Now, it's personal.

Even when I was a Republican (conservative on some issues, liberal on others - and not necessarily the ones you might expect), I regarded the Fox network's "fair & balanced" tag as all marketing, no reality.  It clearly had an agenda.  From Day One.  An agenda that was more slanted to one position than, at that time, any other network on television.  Including MSNBC.  

Even during the Bush 43 administration, MSNBC derided & laughed at the president, was scathing & brutal with the vice president, blunt & snarky with GOP policies & tactics.  But, in spite of what a lot of my current day conservative friends like to believe, the general level of discourse was limited to mockery, derision, contempt.  Nothing like what started at Fox as open hostility & distrust against the present administration, now grown to an entrenched enmity. Not my opinion - do a word search on any day's programming and their personal sense of dislike & distrust of the president & his party is clear.

MSNBC has grown progressively worse because the head honchos see how well the Fox business plan works - how the clear animosity many, maybe most, of their commentators feel toward liberals in general & the flat-out hostility toward the president in particular is lapped up by their targeted demographic.  Why would folks at Fox bother trying to give a genuinely balanced view of events when their targeted demographic is soothed by a partisan slant that agrees with rather than challenges their world view?  

Do you think Rupert Murdoch & Roger Ailes care that their viewership is the least informed of any viewing audience?  Not when their coverage draws, far & away, more viewers than any other news network.  It might be bad old-school journalism, but it's a wildly successful business plan.  And, alas, MSNBC seems to have gone over to the Dark Side.

None of the above is my personal opinion.  My comments are quantifiable.   And none of it mattered before now.  John & I haven't owned a television set since 2012.  We don't watch shows on the internet.  Neither of us have been affected by Fox News.

Until now.

Last week, the very nice full-service senior residence that's home to a grannie client installed large screen television monitors in key places on the first floor, places that get the most foot traffic, the most eyes.  And each time I have walked through those areas, all three screens were running Fox News, with the sound turned up.  

Now, it's personal.  Now, someone I love & literally care for is being affected by the far from fair & balanced interviews & comments blazing from the huge screens.  

Small wonder she's asked each day since the screens went live, "What is the state of the world?"

Why would any residence have three screens blazing with any news channel right before elections, when things always get overheated?  Why would any residence have on a news channel infamous for clearly partisan coverage of events & rabid contempt for the present administration, especially the president?  Why would they show any channel - other than ESPN during major sports events - that includes commercials?  Why are the screens in the Club Room turned on, with the sound up, even when the room is closed & dark?

I just don't get it.  You can bet I'll do what I can to find out.  It's not just  curiosity. It's personal.