Does Lachlan Murdoch actually watch Fox News? Or is he just repeating a PR lie about its biased, propagandistic coverage? I report, you decide.

During Business Insider’s IGNITION conference, Murdoch trotted out the old canard that there’s “a real difference between the news reporting and news gathering and the opinion shows” on Fox News.

Sure, there’s a difference but it’s been proven again and again that Fox’s news reporting is biased and promotes the same Republican message as its opinion shows.

“I think the news reporting … is as balanced, if not more so, than anything out there,” Murdoch insisted. I noted that he never used the word “unbiased.”

Murdoch cited Fox anchors Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Megyn Kelly as “absolutely fair and balanced.”

Unfortunately, interviewer Henry Blodget did not have any examples at hand to review. Otherwise, he could have noted how Baier slyly prodded a Republican guest to bring up right-wing attacks on President Obama after the Orlando massacre or Wallace’s blatant attempts to delegitimize Jill Stein’s recount of the 2016 presidential election or Megyn Kelly’s efforts to promote the completely unqualified Dr. Ben Carson as HUD secretary at the same time that she attacked those opposed.

Blodget did note that the opinion shows “definitely seem to be of one view.” He asked, “Would you hire Rachel Maddow, for example?”

Murdoch deflected saying, “I try not to get into” hiring decisions which are made by “leadership.”

If you ask me, Murdoch looked rather nervous answering these questions. He repeatedly sipped from his water bottle.

“I don’t think it is necessarily of one view.” Murdoch said, using weasel words. “I think the contrast between a Megyn Kelly and a Bill O’Reilly and a Sean Hannity and a Tucker Carlson ... I think there’s a high contrast amongst all of those shows,” Murdoch continued.

Well, yeah, there’s a difference between the shows but they’re all hosted by conservatives, all Trumpsters except for Kelly (who, as in the Carson example above, is willing to put her thumb on the scale on behalf of Trump anyway). They all race bait, they’ve all echoed anti-gay paranoia, etc.

However, Murdoch did suggest that the network may tone down its stridency in the near future. When asked about changes in the wake of CEO Roger Ailes’ departure, Murdoch said:

“It’s hard to tell right now because we’re in the middle of this big political cycle. But I think definitely there’s a desire to break news, there’s a desire to really focus on the news side of it. But also to make sure that the best personalities that are in prime time, the people that are there, and new figures that are going to come through are engaging and exciting and connecting with the audience.”

But don’t expect any liberals to get a show soon. “I think it’s not really a question of saying you’re going to pivot from a perceived political bias one way or another,” Murdoch added.