U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat known as one of the most liberal members of Congress, recently has some kind words for Fox News.
During a telephone interview with Politico earlier this week, Mr. Kucinich attempted to downplay common misconceptions about the news network.
“They’ve always been fair to me,” said Mr. Kucinich. “There’s a misconception that the only people who watch Fox are right-wing Republicans. They have a large audience, and it’s important to reach. How can we ever change people’s thinking if we don’t try to talk to them?”
The Ohio congressman unsuccessfully ran for president as a Democratic nominee in 2004 and 2008, and is currently in a re-election year for his seat in the House.
Mr. Kucinich is a repeat visitor to the Washington D.C. location of Fox News, which is celebrating 10 years of being the number one rated cable news network on television.
Fox News averaged 1.9 million prime time viewers in January, according to Nielsen rating. This is nearly an 80 percent increase in viewership since January 0f 2002, when Fox News first defeated CNN to become the number one rated cable news network.
“We are extremely proud of the phenomenal achievement created by the hard work and talent of the Fox News Channel employees and recognize how difficult it is for a cable network to sustain this level of dominance for a decade,” said Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in a press release Wednesday. ”America has clearly embraced fair and balanced news,” Mr. Ailes added.
For adults ages 25-54, Fox News claims 9 out of the top 10 cable news programs, and was ranked fifth overall, according to Nielsen, in the month of January. In contrast, the two other major 24 hour news networks, CNN and MSNBC, ranked 23rd and 27th respectively.
Despite his comments in support of Fox News, Mr. Kucinich still maintains his hard-line liberal stance in politics. A stance which is evident by his recent comments about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. After Mr. Romney said he was not concerned about the “very poor,” the Ohio congressman took to his Twitter account to voice his thoughts.
“Gov. Romney is not worried about very poor people. Well, I AM, because there are more of them every day,” tweeted Mr. Kucinich on Wednesday.
In January, a Public Polling Policy poll of registered voters across the U.S. found that Fox News was both the most trusted, and most distrusted news outlet, splitting the votes at 34 percent each.
“Television news has become just as polarizing as the politicians themselves,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Democrats trust everything except Fox News, while Republicans trust nothing except Fox News.”
