Faux Reporters Give Editorial Comments in their Reports
Reported by Donna - May 5, 2005
Today on Studio B with Shepard Smith, he covered two stories regarding the explosion outside the British Consulate in NYC and the election in Britain.
The reports would have been fine, but the two correspondants that spoke to Shepard decided to share some editorial comments in their reports.
Smith spoke about the two toy grenades that were filled with gunpowder that went off in front of the British Embassy in NYC. Smith said that many (not some, many) are asking if it's terrorism and is there any connection to the elections in Britain.
Smith went first to Eric Shawn, Senior Correspondent for Fox, in NYC. Smith said, "A UN connection, Shawn?" Shawn reported that the police were questioning a UN employee, a Dutch Nationale, who lived nearby. He described the UN employee as working as an analyst for UMNIVIC, a weapons inspection company which is headed by Hans Blix. Then Shawn said "they're supposed to be looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
After Shawn, Smith went to Greg Palkot in London to get a report on the elections there. Palkot said that some dissension is an understatement, Tony Blair has had to endure "a hail of bullets for his very brave backing of the U.S. in it's war with Iraq.
Comment: Seems to me these stories could have been told as straight news stories, without the editorial comment. What does "They're supposed to be looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq" have to do with the story? And, Palkot's "very brave backing of the U.S." statement could simply have been reported as Tony Blair's backing of the U.S.
The more I listen to Fox, the more the little nuances stand out to me.
