Fox News and the Pope's Visit - What do you think?

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Elzee

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**I posted this on another thread, but it’s a little off topic since it deals mostly with Fox News coverage of the Pope. Anybody else watching Fox?? What do you think? (Aside from Shepard Smith’s mis-speaks…he continued them today, calling the kneeler Pope Benedict used this morning an “altar”…he tries…I still have a soft spot for Shepard).

Here’s my post from another thread:***

Perhaps non-Catholics are catching it on FOX. I have to say, I LOVE EWTN, but Fox has actually been covering a lot more of the Pope the EWTN from what I’ve seen - perhaps their budget is slightly larger. 🙂

I find myself watching Fox more than EWTN when it comes to the live coverage, and watching retruns on EWTN to hear Fr. N. and Raymond. You can tell Raymond is in his glory and is in heaven covering the Pope. Even though his Shakespearean background is in full swing with his words, inflections, etc., I can’t help but love him!

On Fox, I was worried Lauren Green would be doing most of it ( their “religious correspondent” - a non-Catholic who has written about the wonders of the Reformation), but they have actually brought in a few people who actually know the Catholic faith and many reporters have been sharing the stage. The anchors/reporters are doing better than expected too - aside from a few mis-speaks like “the Pope will deliver Mass” or “the service is about over”, and poor Shepard Smith pronouncing “Papal” with a "short a’ instead of a “long a”, (aagh!) etc.

I think Fox News has given our Holy Father and the Catholic faith the respect it deserves. Please send them a thank you note if you’ve been watching them at all and appreciate their work. Bravo for FOX and EWTN!
 
Hi Elzee,

Not really a fan of FOX in the past: I didn’t care for Sean Hannity’s infamous treatment and disrespect he showed to Father Staples ( (I believe that was his name) on his program Hannity & Coombs, Host Cavuto’s use of the word “anti-abortion” instead of “pro-life” on a recent anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, and Bill O’Reilly (isn’t this man more of an entertainer than a serious journalist asking serious questions;)).

That said, I thought FOX’s coverage of the Pope was excellent; they were pretty much the first news group to be at the scene on TV and didn’t block out the background sound like the other Cable News stations so you could not only see what was happening, but also hear too:) .

However, I noticed FOX, after starting an event, would then often flip to Election coverage, so I think they are trying to reach the Catholic voters out there also.

However, when MSNBC finally got around to showing the events, I really enjoyed listening to Catholic commentator and author George Weigel’s insightful comments, and I thought he did a great job deflecting a lot of the negatively phrased questions put to him by the various MSNBC news anchors.

I was disappointed by some of MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan’s (I believe he works for MSNBC) statements who made short appearances on MSNBC’s Papal Trip coverage. I have never thought of him as being an excellent speaker; he sort of has a monotonous voice and undynamic way of talking, and from a few of his comments, it almost sounded like he was shooting Catholicisim in the foot. I know a lot of you like him, but I think he needs to listen to what he is saying before he says it.

CNN was probably the worst coverage; most of their coverage was just covered by their news anchors, but I was impressed that they actually did show the entire St. Patrick’s Cathedral Mass (though with some commercial breaks). They also had various critics of the Catholic Church on.

I would have preferred watching EWTN’s coverage, but my local cable provider, Comcast, in the Detroit, Michigan area, switched the CTND channel (Catholic Televsion Network of Detroit which carried EWTN) to a Digital station, meaning you have to pay more per month to see it, and, like a lot of people here, have lost Catholic television due to the monthly price increase (I’ve posted Threads on this topic before).

So, while MSNBC had the most intellectual commentary, FOX was more like if your neighborhood priests were covering the event; two different approaches, both excellent and different, I would often flip between the two, but I really enjoy Mr. Weigel’s commentary, so I kind of stuck with that.😃
 
Dwyer said:
Hi Elzee,

Not really a fan of FOX in the past: I didn’t care for Sean Hannity’s infamous treatment and disrespect he showed to Father Staples ( (I believe that was his name) on his program Hannity & Coombs, Host Cavuto’s use of the word “anti-abortion” instead of “pro-life” on a recent anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, and Bill O’Reilly (isn’t this man more of an entertainer than a serious journalist asking serious questions;)).

That said, I thought FOX’s coverage of the Pope was excellent; they were pretty much the first news group to be at the scene on TV and didn’t block out the background sound like the other Cable News stations so you could not only see what was happening, but also hear too:) .

However, I noticed FOX, after starting an event, would then often flip to Election coverage, so I think they are trying to reach the Catholic voters out there also.

However, when MSNBC finally got around to showing the events, I really enjoyed listening to Catholic commentator and author George Weigel’s insightful comments, and I thought he did a great job deflecting a lot of the negatively phrased questions put to him by the various MSNBC news anchors.

I was disappointed by some of MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan’s (I believe he works for MSNBC) statements who made short appearances on MSNBC’s Papal Trip coverage. I have never thought of him as being an excellent speaker; he sort of has a monotonous voice and undynamic way of talking, and from a few of his comments, it almost sounded like he was shooting Catholicisim in the foot. I know a lot of you like him, but I think he needs to listen to what he is saying before he says it.

CNN was probably the worst coverage; most of their coverage was just covered by their news anchors, but I was impressed that they actually did show the entire St. Patrick’s Cathedral Mass (though with some commercial breaks). They also had various critics of the Catholic Church on.

I would have preferred watching EWTN’s coverage, but my local cable provider, Comcast, in the Detroit, Michigan area, switched the CTND channel (Catholic Televsion Network of Detroit which carried EWTN) to a Digital station, meaning you have to pay more per month to see it, and, like a lot of people here, have lost Catholic television due to the monthly price increase (I’ve posted Threads on this topic before).

So, while MSNBC had the most intellectual commentary, FOX was more like if your neighborhood priests were covering the event; two different approaches, both excellent and different, I would often flip between the two, but I really enjoy Mr. Weigel’s commentary, so I kind of stuck with that.😃
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O’Reilly used to be a serious journalist, not really now however.
 
Only caught a little cable, on CNN, just to see what they’d say. One correspondent – Kara Phillips or something like that – claims to be Catholic. She interviewed Sr. Chittester, whom I’ve never seen before but have heard of. She’s an outspoken and avid proponent of women’s ordination and Phillips was loud in her praise of this nun.

What was more interesting was Wolf Blitzer, who was one of a handful of reporters who had a brief meeting with B16. Not a Catholic, Blitzer was absolutely glowing and couldn’t contain his joy over meeting the Pope. He said this was one of the highlights of his life and that he didn’t ask any questions – he didn’t want to embarass his profession. He held up a Papal medal given him by B16, with the Pontiff’s image on the front and symbols of DC and NY on the back. He called it one thing he’d always treasure and joked that it would never find its way onto e-bay. He couldn’t stop gushing and I hope, upon reflection, he realizes that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Office of the Papacy – much more than the charisma and intelligence of the man – that has touched him and so many on this trip.

Personally, I was impressed with the Pope before this trip, but I am bowled over by the way he has handled this trip. Talk about following the lead of the Holy Spirit. . .

God bless,
Dan
 
Our Pastor mentioned at Mass today that Bill Hemmer on FoxNews not only is Catholic but went to Bishop Elder High with our Pastor here in Cincinnati.

🙂
 
I have both on… EWTN and FOX, and I actually am enjoying Fox more.

I enjoy watching the Mass and of course the Pontiff…but it is not really like going to Mass. So the “interuptions” by Fr Morris et al to explain what is happening at this Catholic event is not a problem. In fact, I have to believe that the number of protestants who might watch Fox (a lot more than EWTN) will also get some information on the Mass they would never otherwise receive.

.
 
MrS said:
I have both on… EWTN and FOX, and I actually am enjoying Fox more.

I enjoy watching the Mass and of course the Pontiff…but it is not really like going to Mass. So the “interuptions” by Fr Morris et al to explain what is happening at this Catholic event is not a problem. In fact, I have to believe that the number of protestants who might watch Fox (a lot more than EWTN) will also get some information on the Mass they would never otherwise receive.

.
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I agree, but to bring up the sex abuse scandal during the presentation and preparation of the gifts was TOTALLY out of line. Father Johnathan Morris should have corrected him. THe Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not the time and place.
 
Fox coverage of the visit was almost wall-to-wall. Much more than any other network, except EWTN. Fox did a better job than them, I thought. I was really surprised at how much coverage they gave the papal visit, and all of it positive…Roanoker
 
Didn’t have time to catch any of it. And I don’t watch Fox News. Double whammy.
 
One thing I liked about Fox, was that they did not broadcast themselves before the Mass, like cnn and msnbc I think, had the mass in the background noise while the analysts discussed things, but on fox, no one talked and you just got to listen to the Mass ( at least it was like this today).

I did get tired of everyone talking about the sex abuse scandal, everytime I turned on the news, and I wish they spent more time talking about other things.
 
goofyjim said:
Didn’t have time to catch any of it. And I don’t watch Fox News. Double whammy.
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Sorry you missed it. Many of the commentators who were on the various programs were proud to say they were Catholics and I think they did a very good job.
 
I watched EWTN the entire time. I checked in with CNN and didn’t like their broadcast - their bringing up the sex abuse scandal over and over. Raymond Arroyo did an excellent job covering the papal visit as well as Fr. Neuhaus. They explained the event in a manner that Catholics as well as other faiths would find informative and not condescending (as some faiths think we are towards them). Wrong! Anyway, congratulations to EWTN and Happy Birthday to Mother Angelica! What a gift she has been to this world and I hope she will continue to be so for many years to come! Amen!!
 
I would have watched EWTN, but during the day, the channel that has EWTN where I Iive is not on during the day, only at primetime - night. I I wish I could have seen the live coverage.
 
Fox seemed to get stronger as the week went on. As the Holy Father’s visit began to pick up steam maybe they decided it was better to be on board than on the tracks.😃

Peace,
DCD
 
roanoker said:
Fox coverage of the visit was almost wall-to-wall. Much more than any other network, except EWTN. Fox did a better job than them, I thought. I was really surprised at how much coverage they gave the papal visit, and all of it positive…Roanoker
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Please email them a hearty “thanks”. I heard Shepard Smith comment tonight (the only time I heard it) that Fox gave up tons of commercial time (money) for this and some may think it was a week of free Catholic marketing, but he pointed out strongly it was not. It was the only time I heard Fox mention the money they gave up and I’m glad they did it in such a nice way - I never thought of that aspect before - but they really did provide a LOT of commercial free coverage. Catholics here in America should thank them for what they have done this week.
 
I have watched both Fox and EWTN’s coverage. I really enjoyed Fr. Morris and Msgr. Lisante. They were very good. Msgr. Lisante keep saying thank you to Fox for the time to be on the air. Today, Fr. Morris jumped in and translated the Pope’s sermon from the Spanish which was awesome. Raymond Arroyo was good too.
 
I watched EWTN. mostly. The missus wanted to see what Fox News and CNN had to say.

CNN, of course, brought up up the abuse scandal over and over.
Soledad O’Brien, whose father is an Irish Catholic and whose mother is a Cuban Catholic, interviewed an abuse victim from Boston, who claimed that the Church was “stonewalling” by opposing the removal of the statute of limitations in various states.

I then shut off CNN.
 
JW:

I would have shut them off too. That’s why I didn’t bother with them after watching them for, say, 5 min.😛
 
I watched Fox News, and I must give them a “bravo” for their coverage. They broadcast everything and did a superb job. Monsignor Lisante and Father Morris did a terrific job explaining things for those who might not be familiar with the Church and the Mass. Father Morris is a regular on Fox News, and I hope we see more of Monsignor Lisante on TV too.
 
I watched the reruns of EWTN’s broadcast, and heard a lot of it on Ave Maria radio. I enjoyed it. I also caught some of it on MSNBC and was suprised that they were somewhat positive. But what bothered me was one segment where they had a guy on from an advocacy group for victims abused by priests. Alone, with no one to answer from the church’s side. Somehow the advocate dude managed to imply that there are over 20,000 priests around the world molesting children at a rate of almost one a day. Which he was allowed to say without being questioned on his numbers or whether or not it was the truth, even after he said he was extrapolating. I found it a bit distasteful.
 
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