Where Beat Reporting Could Help

I recently read a pretty one sided story on Fox News' website titled '9/11 Families Outraged by Obama Call to Suspend Guantanamo War Crime Trials.' When i first read some of the networks stories it didn't seem like they'd done a whole lot of balanced reporting. They tend to stay one sided despite their slogan "Fair and Balanced." Maybe Fox News is a bad example to point out where beat reporting could have worked to further a story but in this particular article about shutting down Guantanamo Bay and moving some terrorists to prisons in the U.S. while expediting others, I can't help but wonder if Fox reporters even took the time to investigate the other side. They do mention humanitarian groups that approve Obamas decision as "a move in the right direction" but aside from that its a very one sided article. The article preceding it is titled "You decide: Do you want terrorist in your back yard."

I think Fox could make a much better argument if they included other sides of the argument in their articles. Also, spending time with left wing groups as well as right wing groups might fill them in on the bigger picture. If they really do have correspondents out their on both sides of the spectrum asking the right questions, then they've clearly made a decision not to use all of them.