed CNN in the early days,especially in world coverage. However, as time went on,this success was taken for granted as a birth right and then we really saw the Chanel take on the left wing,European favoring,UN admiring,US bashing,agendae.The disappointment of their leader,Clinton desecrate the office of President.Bush's election,and the Government's necessity to deal with Teeorism,left them full of hate.Since that time,the liberal left became obsessed with hate so much that any success, internationally or domestically ,angered and disappointed them.They went looking for bad news wherever possible and ignored, or at best glossed over anything positive.Unfortunately ,since the mainstream media is heavily weighted with people of liberal bias ,that is where it went;and CNN lead the way and still does.
The liberal left idea that everyone hates Bush, everyone around the world hates America,Europe is much more enlightened than America,any conservative thought is objectionable and only their ideas are worth discussing,prevailed. The concept of fair and balance,is totally foreign to them.
Enter Fox,with differing points of view,and you have competion in the world of ideas.And Lo and Behold!,not everybody who does not agree with the left,find Fox serves them better than CNN.
This is the point that the author, intentionally or not, misses in this book.Whether the left understand this or not,it seems that they victims of of something or other, and its got to be the viewers who are stupid ,because it can't be themselves.
It is a shame that agendae have come to be such an important factor in news;but the viewer will be the one who will decide what can be trusted and what can't.When you see the "new kid on the block" getting more viewers than all the other "main stream press" combined, it should tell them something;assuming they are listening.
If you think it's bad in the US; try watching Canadian Newschanels.We have the Government supported CBC,which is as liberal, if not more so than CNN.It has no concern whether it gets viewers and viewer support,because,quite frankly ,the Government ,which is heavily slanted Liberal and Socialist,likes it the way it is and supports it regardless whether it is watched or not by the majority.Their idea of balance has been to bring in the BBC; that's right;I'm serious,we need the enlightened,european, socialist anti-american viewpoint! But listen to this,there is now talk of bringing in Al Jazeera...now there's balance for you!
Until last year ,one could not even get Fox News here in Toronto.Finally,the government allows it, and guess where I go now for my news! Can you believe it? We get CNN with our Bacic Package;but if you want Fox,you gotta pay extra. That's my choice,so I do!
I haven't seen a similar book dealing with Talk Radio.The same thing applies there,There has been a series of failures to get support for left wing radio,despite a ton of money and several attempts.Conservative talk radio does very well both in popularity and finacially as Rush Limgaugh says "in the arena of ideas debate" One day he had Al Sharpton on his show.He explained why the liberals were failing,why Siros and Al Franken were going to fail as well.He offered to show Sharpton how to succeed because Limbaugh thought there was a need for a balanced view---Sharpton wouldn't take him up on it.
It isn't books that will provide the answers;the viewers will,though!

"The rise of a news station"

Written By: Lehigh History Student

The spectacular rise of CNN has been put off by a newer story of Fox News. The Fox news phenomena are discussed here and their rise from taking Greta Van Sustran to Neil Cavuto is explained. While I think they downplay the significance of the second gulf war in really capturing ratings the author does a great job otherwise of tracking fox news rise. Whether you love them or hate them this is a fair and balanced look at how one of the most powerful news agencies today came into being.

"Dishonost Name, But An Interesting Read"

Written By: H. J. Rossi

In "Crazy Like A FOX" author Scott Collins apparently was capitalizing on the popularity of the Fox New Channel to sell a book about the collapse of the network newscasts, along with the rise and fall of CNN and MSNBC.

Along the way, Collins throws in some tidbits about FOX News' techniques in overpowering these news giants. But like most liberal writers, he fails to grasp the real reason for FOX's popularity: The majority of American citizens, regardless of party affiliation, are conservative and have an innate sense of fairness. These values have bled over into their news-watching habits after the FNC simply offered them an alternative.

With all that said however, I rated this book a 4-star. Mr. Collins guides the reader, in a logical and well-paced narrative, through the back alleys of the cable news business, the powerful characters involved, and the steps and missteps of the players on this world stage. Well worth your reading time.

"oxy"

Written By: G. E. Nordell

'Fox News' is an oxymoron

"He doesn't understand why"

Written By: David P. Straface

Don't be deceived by the title of this book. It is not about the rise of Fox News, in fact Fox News gets very little coverage. Collins focuses on the internal machinations of CNN (my estimate is that 70% of the book is on CNN), MSNBC (25%) and then Fox (5%).
Worse still, he doesn't seem to understand why Fox has succeeded, even though in the pages of the book the answer is obvious (how does that old saying go about Forests and Trees ...). With his focus on CNN, he pulls out all sorts of reasons that could have contributed to CNN's decline, yet none of them were that significant in terms of viewers and ratings. Similarly, his few snippets on Fox don't explain how it quickly became the leading network.
All the internal machinations that Collins focuses on - the start-up and running of a cable news channel, the programming choices, and the hiring and firing of celibrities - do not explain why Fox has stormed away from the competition. Collins tries very hard to not talk about the elephant standing in the room, the real reason Fox has succeeded - liberal media bias.
He occassionally alludes to it, but only as a digression. It is a pity because a book that explored the ideological differences between the networks would have been a great read (its more Fox vs MSM not just CNN). Fox didn't do anything brilliantly different in setting up and running a news channel. They changed the orientation of the news to be more conservative(in their words they were not going to be "an attack dog against our own country")which survey after survey has shown represents the largest political grouping in the country (around 40%, self-confessed liberals are less than 10%). The reality that Collins does not want to face is that Fox is a channel that reflects America, CNN does not.