Fox Business News, still carving out its niche--that's a nice way of saying that it's still #2 behind CNBC, although it is clearly gaining--is always trying new things.
One good example was a recent series of reports by FBN anchor Brian Sullivan, as he traveled back to his hometown, Winchester, VA, to report on local economic conditions.
The Cable Gamer has noted, in the past, that CNBC has been inordinately preoccupied with covering Wall Street, and pushing the Wall Street agenda, at the expense of the Main Street agenda. CNBC's bias was never more obvious than during the debate over the (first) bailout legislation, in September and October, when the likes of Maria Bartiromo fairly demanded that Senators and Members of Congress across the country pick up the tab for all this Wall Street foolishness. It was clear bias on the part of CNBC, with only a few honorable exceptions, such as Rick Santelli, who comes across as a principled opponent of all bailouts, even for people like him.
But in the meantime, FBN's Sullivan goes beyond the world of high finance, in search of stories--and thus back to Winchester. It's all part of a FBN series, called "Opportunity in America: My Hometown."
And here's the way one local paper, The Winchester Star, capsulized Sullivan's reporting, which was a masterpiece of fairness and balance:
“Winchester is not immune to the economic downturn,” he told viewers throughout the nation Friday. “But Winchester, maybe more than a lot of other small towns with a manufacturing base, has basically been able to reinvent itself.”
Shivering near the Confederate soldier statue by the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum, Sullivan described an ever-evolving city moving from apple-growing and manufacturing to a place bustling with white-collar health care, university, and government jobs.
He assembled an all-star cast of local characters to prove the point.
On the steps of the Old Courthouse, Jim Davis, interim president of the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber of Commerce, told Sullivan that organizations such as Valley Health and the Federal Emergency Management Agency provide stable employment.
Tracy Fitzsimmons, president of Shenandoah University, and Mike Halseth, CEO of Valley Health, joined in to respectively discuss their ballooning education and health care campuses.
Sullivan's affection for his hometown was unmistakable: As he said to the paper, “It’s nice to see Winchester doing so well,” Sullivan said between shots. “Places like Loudoun Street make Winchester special.”
And another paper, The Northern Virginia Daily, seemed similarly impressed by Sullivan's willingness to get out to get the story, quoting him waxing lyrical about his hometown:
"I think Winchester needs to grow, but it needs to keep what makes it Winchester, which is the beautiful and historic downtown area, because the national chains are great and they bring some jobs, but I'm a big fan of shopping local, supporting the local shopkeeper, keeping the historic downtown beautiful, because that's what separates Winchester from so many other places that have just become one big strip mall.
"Winchester has a lot of opportunity to grow, but I do believe it needs to grow in the right way."
That's one thing that The Cable Gamer has always liked about Fox News: It covers the story, but it's always obvious that Fox loves America. And the same positive spirit is on display, too, at Fox Business News. People will notice.
