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CNN vs. Fox News: Battle of the Brands

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This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

The battle between CNN and Fox News isn't a question of liberals and conservatives. That debate was settled long ago and the conservatives won.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) makes a ton of money from Fox News, which continues to dominate. Its ratings have rebounded after slipping last year. CNN parent Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) launched Headline Prime in 2005 as a Fox without Bill O'Reilly, complete with rabid right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck.

One night for fun, I decided to compare O'Reilly and Beck. Boy was I lucky. I picked a night to DVR their shows when both hosts were at the the top of their games.

On his program, Beck railed against all sorts of people bent on destroying the America, including filmmaker Michael Moore, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, comedian Rosie O'Donnell, and pop star Elton John.

Elton John? Rocket Man? I was shocked too.

Apparently, Sir Elton is the "high priest of hypocrisy," according to Beck. The singer had a 60th birthday party at St. John the Divine, a big church in New York. Seems John, who has little use for religion, made some changes to the church building for the concert, including removing the pews. To make matters worse, John showed a background of a burning church at his show the next day at Madison Square Garden. Oh yeah, that was on a Sunday.

All of this was too much for the talk show host to take.

"If he wants to drop a few million to desecrate your church than who am I to judge, right? Wrong!" he said of the pop star.

Beck may try to be O'Reilly, but there is only one patron saint of conservative talk shows. O'Reilly is in a league of his own. By the way, I have no sympathies for O'Reilly's critics who are outraged by his behavior toward guests who don't agree with him. They've obviously never watched his show.

Anyway, Papa Bear (Steven Colbert's nickname for him) was in a reflective mood on the night I watched the O'Reilly Factor. He brought in body language expert Tonya Reiman to review recent interviews to see if there was anything to the criticism that he was too "mean" to guests.

I am not making his up.

"You really let the anger linger on your face," she said.

"I don't have any problem letting people know I'm angry," O'Reilly replied.

Insightful, no?

In summary, I am declaring the victor in the battle of the brands between Fox and CNN to be Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA) Comedy Central. The fake news of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is often more insightful than the real news on either network.

Be sure to vote in our poll for Fox News or CNN as your preferred brand, and lets us know why you love it in the comments. Results of all Battle of the Brands match-ups coming soon.

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Last updated: November 25, 2009: 05:53 AM

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