Gerard Henderson gracefully accepts an invitation – Fox News versus the ABC in providing a plurality of views

Last Saturday, after giving links to some of the strange views of conservative commentators on Fox News, I invited Gerard Henderson to provide some examples in his Media Watch Dog blog of Fox’s left wing commentary that justify a comment he had made that Fox News provides a greater plurality of views than Australia’s ABC. Yesterday he kindly did so:
RICHARD FARMER’S CHALLENGE MET
MWD used to read “Richard Farmer’s Chunky Bits” column in Crikey — until Mr Farmer got sacked. Your man Farmer always managed to be informative and refrained from writing about himself — unlike his successors at the leftist Crikey newsletter like Jane Caro (See MWD Issue 214). And now for something quite substantial.
In his blog Politicalowl last Saturday, Richard Farmer referred to this comment by Gerard Henderson in The Weekend Australian of 22-23 February 2014, viz:
The ABC declines to acknowledge the point. But a greater plurality of views can be heard on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel in the United States than on the taxpayer funded broadcaster in Australia. The ABC does not have one conservative presenter or producer or editor for any of its prominent television or radio or online outlets.
Richard Farmer went on to cite examples of some conservative or right-of-centre presenters and commentators and concluded:
I’ll leave it to Gerard to give some examples of Fox’s left-wing commentary in his Media Watch Dog blog next Friday.
MWD just loves a challenge. Here is a list of Fox News presenters and/or paid contracted commentators who are left-of-centre types — or “liberals” in the American sense of the term.
▪ Bob Beckel: Formerly a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in Jimmy Carter’s administration and former national campaign manager for Walter Mondale.
▪ Kirsten Powers: Formerly a Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Public Affairs in Bill Clinton’s administration.
▪ Geraldo Rivera: A self-proclaimed Democrat voter and vocal supporter of President Barack Obama.
▪ Alan Colmes: A self-proclaimed left-liberal commentator who is consistently critical of conservatives.
▪ Joe Trippi: Formerly a campaign manager for Howard Dean, Tony Blair and Edward Kennedy.
Fox News has one channel. The ABC has two — ABC 1 and ABC News 24 along with numerous radio stations. There is not one conservative employed by the ABC as a presenter or paid contracted commentator on any of its prominent outlets. But Fox News has at least five left-of-centre presenters or paid contracted commentators who appear on its prominent programs.

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