Northern Fox

Thirty years ago today, Ted Turner flipped a switch and the face of news was never the same again. Struggling with its ratings, the network can now say the same about the audience. "People are drawn to the echo chamber, and they want to have their opinions validated more often than they want to have their opinions challenged," says Campbell Brown. "And trying to present an unbiased perspective is simply harder."

Today, Quebecor announced its intent to launch a 24-hour right-leaning "à la Fox" news channel on Jan. 1, 2011. Additional news channels are a good thing, but what's wrong with this picture? Is the only way to sell goods and services to cater to the consumer?

In their continuous quest to sell more goods, marketers have been exploiting preconceived ideas and have succeeded in comforting consumers into thinking they are always right. Now, news network must follow that path to be commercially viable. Objective information is losing ground.