Network News Vet: More Saw Liberal Bias Than 'Anyone' in Media 'Had Estimated'

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On FNC's two-hour Sunday special (8-10pm EDT) to mark the channel's tenth anniversary, former CBS News and MSNBC executive Erik Sorenson articulated what the AP's David Bauder last week paraphrased him as acknowledging: How New York-based news media executives were so out of touch that they did not recognize the depth of belief in liberal media bias into which FNC tapped. “There was a full-on commitment” to the “fair and balanced” premise, Sorenson proposed during FNC's special, Fox News at 10: Thank You America, in explaining FNC's success: “There were far more people in America who seemed to hold that opinion of the liberal media bias than anyone in New York City -- the media capital of the world -- had estimated."

As detailed in an October 2 NewsBusters posting, Bauder had reported: “Before Fox, many in the media scoffed at the notion of a liberal bias and figured only a handful of people really believed that, said Erik Sorenson, former MSNBC President. 'Fox proved it's a much larger group than anybody realized,' he said.”

Sorenson served as Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News from 1991 to 1995 and was President of MSNBC from 1999 through early 2004, where he re-hired Keith Olbermann in 2003 to replace Phil Donahue's show which he had created.

Sorenson's soundbite in full from the October 8 FNC special:

Erik Sorenson: “The difference-maker was the attitude of the channel that was not just a marketing slogan, but actually got lived within the programs virtually every minute of the day. Cue the slogan.”

FNC announcer: “Fair and balanced.”

Sorenson: “There was a full-on commitment to that premise and there were far more people in America who seemed to hold that opinion of the liberal media bias than anyone in New York City -- the media capital of the world -- had estimated.”