News Hounds

Mediaite Profiles Fox’s Spin Meister Frank Luntz

Long-time readers of News Hounds are well familiar with Frank Luntz, the so-called “pollster” who appears regularly on the so-called “news network.” Real pollsters try to get a candid snapshot of the public mood at any given time. On the other hand: Luntz poses the components in his snapshots to create the appearance of a public mood in order to push GOP talking points for Fox “News.” He is documented in these pages stacking focus groups to get more favorable responses on several occasions. He has also been caught haranguing his focus groups until they finally give him the answer he’s looking for. Luntz has also used his, err, talents to help the Republican Party fine-tune its message into easily digestible sound-bites, which don’t have to be true to be effective: “death tax” instead of “estate tax” or “tax relief” instead of “tax cuts.” His formulation “government takeover” of health care was Politifact’s Lie of the Year. That’s why it was so refreshing to see Mediaite tackle the problem that is Frank Luntz. Philip Bump writes:

No Fox News Outrage Re Alleged Bribe For 9-11 Victims' Phone Records?

During the Rupert Murdoch media/Pam Geller generated "controversy" surrounding the so-called "Ground Zero" mosque, Fox News became the protector of 9-11 families who, according to the coverage on Fox News, were unilaterally opposed to the construction of the NY Islamic cultural center. In reality, there was no unanimity; but that didn't stop Fox from providing lots of air time for the right wing, anti-mosque Debra Burlingame from conveying the impression that all 9-11 families were deeply troubled by the proposed construction. Flash forward a year. Reports have surfaced that Rupert Murdoch's British media have been involved in attempting to secure information about all sorts of people via all sorts of legally and ethically questionable activities which include the hacking of phones belonging to a murdered girl and families of fallen British soldiers. The human dimension of this scandal would seem to be grist for the types of stories that Fox News loves; but, interestingly, it has been rather muted. Yesterday, another report surfaced, regarding the "News of the World" and 9-11 families. You'd think that Fox would be all over this affront to a group that heretofore has had pride of place on Fox News. So far, not so much.

Johnny Dollar Hearts Fox News . . . Awww, Is Fox Returning the Love?

I had just launched Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo last night (1/22/10) on foxnews.com, and was semi-listening to his worn-out tirade against the liberal media -- specifically, NBC and MSNBC. O'Reilly started talking about the Massachusetts election, and how superior Fox News' coverage was compared with CNN and MSNBC. Maybe chart-drawing has become mandatory on Fox since the advent of Glenn Beck, who knows, but O'Reilly had his own little graph on the screen, and he said, "Take a look at this graph, put up by Johnny Dollar on the net." Johnny Dollar, a blogger who's Fox News' staunchest defender and slayer of all detractors, must have had a giddy moment at the shoutout from Bill . . . but wait, aren't bloggers in BillO-land just goofies, "fascists," "dishonest?" Oh wait, never mind -- that's just liberal bloggers. With video.

No Peabody Awards For Fox News? But They’re #1 In Cable News!

While media ratings are important for advertising revenue, they don’t necessarily imply quality. Compare any program on NPR with the highly rated Fox&Friends and you know what I’m talking about. Thus, we have Fox News, ”real journalism, fair and balanced,” being #1 in cable news while not receiving any awards from an organization that values real journalism. It’s also funny that the Fox apologists, when faced with the evidence of Fox partisanship and right wing demagoguery (Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity, Fox&Friends), claim that these right wing talking sockpuppets are “conservative commentators” and, thus, not subject to the proper protocol for “real” journalism – which is how Fox defines itself. So, the lack of a Peabody Award might be because the Peabody people don’t value what Fox presents as “real journalism, fair and balanced.” Ya think?!

"Spendulus" - Lest There Be Any Doubt About Fox News Partisanship

Senate OKS Stimulus Plan
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Senate Passes $838B Stimulus Bill
http://www.cbsnews.com/

Senate Passes Obama's $838 Billion Economic Recovery Plan By a Vote of 61-37
http://abcnews.go.com/

Senate OKs 'Spendulus' Bill
URGENT: 61-37 vote passes $838 billion plan, bill now goes to House-Senate conference to work out differences | 1ST 100 DAYS
• 'Spendulus' Debate on the Senate Floor: WATCH LIVE
• Obama in Fla. as Senate Votes on 'Spendulus' | WATCH LIVE

http://www.foxnews.com/

***Update - 7:18 EST - Fox News website now referring to the bill as the "stimulus bill." What happened to "spendulus." It was so cute!

***Wait a minute, Fox Forum says there is "still time to kill the spendulous bill." Whew, for a minute I thought Fox had become non partisan!!!!!