Happy 30th birthday to Fox News — the network that changed the world

Fox News Channel is 30 years young today, and America — and the world — will never be the same.

The 24-hour news platform founded by Rupert Murdoch clobbers its rivals in the ratings and helps set the daily agenda in corridors of power from City Hall to Washington, DC, to the Kremlin.

Of course, Fox News' contribution can hardly be measured only in audience size. It's not merely the most influential conservative major televised news organization, but a vibrant, colorful and often controversial foil to the liberal and leftist voices that dominate broadcast and cable news...