Fox Immediately Links LA Power Outage to Terror
Reported by Melanie - September 12, 2005
Today (September 12, 2005), at 4:16 p.m. EDT, after the bells and whistles of a FOX NEWS ALERT, John Gibson broke the news about a "large" power outage in Los Angeles. CNN and MSNBC hadn't even begun covering the story when, seconds later, Gibson went to Bret Baier at the Pentagon with this segue: "Meanwhile, a new terror tape has been released with new threats for the US and Australia. A warning from a masked man that Los Angeles, Los Angeles, where the power is out right now, and Melbourne, Australia, are next on the hit list."
During Baier's report, Fox aired video from the latest Al Qaeda tape, interwoven with video from the rubble of the World Trade Center and that famous H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign on the hillside in Southern California.
Comment: I would expect Fox to eventually imply that there might be a link between the outage and Al Qaeda but what was so appalling today was its rapidity. Fox didn't hesitate, it linked the two, literally, within seconds. This is the Fox way of reporting "news" - begin with worst-case-scenario speculation - and let the facts trickle in as they may.
