Difference between CNN and Fox News
It is hardly surprising that CNN and Fox News would often be compared with one another, what with both news agencies being the biggest players in the industry and notorious in connection with the White House. The competition between the two has become quite fierce at numerous times in the past to say the least and the question of which one is the better source of news comes up with some regularity.
While there are a number of distinct differences between the two, along with their own unique advantages and disadvantages, it may be helpful to realize that CNN and Fox News are both mainstream news sources. This means that they are actually a lot more alike than you would think and they do share a number of similarities. With that being said, let's take a look at their more salient aspects.
Content and Focus
CNN generally puts out a greater number of stories than Fox News does and it is slightly more focused on news events related to the international scene. CNN correspondents appear to be less bent on promoting a political agenda than their Fox News counterparts. Fox News for its part tends to offer longer news items with a lot more reinforcement for their storylines.
Website Features
As for their websites, CNN again wins out in this category with a much more well-designed and more aesthetically pleasing homepage. It also offers a number of useful features that make navigation a lot easier and more elegant. CNN has an advantage over Fox News in that it offers a lot more categories of news. Its pages also load more quickly than Fox News’ and it definitely has a much better search function. For instance, you can perform searches that will call up only certain capitalized words.
Fox News’ search function leaves a lot to be desired, since it often fails to display the new articles of the day. Fox News featured articles appear to be more sensuous and pop culture with its flashy images and less focused on serious subjects.
CNN also always displays a full page of results, while Fox News displays only three or four news items until you refresh the page, revealing a full news page. To its credit, Fox does include links to recent articles related to the news item.
Political Leanings
CNN is obviously the more liberal of the two. While the more extreme elements of either side would be quick to point to the relative political moderation of both news services, they do clearly exhibit their leanings.
Summary
CNN
- Tends to publish more stories
- More focused on international issues
- Website offers more news categories than Fox’s site
- Website loads a lot faster than Fox’s
- Has a better search function
- More liberal bent
Fox News
- Usually offers longer stories
- Website is designed with more attractive images
- Typically offers three main stories
- Site displays only the most recent news, with a refresh necessary for the full page
- Search function could be improved
- Offers links for similar stories with every article
- More conservative stance
