20 Questions for Fox News

This is the second in a series of interviews with leading American newsmakers. As with the recent interview with CNN/US head Jonathan Klein, many of the questions are citizen-generated.

1. Do you think American media, generally speaking, is biased? If so, how so -- too liberal? too conservative? too corporate? too careerist? too driven by ratings and celebrity?

2. You oversee all story content for FOX News Channel and are responsible for its editorial direction. What is the present editorial direction of FOX News? Are there any plans to change that in the near future? If so, in what way? How are decisions made concerning the overall editorial direction of FOX News?

3. By most accounts, the majority of American journalists are not conservative in their personal political beliefs. Do you find that to be so? If so, how do you counter-balance that tendency in your newsroom? Do you take people's personal political beliefs into account when hiring -- i.e., do you look to hire more conservative voices throughout your newsroom?

4. What's the story with the infamous "morning memo" one former FOX producer decried? He claimed: "The roots of FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the bible." He also said, "Editorially, the FNC newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of management. The pressure ranges from subtle to direct. First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most high-profile political operatives of recent times. Everyone there understands that FNC is, to a large extent, "Roger's Revenge" -- against what he considers a liberal, pro-Democrat media establishment." What is your reaction?

5. Some observers say that your daytime news programming is more objective and balanced than the later programming featuring opinionated personalities like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Do you agree? Do you consider them to be journalists delivering news or commentators subject to a different standard?

6. I was once invited to appear on Bill O'Reilly's program -- and then uninvited when I refused to call the BBC as "the Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation" and the New York Times "the Saddam News Service." While I am certainly critical of those news outlets at times, I thought the O'Reilly characterizations were, frankly, ludicrous. Who do you agree with -- me or O'Reilly?

7. Many Americans now believe that the media, generally speaking, was too accepting of the government's rationale for invading and occupying Iraq, that coverage in the run up to the war and beyond resembled cheerleading more than reporting, and that, in essence, the mainstream media was complicit in creating the awful conditions we see there now. How do you respond?

8. Prior to joining FOX News, you had a 14-year career at Time as both a writer and bureau chief. Before that you were a bureau chief for United Press International. Is FOX News as "fair and balanced" as those traditional news outlets, or is it more overtly conservative?

Reader-generated questions:

9. Why do you think people who watch FOX News, when polled, were disproportionately misinformed on Iraq's connection to 9/11? (Tracy Minicucci)

10. It is not unpatriotic to disagree with a president or any other elected official. To support troops (and pray fervently they come home alive, are given the supplies they need to survive, and are prepared to understand the culture and the language) can also mean we want them home. We do not want them shipped off to illegal, immoral wars, encouraged to torture and break the Geneva Convention. To make sure they never are sent to fight unless it is truly to protect America is the biggest support we can give those who go to fight for us. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and those brave men and women should never have been sent there because of 9/11. Why didn't you ask questions in the news before it got to that stage? Why didn't you point out that the big majority of the perpetrators came from Saudi Arabia and ask why we weren't invading that country? Too many questions failed to be asked by all journalists in the media, and what a mess we have now because of that! Thank you for taking these things into consideration. (Anne Sherwood, grandmother and patriot, Kansas City, Mo.)