CNN does lean left. This close to an election is when you really notice it. I remember in 2008 about this time, I was deployed overseas and I had limited choices of news channels, and I watched a lot of CNN’s coverage of that election…and it was horrible. I was so frustrated from that I blocked CNN channels on my TV when I got home. However, I know CNN can be ok at times, but again, when it gets so close to a Presidential election their journalism standards seem to go out the window.
As far as Fox News Channel, as I often say, when they are reporting the news like they do most of the day, they are truly fair and balanced. Some people seem to confuse the opinion shows for the actual news reporting, and they think Fox is some sort of MSNBC type place where it is 24/7 opinion shows. Watch Fox most of the day, it is showing a fair assessment of what is going on. Now, if you are watching Hannity that is clearly a conservative leaning opinion type show, don’t judge the whole channel because of that. Hannity is the most right leaning there. As for the others: O’Reilly is an independent and it shows; The Five is a mixed bag; Greta Van Susteren is a moderate (I remember when she was on CNN). The only reason Fox is so incredibly successful, is because one, there apparently was a market for fair and balance reporting that wasn’t being filled. Two, those opinion shows weren’t being showed anywhere else.