Dueling Channels

 

We received this email from Bryan last Friday...

 

"I recently flew into and out of the Springfield airport.  The terminal looks new and clean, and was very efficient.  However, on the televisions providing information to passengers, FOX News was showing on two.  This makes a very strong partisan statement on the part of the airport.  FOX News is not neutral – it is very offensive to many, especially those who dislike seeing lies and distortions promulgated as “news”.  Just as porn cannot be balanced by showing the BBC, so this intellectual porn – which people may certainly watch in the privacy of their own homes (or closets) – cannot be “balanced” with other news channels.  CNN is an accepted reasonably nonpartisan source of news in most other airports in this country.  If you’re looking for the best possible customer reaction to the very nice airport you’ve constructed, I suggest you dispense with FOX News.  Please let me know your television policy."

 

Bryan... While we understand your point-of-view concerning Fox News, the airport serves a diverse customer base of all races, religions and beliefs. In short, we serve in a democratic society which tolerates many points-of-view and individual beliefs. We are reminded of this all the time. Here are some recent examples of issues raised by people who use the airport:

 

  • Playboy and Maxim magazines are obscene and should not be sold in gift stores at the airport.
  • CNN. Is it appropriate for the airport to show such a “biased” news source on the terminal TVs?
  • The art glass in the new terminal. As one person put it, “…why not just take out the grotesque windows and put up a wall with some real, quality art work from local artists?”
  • In the old terminal we had several art objects which have yet to move to the new terminal. They included an abstract, geometric drawing of colored balls, and a metal sculpture in the lobby fountain. Several times a year, on our comment cards, we would find comments objecting to both. The colored balls were typically found to be “meaningless” and/or “suggestive.” Some thought the metal sculpture was a phallic symbol.
  • Fox News. Is it appropriate for the airport to show such a “biased” news source on the terminal TVs?
  • The carpet in the terminal. One fellow disliked the carpet so much he wrote the newspaper claiming that the carpet triggered his vertigo. The newspaper printed it.

There are other issues as well but you get the idea… For several years the issue of the dueling cable news channels was a recurring topic. It settled down when we when we made sure that each “news” outlet had equal representation. Here’s how that works: the airport has nine TVs in the terminal. Eight are in the gate areas and here’s what they show:

 

  • Two TVs are tuned to Fox News
  • Two TVs are tuned to CNN
  • Four TVs are tuned to Weather Channel

One TV is pre-security and it’s the orphan child: it’s tuned to Bloomberg financial. There are two TVs in the post-security restaurant but the airport does not own or control them. They are typically tuned to tell-all talk shows or the Andy Griffith Show. So far, no one has raised objection to the Weather Channel........

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Comments

RANDALL DOENNIG Says: June

RANDALL DOENNIG Says: 
June 28th, 2010 at 4:19 pm

While I get that you are making an effort to give equal treatment to political leanings of the various news outlets, you are not succeeding in doing so. Take the political spectrum and its corresponding outlets…serving the right, you have Fox News; in the middle you have CNN, and on the left you have MSNBC. CNN should be the middle ground choice for any TVs showing news. Giving equal treatment to CNN and Fox ignores the left entirely.

I will say that the Weather Channel is a relevant choice for travelers and all TVs could be turned to it. It would be sad to think that the airport didn’t have some sort of news available, but I would prefer all weather to the embarrassment (for SGF) of any TVs showing Fox News.

I travel through our airport frequently (over 20 times so far this year) and I have been in numerous other airports around the country. I have only once seen Fox News as a choice for the general public TVs showing news in another terminal.

STEVE Says: July 3rd, 2010 at

STEVE Says: 
July 3rd, 2010 at 7:54 am

The diversity of the TV channels sounds very appropriate. If you are a Fox News fan, you don’t consider CNN a middle ground choice, you consider it quite left.

Tolerance from the right and left is both necessary, not just from the right or just the left. When we all tolerate, we succeed.

I am glad to see the airport giving equal access to both the right and left, instead of making a statement which way it should go, that’s fair. And if to be more fair that meant giving MSNBC two of TWC’s TV’s, that’s would be fair too. It wouldn’t be fair to remove Fox News, as it is not an embarassment to SGF, which is a non-tolerant view.

JOE Says: July 9th, 2010 at 5

JOE Says: 
July 9th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

How silly, lets see what news outlets there are and how they stack up to being on the right or left.

Springfield NewsLeader (Available at the Airport) (Far Left)

USA Today (Available at the Airport) (Far Left)

Wall Street Journal (Available at the Airport) (Heavy Right)

CNN (Far Left) (Available at the Airport)

MSNBC (Far Left)

NBC (Far Left)

ABC (Far Left)

CBS (Heavy Left)

Weather Channel - which has MSNBC News flashes (slight to the left)

Talk Radio (Far Right)

The Internet (Neutral) (Available at the Airport)

Time Magazine (Far Left) (Available at the Airport)

Bloomberg (left-Center) (Available at the Airport)

FOX News (Commentary - Hannity, Glenn Beck, Etc. (libertarian, to the Hard Right)

FOX News (Newscast Right-Center) Available at the Airport

I can go on an on with other examples of extreme fringe Left to even Socialist Newspapers and other broadcast outlets like the New York Times
and the Washington Post etc, but out of all these news outlets nationwide there are basically 3 that hold the line for the right versus hundreds for the left. Its Talk Radio, FOX News and the Wall Street Journal that make up those three. Interesting fact that the Wall Street Journal is the only major newspaper making money, and FOX News has more viewers than all other news outlets cable and broadcast combined.

Don’t even get me started with the morning shows like Today, Oprah or the View.

So Bryan, just to let you know that there are thousands and thousands here in Springfield and around the country that find outlets like CNN, MSNBC and various newspapers around the country very offensive.