Excuse me for the euphemisms I used in the title for our leading right wing and left wing paid media. In reality, they are both brothers or sisters in that their “raison d’etre” is to make money. It is not (as our founding fathers would have hoped) to “educate and inform” the citizenry.
I am taking a short break with this blog from my skewering of some notable conspiracy theories to address the above question since the purveyors of the misinformation, lies and bullshit are even more culpable than the morally corrupt who start these scandalous lies. In fact, the media are even more guilty since they profit mightily from keeping these conspiracies going. The following information comes from my favorite muse ChatGPT.
The question of whether Fox News or CNN spreads more misinformation, lies, or disinformation is highly contentious and often depends on political perspective. However, we can ground an answer in media studies, fact-checking data, lawsuits, and journalistic standards rather than ideology.
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🔍 Definitions Matter
- Misinformation: False or misleading information, shared unintentionally.
- Disinformation: Deliberately false information, spread with intent to deceive.
- Lies: Knowingly false statements.
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🧾 Fact-Checking and Analysis
- Independent Fact-Checkers (e.g., PolitiFact, Media Bias/Fact Check, Ad Fontes Media)
Source Reliability Rating Bias Rating
CNN Mixed to High Lean Left
Fox News Mixed to Low Right to Far Right
- CNN has been cited for mistakes, especially with anonymous sourcing, but generally corrects errors and upholds mainstream journalistic standards.
- Fox News has a split personality:
- Its news division (e.g., Bret Baier) tends to be more factual.
- Its opinion shows (e.g., Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity) have been repeatedly flagged for spreading falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and disinformation.
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⚖️ Legal Evidence: Dominion Lawsuit Against Fox News
- In 2023, Fox News settled for $787.5 million with Dominion Voting Systems for knowingly spreading false election fraud claims after the 2020 election.
- Internal emails showed Fox personalities and executives knew the claims were false but aired them to retain viewers.
- This is a clear-cut example of deliberate disinformation for profit and political gain.
CNN has not faced a comparable legal loss for deliberate disinformation.
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🔥 High-Profile Incidents
Topic CNN Fox News
Iraq War (2002–03) Supported invasion initially Strongly promoted WMD narrative
COVID-19 Mixed messaging Spread vaccine/mask disinformation
2020 Election Fraud Rejected false claims Amplified fraud theories
January 6th Framed as insurrection Justified actions
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📊 Public Trust & Academic Studies
- Studies (e.g., from MIT, Harvard, Pew) show that Fox News viewers tend to be less accurately informed on major events compared to viewers of CNN, PBS, or BBC.
- CNN has been accused of bias and sensationalism, but rarely of systematic disinformation.
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✅ Conclusion
Fox News, especially its opinion programming, has a more substantial and well-documented record of spreading disinformation and lies, particularly when politically or commercially advantageous.
CNN is not without bias or error, and sometimes engages in editorial framing that reflects a liberal viewpoint, but it has stronger mechanisms for fact-checking, corrections, and accountability.
Conclusions:
My conclusions are to avoid the mainstream paid for profit media as much as possible. Broaden your media choices to include podcasts, webcasts, articles published by independents or people that you admire. Be careful of anything or anyone selling you something or who has a profit motive in hand.
- Do not rely on any one source for your information.
- Do not accept anything as gospel truth
- Verify and corroborate any information you receive
- Be tentative: Move information up a hierarchy as more data and sources support the information.
- Be open to other opinions. Do not accept anyone’s word as 100 truth
- My father used to say “Believe nothing of what you hear and ½ of what you see. I still think that is good advice.
Aging Capriciously 