Exposing Fox News

In my geekier moments, I like to research things. You know, things like "facts," which can then be used to demonstrate, or "prove," other things.

Tonight, I decided to tackle the task of proving that Fox News Channel is not news.

I succeeded. But you will have to go below the fold to see how.

I am not an expert in journalism. So I decided to use the most prominent honors and awards in journalism as the criteria for comparing several news organizations, including Fox News.

Competing against Fox News in this endeavor will be: ABC News; BBC News (including BBC Radio and World Service); CBS News; CNBC; CNN; the duMont Network (defunct since 1956); MSNBC; NBC News; and PBS.

[For each award, the top three news organizations in that category are listed. In some categories, total awards are minimums and only include clearly definable news programming.]

The Peabody Awards have been given by the University of Georgia since 1941, and are the oldest honors in electronic media. CBS News leads all organizations with 82 Peabody Awards, followed by ABC News with 52 and NBC News with 40. CNN has won 12 Peabody Awards in 25 years. The duMont Network won a Peabody in 1952 for The Johns Hopkins Science Review. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Emmy Awards are the most famous awards in television. (Data is only available from 2003.) In that time, PBS leads with 26 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, largely thanks to Frontline. CBS News has 18 awards, and ABC News has 15. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award has been given since 1968, and is considered to be the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. ABC News had 42 duPont-Columbia Awards, CBS News has 40, and NBC News has 29. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The George Polk Awards have been given since 1949 by Long Island University. They honor a CBS correspondent who was slain while covering the Greek civil war in 1948, and are given for excellence in broadcast journalism. NBC News has 13 Polk Awards, CBS News has 12, and ABC News has 11. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Gerald Loeb Awards recognize excellence business, finance, and economic journalism, and have been awarded since 1957. NBC News has won 3 Loeb Awards, ABC News has 2, and CBS News, PBS and CNN each have 1. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Jack R. Howard Award is given by the Scripps Foundation for excellence in electronic media, and is usually awarded to local news organizations. CNBC won the Howard Award in 2004. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Edward R. Murrow Award is given by the Radio-Television News Directors Association for "outstanding achievements in electronic journalism." Since 2002, NBC News has won 24 Murrow Awards, while CBS News has 13 and CNN has 5. Fox News Channel? Zero.

The Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism has been given since 1968, and honors reporting "of the lives and strife of disadvantaged people throughout the world." For this reason, the RFK Award is known as the "Poor People's Pulitzers". PBS and ABC News have won 11 RFK Awards, CBS News has 6 and NBC News has 5. Fox News Channel? Zero.

These are the most prestigious awards in broadcast journalism, reflecting the views of respected peers in the field. So what is the final tally?

CBS News: 154
ABC News: 122
NBC News: 114
PBS: 42
CNN: 33
BBC News: 15
MSNBC: 3
CNBC: 3
Dumont: 1
Fox News Channel: 0

There are at least two salient points to be drawn from this cursory analysis.

• CBS News actually deserves the title "The Most Honored Name in News" and not CNN.
• Fox News Channel has won fewer journalism awards than any other major news organization. This includes a network that has been off the air for more than half a century!

There is no longer a need to bemoan the fact that Fox News is faux news, or to wish that the Congressional Black Caucus would not support Fox News with a debate, or to long for the day that their talking heads explode. Instead, just cite these facts as proof that no respected members of the journalism community view Fox News Channel as news.

You're welcome.