Fox News Channel (FNC), also referred to as Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation. As of April 2009, the channel is available to 102 million households in the United States and further to viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily from its New York studios.
The channel was created by Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who hired former NBC executive Roger Ailes as the founding CEO. The channel was launched on October 7, 1996 to 17 million cable subscribers. The channel grew in the late 1990s and 2000s to become the dominant cable news network in the United States. In 2010, the network's programs took the top 10 spots for most-watched cable news programs in the 25–54 demographic and the top 12 spots among total cable news programs viewers.
Critics have asserted that Fox News Channel promotes conservative political positions, and biased reporting. Commentators, news anchors, and reporters at Fox News Channel have responded that news reporting and political commentary operate independently of each other, and deny any bias in the news reporting.
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.
Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He became known to American audiences when he got a major role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall which led to a starring role in 2010's Get Him to the Greek. He has also been a voice actor for animated films such as 2010's Despicable Me and the 2011 film Hop. He starred in the 2011 remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film Arthur.
Brand is noted for his eccentricity and his controversies in the British media, including his dismissal from MTV for dressing up as Osama bin Laden and controversies while presenting at various award ceremonies, as well as his former substance abuse. The 2008 prank telephone calls he made to Andrew Sachs while co-hosting The Russell Brand Show with Jonathan Ross led to his resignation from the BBC and major policy changes in that organisation. His prior drug use, alcoholism and promiscuity influenced his comedic material and public image. He married American pop singer Katy Perry in October 2010, and filed for divorce from her in December 2011; the divorce was finalised in 2012.
Reza Aslan (Persian رضا اصلان, born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American activist, a nationally acclaimed writer of religions. He is on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside, and is a contributing editor for The Daily Beast. His books include the international bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, and named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War, published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age. He is also editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, published by W. W. Norton, and co-editor with Aaron Hahn-Tapper of Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Dr. Reza Aslan is CEO of Aslan Media Inc., whose holdings include BoomGen Studios, the first ever motion picture studio entirely focused on entertainment content about the Greater Middle East and its globally dispersed communities. His non-profit organization, Aslan Media Initiatives (AslanMedia.com), uses social-media technology to provide news and information about the Middle East to young people all over the world.
Phil Robertson is a studio drummer, having recorded albums for Warner Bros. Records, Polygram, Elektra Records, Atlantic Records, and Electronic Arts, among others.
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances on Fox News (such as The O'Reilly Factor)CNN, and MSNBC. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show.
Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering" and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is". Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among African Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him."
His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations". Sociologist Orlando Patterson has referred to him as a racial arsonist, while liberal columnist Derrick Z. Jackson has called him the black equivalent of Richard Nixon and Pat Robertson. Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change."
Hey, what's up? I'm married now And we just bought a brand new house. It's bigger and It's better and It's in a nicer part of town.
We got German cars I've got a personal fairway We watch Fox News We laugh about you And all the stupid things you say
She introduced me to brassier Wiener-skin Angus-tat Our chef makes veal each Saturday And it's delicious, I might add.
When you're in some hip punk rock fair And when I'm with my wife We watch Fox News And laugh about you And your pathetic, weirdo life.
We drink Champagne And she owns a dozen furs We bought a pure-bread Doberman And named her Sarah Palin
While I don't hold a grudge at all I just thought I'd give a shout So how's the cupcake shop and roller derby team working out?
Born with a silver spoon and a money made carriage
A youth sheltered from the truth till abandoned by his parents
Rupert Murdoch became a true Citizen Kane
Daddy's paper inherited, put all doubters to shame
To sustain a paradigm bent on world domination
Five decades, conglomerates, a network's abomination
Print, television, film, a neat little package
Buy up all competition, avoid excess baggage
The empire created, the next noble pursuit
Buy any willing politician with the excess loot
Now in Ronald Reagan's pocket, pushing outwards from home
To Ariel Sharone and countless other leaders, to bone
The middle man, working class, told what to enjoy
What actions to pursue, what habits to employ
Behind the scenes , Fox News, the blueprint of a fiend
Eradicate free-thinking - the American Dream
[Chorus:]
Fox News is sheltered up in an oil-funded palace
Drink the working class' sweat from a gold-plated chalice
Oppress third-world countries through never-ending malice
Now you look in my eyes - tell me you're Fair and you're Balanced
Robert Ailes, big kahuna, set in charge of the news
To pursue, the 'Right' angle, every anchor white dudes
Or white women, dyed hair, no want in journalism
Plan to overthrow your minds with packaged patriotism
On the roster: Bill O'Reilly, nothing short of Satan's clone
Grabbing ankles for pigs, we're in the "No Spin Zone"
Alan Colmes: if he's a liberal, Billy Graham is as well
And Sean Hannity's his altar boy - it ain't hard to tell
And what passes for news is simple propagandist sight
Home movies of George Bush with Entertainment Tonight
Breaking news around the clock on Michael Jackson's arraignment
A flak story - flagged coffins, call Brit Hume for containment
Fear mongering of terrorism, downplaying the war's death
Kill 100,000 Iraqis and portraying we're blessed
Well shit, you don't say, the terror alert's orange?
I'll strap C4 to my chest and bomb Fox News with my boys
[Chorus x2:]
Fox News is sheltered up in an oil-funded palace
Drink the working class' sweat from a gold-plated chalice
Oppress third-world countries through never-ending malice
Now you look in my eyes and tell me you're Fair and you're Balanced
Demoralizing free speech and free press at the hands
Of a company, that in the eighties, supported the Taliban
Is under way, hulking towards us a towering behemoth
A juggernaut beyond the reach of our government, believe this
It IS the government, now the media's taken over
No longer the 4th branch, choose what happens to our soldiers
And the world's grown colder, we're spoon-fed lies to save
Face, and stay safe, and keep us knotted in our place
But it's time to break the bonds, break away from artificial
Emancipate your mind, eliminate the superficial
Have a backbone, for Christ's sake, this isn't a dress rehearsal
It's our lives, it's all that's given, repercussions universal
Ignorance is no excuse for accepting the actions
Enacted by a militia - representing crazed factions
The best start to the end of the finish line to succeed