Jimmy Carter vs. Fox News (and MSNBC)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I like Jimmy Carter, I really do. But:

Jimmy Carter said Sunday that Fox News commentatorsincluding Glenn Beck have "deliberately distorted" the news.

Speaking on CNN’s "Reliable Sources" Sunday, the formerDemocratic president took aim at the cable news channel climate, often a targetfor President Obama as well who says he tries to avoid the cable chatter.

"The talk shows with Glenn Beck and others on Fox News, Ithink, have deliberately distorted the news. And it's become highlycompetitive," Carter said. "And my Republican friends say that MSNBC might bejust as biased on the other side in supporting the Democratic Party, theliberal element."

The ex-president said opinions about the two channels was "partof give and take" in politics in the United States. Carter also believes CNNhas suffered from trying to remain nonpartisan in comparison to Fox and MSNBC. 

"And I think CNN, more than others, has kind of tried toplay the middle to their detriment as far as viewership is concerned andprofits are concerned," Carter said.  

First, it doesn't take an ex-president to realize that Fox News deliberately distorts the news. Thanks for stating the obvious.

Second, Carter shouldn't say anything at all about MSNBC if he doesn't know what he's talking about, which would seem to be the case. MSNBC is not the Fox News of the left. There are liberal opinions expressed on MSNBC, just as there are conservative opinions expressed on Fox News, but MSNBC does not distort the news and is not the propagandistic mouthpiece for the Democratic Party as Fox News is for the Republican Party.

Third, CNN is an appallingly crappy network. And if you think it "plays the middle" by trying to be objective, you haven't been paying attention. CNN regularly pushes Republican narratives and talking points and allows the extremism of the Republican right to be presented as equal to the centrism of the Democratic right, as if the "center" is somewhere in between, while ignoring (or treating as extreme and unworthy of consideration) the progressivism of the left altogether.

But thanks for coming out, Mr. President.