So, what, exactly are the pundits on Fox News? News Anchors? I don’t think so because news anchors usually follow a certain pretty well defined set of standard objective behaviors and usually mostly try to keep opinion and speculation out of what they are seemingly presenting as (factual) news. None of that really applies to Fox News pundits.
So, what are they, exactly? I read the term “network host” in an artlcle today. Or, at least that is the first time that I really paid attention to the phrase if it has been around for a while. I just didn’t really pay it much attention. But, the question as to what they are and how to define them has been on my mind for a long time.
I think “network host” works. Hosts can state opinions, even as facts when they are not. They don’t have to provide any reasons or factual back up to verify that what they are saying is fact-based. Hosts can be emotional and seek to evoke emotions in their audience. They can state their opinions and speculations and if they do so with the right amount and the right kind of emotion, usually anger or trepidation, they can elicit their desired responses from their audience.
But what are pundits? A pundit is an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public. But when that person who is acting as a pundit is expertly delivering non factual speculation and/or opinion and conspiracies or false narratives or disinformation, that is no longer an expert offering an opinion. That is a propagandist.
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