Partisanship in News
November 20, 2009
Greg Jarrett Talks “Eric Holder’s Hidden Agenda” – Julie Banderas Talks Traffic
Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to allow the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of 9-11, in a NY Federal Court, is a contentious one. There are strong opinions on either side of the issue. But if one were watching the Saturday Fox News (and it’s not officially “opinion,” right?) one would have heard information relating to, with the exception of one “fair and balanced” discussion, just one side only. Last Saturday afternoon (November 14th) I had the TV on in the background as I was putting the finishing touches on the Julia Child Beef Bourguignon (and I must say that it turned out quite well). There was a substantial amount of KSM coverage from Gregg Jarrett and Julie Banderas who couldn’t hide their “agita” over the situation. In the time slot from roughly 4:30 to almost 6PM, the supposed “fair and balanced” news was – not so much.
Continue reading >>November 19, 2009
On Special Report, Fox Spun GOP Health Care Talking Points Into News
Guest blogged by Nayef
On Monday, (11/16/09), Special Report discussed health care reform in a not-so fair and balanced way that just happened to take Republican Mitch McConnell’s spin and present it as news. With video.
Continue reading >>Another Defeat For Fox Nation – David Hamilton Confirmed For Appeals Court
Fox Nation was all whipped up into a pitchfork frenzy about the nomination of David Hamilton to the Chicago based appeals court. Usually, a federal appeals court nominee would draw no more than a yawn; but not so for Mr. Hamilton whose evil, librul record produced howls of indignation by conservative Christians throughout Fox Nation. It seems that Mr. Hamilton, described as a “Judicial Anarchist” by the “Christian News Wire,” made some decisions, relating to public prayer and abortion, which the American Taliban (whoops, religious right) disapproved of; so, when his nomination was announced, the right wing witch hunt began. That the charges were totally bogus was not a problem for those, including Fox Nation, which sought to demonize this man who, in addition to “Saying Yes to Allah and No to Jesus, worked (gasp) for ACORN, for one month after college and the ultra, evil, librul ACLU. But despite calls to Jesus and the best efforts of Fox Nation, Mr. Hamilton was confirmed by a vote of 59 to 39 in the US Senate.
Continue reading >>Why Didn't Garrett Ask Obama About The Bow?
President Obama sat down with Major Garrett for a few minutes in an interview that was aired on yesterday's (11/18/09) Special Report. It was straightforward, fair and respectful. But there was no mention of one of Fox News' biggest stories of late, President Obama's bow to the Emperor of Japan. If Fox News thought the bow so important that the network obsessed over it on multiple shows and gave it top billing on their Fox Nation website, shouldn't Garrett have asked about it? Or does its omission signal the "fair and balanced" network's tacit admission that it's not as important a story as they've made it out to be? Or did the "we report, you decide" network deliberately pull its punches in order to land the interview in the wake of tensions between them and the White House? Whatever the reason, it did not reflect well on Fox News. (H/T Nayef)
Steve Doocy And Brian Kilmeade Unabashedly Promote Pro-life Propaganda
I know that Fox&Friends is officially part of the Fox “Opinion” News, so it wasn’t surprising that Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, on last week’s Fox&Friends, did a “cupcake” interview with Democratic US Rep. Bart Stupak – the author of an amendment to the House health care bill which has far ranging reproductive ramifications for American women. Both Doocy and Kilmeade are Roman Catholics so it wasn’t surprising that they allowed their co religionist to peddle his pro-life propaganda regarding a bill which the American Council of Catholic Bishops had a huge hand in drafting and supporting. And in providing a “right to life” definition of the bill, the Fox “friends” provided a pulpit, once again, for the anti-choice gospel that Fox preaches to its anti-choice audience. But even if you’re doing “opinion” news, don’t you have some obligation towards objectivity? Not if you’re America’s pro-life newsroom.
E-mail the show: friends@foxnews.com
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