They Admit They're a Republican Network!
Reported by Melanie - July 17, 2004 -
Fox News Watch today (July 17, 2004, 6:30 p.m. ET) was most interesting! The second segment was a "discussion" about the new film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.
Eric Burns moderated a five-person round table discussion. Burns admitted at the outset that the subject was "difficult for us to talk about" because "we all take paychecks from this network."
Jim Pinkerton (of Newsday) was hilarious when he said that at the beginning of Outfoxed, Fox News was portrayed as "worse than the Mafia." (The movie opens with a scene from the film "The Godfather" (a spoof on Rupert Murdoch) which, I presume, is how Pinkerton made this big leap.)
Neal Gabler, identified only as a "media writer," said "Fox and Friends" might be titled Bush and Friends. Then Gabler said, Bill O'Reilly is a "Republican spinmeister," and, Fox was "designed for Republicans who watch it."
A complete transcript is here at JimGilliam.com.
COMMENT: First, when everyone on the panel is taking "paychecks from this network," the panel's objectivity is obviously called into question. Second, if Fox was "designed for Republicans who watch it," fine. Come clean. Be honest. Be up front. Say it loud and clear. Be proud. However, don't claim to be "fair and balanced" and remove the word "news" from your title too.
