The Washington Monthly

February 10, 2009

INTERESTING USE OF THE WORD 'WE'.... It's a good thing Fox News doesn't have any journalistic credibility, or this might be embarrassing.

During the February 10 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, co-host Jon Scott claimed that "the Senate is expected to pass the $838 billion stimulus plan -- its version of it, anyway. We thought we'd take a look back at the bill, how it was born, and how it grew, and grew, and grew." In tracking how and when the bill purportedly "grew," Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods.
However, all of the sources and cost figures Scott cited, as well as the accompanying on-screen text, were also contained in a February 10 press release issued by the Senate Republican Communications Center. One on-screen graphic during the segment even repeated a typo from the GOP document, further confirming that Scott was simply reading from a Republican press release. The Fox News graphic and the GOP press release both claimed that a Wall Street Journal report that the stimulus package could reach "$775 billion over two years" was published on December 19, 2009 [emphasis added].

Fox News literally got the Republican press release this morning, and soon after, aired it as if it were news. It's one thing to take the party line on every issue, but when a news outlet starts running GOP press releases -- without even bothering to correct the party's typos -- you know the network has given up entirely on being taken seriously.

It's worth noting, of course, that this is not only ridiculously partisan, it's also unethical -- Fox News led viewers to believe the Republican talking points were actually the result of network research. If Fox News is going to pull a stunt like this, it should at least have the honesty to disclose the source. Sure, viewers should assume that if Fox News is running it, the content came from the Republican Party, but if they're going to at least pretend to have standards, the least the network can do is make an effort to keep up the charade.

For that matter, notice the on-air personality's choice of words: "We thought we'd take a look back at...." In this case, the viewer was led to believe "we" referred to the Fox News team. In reality, thought, Jon Scott accidentally told the truth -- "we" referred to the Republican Party and its cable news network.

—Steve Benen 3:15 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (22)

Comments

The first Fox News scandal EVAH!

Bet they feel like dumb asses now.

Posted by: fromer on February 10, 2009 at 3:13 PM | PERMALINK

Um, isn't reporting Faux News as full of crap not really news, either?

Posted by: Obama -- Not as Tough as the Steelers on February 10, 2009 at 3:20 PM | PERMALINK

I notice you used the words "Fox News" and "honesty" in the same sentence. Steve, you're just adorable! Waiting for your turn at the unicorn rides?

Posted by: bikelib on February 10, 2009 at 3:23 PM | PERMALINK

Time for the FCC to pull the Fox licenses for broadcasting.

Or just put them on probation, with forced apologies required for mis-representation for each incident.

Hey, we can dream, right?

Posted by: BuzzMon on February 10, 2009 at 3:26 PM | PERMALINK

Article Date: 04/25/08

Fox News Channel Co-Anchor to Receive Mercy College Quill Award
WHO: Fox News Channel co-anchor Jon Scott is the recipient of the Quill Award for Professional Achievement. Mercy College Media Studies Program is the award presenter and event organizer.

WHAT: The Quill Award for Professional Achievement will be presented to Scott during the 24th annual Quill Awards Ceremony. Nicole Rossi, an outstanding Mercy alumna who now works as a senior production coordinator for the World Wrestling Entertainment Company, will also be recognized. The ceremony is open to the public and will be followed by a dinner reception.

WHERE:
Mercy College
Dobbs Ferry Campus (Mercy Hall, Community Room)
555 Broadway Dobbs Ferry, NY

WHEN: May 1, 2007, 6:30 p.m.

Posted by: stan on February 10, 2009 at 3:27 PM | PERMALINK

Steve, friends don't let friends watch Faux News.

Just say no. We don't need to know what the inmates are saying in the insane asylum.

Posted by: Sarah Barracuda on February 10, 2009 at 3:32 PM | PERMALINK

Maybe someone could explain what is the difference between what Fox Propaganda does and CNN ? Thanks

Posted by: stormskies on February 10, 2009 at 3:33 PM | PERMALINK

I can't wait to hear Keith and Rachel deal a pox to this hubris...

Posted by: Stevio on February 10, 2009 at 3:36 PM | PERMALINK

Fox News is a fucking joke, a tabloid for bitter old white men. I still find it amusing that the slobbering idiots who watch a cable tee vee channel think they are getting the unvarnished truth that is so widely suppressed by the evil librul media everywhere else.

I've heard members of my own family praise Fox as if it was a fountain of knowledge, yet I do not know a single identified liberal who thinks that MSNBC is the only source for 'the truth' out there. Is wingnuttery akin to a cult? Sure as hell seems like it.

Wingnuts need some arbitrary authority figure to tell them how to think each day. That's why talk radio is so popular with these idiots, they need a daddy figure (hence the obsession with Reagen) to tell them what to think. Some impotent bloated sack of shit like Rush Limpballs is their hero. Go figure.

Posted by: Animal Collective on February 10, 2009 at 3:55 PM | PERMALINK

Time for the FCC to pull the Fox licenses for broadcasting.

Cable station. CABLE. STATION. They are not a broadcaster, they are a CABLE. STATION. The FCC controls the airwaves, not cable. Unless things have changed, you don't need any kind of a license to be a cable station, just a contract with a cable company to provide content.

So what should happen is that you should get your local cable provider (HA!) to drop Fox News. Unfortunately, since cable stations are usually local monopolies, there is some strict regulation on what they are allowed to not carry (Time Warner got in trouble years ago for not carrying Fox News in New York - of course that's muddied by the fact that they own one of Fox News's competitors).

Since Fox News still has a decent ratings share (and is likely to increase with a Democratic-controlled government) and likely gets bundled with channels like Fox Sports and FX, don't plan on your local cable company doing anything like that in the near future...

Posted by: NonyNony on February 10, 2009 at 3:59 PM | PERMALINK

The other corporate media networks also report Republican propaganda as "news". They just aren't quite so blatant about it.

Posted by: SecularAnimist on February 10, 2009 at 4:23 PM | PERMALINK

Huh. I thought they gave up pretending to be objective a long time ago.

If I had to vote for worst channel ever, I'd be hard-pressed to choose between Fox's crapola news and Nancy Grace's true-crime hysteria.

Losers. Not just the stations and their hateful talking heads, but everybody who listens to them. Sad little losers.

Posted by: mcmama on February 10, 2009 at 4:29 PM | PERMALINK

As someone who feeds press releases to the media, what Fox did is astonishingly par for the course. Many smaller media outlets will run press releases verbatim and label them as "staff reports." Many of the quotes in news stories were fed to a reporter via press release and did not entail the reporter actually speaking with the subject. TV journalism is now increasingly reliant on video news releases and B-roll provided by interest groups to cover stories, especially as newsrooms get smaller and smaller.

However, larger news outlets usually have a higher standard for professionalism than just reporting straight off of a partisan press release. ...But then we are talking about Fox news.

Posted by: petorado on February 10, 2009 at 4:52 PM | PERMALINK

The average Fox News viewer must be as dumb as a bag of doorknobs.

Posted by: James G on February 10, 2009 at 5:41 PM | PERMALINK

The average Fox News viewer must be as dumb as a bag of doorknobs.

You have met my (ex) in-laws!

Posted by: Chev on February 10, 2009 at 5:54 PM | PERMALINK

To quote another thread: marry in haste, repent in leisure, Chev.

Posted by: shortstop on February 10, 2009 at 6:19 PM | PERMALINK

'..."we" referred to the Republican Party and its cable news network.'

Wouldn't it be as accuirate to say "it's cabal network?" That's how I read it.

Posted by: sparrow on February 10, 2009 at 8:03 PM | PERMALINK

What about the Stephanopoulus interview with Larry Summers? Talk about coincidence! Now that it has come out that Stephanopoulus is part of the Obama strategy team, this was clearly an infomercial for the pork bill. A "newsmaker" interview. LOL

Sure conservatives have Fox and talk radio (where unlike liberal networks commentators don't pretend to be news reporters), but liberals had a virtual monopoly for decades with the major networks.

Posted by: Luther on February 10, 2009 at 10:00 PM | PERMALINK

Hey, I've got an idea, let's find out if the story and the facts in it are true!

Oh, it is true, and those are real sources?

Never mind.

Posted by: dualdiagnosis on February 10, 2009 at 10:46 PM | PERMALINK

And of course, neither the Republican Party press release or Fox News are smart enough to recognize that or honest enough to admit that:

a) the economy has shed millions of jobs since 9/25/08 and therefore the stimulus needs to be larger.

b) that there is a big difference between what Democrats were willing to settle for in 9/25/2008 with a slim minority and a President waiting to wield the veto pen and what they think is needed.

c) that they are less willing to settle for less than is needed now that they have bigger majorities, a popular new President, and wide support from the American public.

Posted by: tanstaafl on February 10, 2009 at 11:29 PM | PERMALINK

To quote another thread: marry in haste, repent in leisure, Chev.

My Mom said something similar. It's amazing how much smarter she has gotten in the years since I graduated from high school.

Posted by: Chev on February 10, 2009 at 11:33 PM | PERMALINK

Nony - My apologies. I was conflating the Fox Broadcasting stations with the cable station.

D'oh!

Posted by: BuzzMon on February 11, 2009 at 1:42 PM | PERMALINK

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