J.R. McGrath: When opinion valued over facts, facts become scarce

Re “Serious people discount Fox News” (Opinions, Jan. 25): After reading Leonard Pitts’ column about the mendacious nature of Fox “news” I realized how complacent I had become on the issue. Fox earns its ratings by appealing to fears all of us experience. They operate in a universe that values opinion over fact and hammer viewers with those opinions.

I had become so accustomed to seeing them on a regular basis in letters to The Bee that I would react with a “Ho-hum another Fox viewer…” But Pitts’ column awoke me to the need to counter the misinformation being reported and call it out regularly.

I was glad to see The Bee do just that when one writer made a false claim about Jane Fonda passing messages to the enemy. I can only guess where he got his “news.” Another writer actually cited references by World Net Daily and Art Robinson to bolster her argument against climate change. WND is a right-wing outlet on par with Drudge or Breitbart and Art Robinson is a right-wing conspiracy theorist with no background in climate science. Hmm, I wonder where she got her “news”?

Opinions treated as facts, without opposition, become “facts” and must be countered at every opportunity.

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 3:36 PM with the headline "J.R. McGrath: When opinion valued over facts, facts become scarce."