Fox news breakingnews has a longstanding tradition of biased reporting. Its approach is to reinforce certain stereotypes by consistently providing examples that fit within its ideological categories: good, Christian, pro-American patriots and their unthinking counterparts.
The network uses patriotism and national pride to deepen viewers’ connections to the channel. Additionally, it employs fear tactics to instill irrational anxiety about made-up, unrealistic or supernatural threats.
Majority heuristic
The majority heuristic is a well-known concept in cognitive science. This cue helps people sort the relevant data when faced with overwhelming amounts of data.
The heuristic is particularly noticeable when information presented is unreliable or when the recipient is under stress. It may be activated by a variety of different cues.
Fox News uses several techniques to maximize its heuristic-driven persuasion effect. Perhaps most famously, it is one of few networks in America capable of producing breaking news on a regular basis. Despite shortcomings, it remains popular with many Americans; thus spawning numerous academic research papers, polls and books. It also features frequently in critical segments on MSNBC or liberal TV-shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report as well as thousands of personal videos – particularly on YouTube.
Familiarity heuristic
Familiarity bias is the tendency to invest in shares of companies you are familiar with, even when there may be less well-known alternatives that offer better returns. This can lead to overconfidence and risk avoidance.
When faced with a complex decision, heuristics can be utilized to help us make faster and better choices. Heuristics are tools that utilize intuition, knowledge and personal experience in order to make informed choices.
One such heuristic is the Familiarity Heuristic (FH). FH-based decisions rely on both object information and feelings of familiarity, which have been said to facilitate fluency processing.
This heuristic can be beneficial when making decisions in unfamiliar environments, such as a job interview. It’s also commonly used by those facing stressful situations; for instance, someone going into an intense job interview might recall behavioral standards they’ve successfully used in similar scenarios in the past.
Credibility heuristic
Fox News, its owners, leadership and staff have an intimate connection to political organizations. This affiliation takes many forms: memberships, personal ties, financial support or public endorsement.
Fox also creates heuristic cues to verify credibility: Communicators are described as smart, tough and trusted experts in their fields or by creating the illusion of academicism by furnishing his studio like a classroom with lots of books, symbols and pictures printed on little cards. Glenn Beck attempts to project an air of authority and scholarship by setting up his studio like a classroom setting with plenty of books, symbols and pictures printed on tiny cards.
In a persuasion scenario, communicator cues can have both independent and additive effects. However, their potency is diminished if systematic elaboration of message content leads to conflicting heuristics and systematic cues. For instance, Fox News might use “experts can be trusted” as an excuse to discount information that it finds disagreeable; this heuristic will have less of an influence over viewers’ attitudes and behavior when combined with inconsistent background data. Likewise, using “sources are trustworthy” would also weaken its effect on evaluation of a statement when presented alongside inconsistent background info.
Fear heuristic
Fox news is not without its share of bizarre claims. Thus, it should come as no shock that some of its more colorful characters have managed to garner some airtime for their deserving contributions. Fox has become the talk of the town, at least in some circles, due to their aggressive tactics used against competitors to keep the flame burning brightly. Fox has taken great care in selecting their media assets and staff, screening them rigorously for media vetting and hiring the right talent at the right time – all with an eye towards profitability. These efforts have paid off with ratings that any Fox fan would expect and more.
