The Washington Monthly

February 11, 2009

FOX NEWS MISSES THE POINT.... Even by Fox News standards, yesterday was more embarrassing than most. In the morning, the Senate Republican Communications Center sent Fox News a press release, talking about how the economic stimulus bill grew over time. Shortly thereafter, Fox News' Jon Scott was on the air talking about the package: "We thought we'd take a look back at the bill, how it was born, and how it grew, and grew, and grew."

As it turns out, Fox News took the Republicans' materials and aired it, word for word, without telling viewers that the "story" was a creation of Republican officials. It was so blatant, Fox News' on-screen graphic included the identical typo made in the original GOP document, making it obvious that the network used a party press release as a news script.

Today, after having been caught serving as a propaganda outlet for a political party, the fair-and-balanced network responded. Jon Scott told viewers:

"Yesterday on Happening Now we showed you how the stimulus bill has grown over time. Our story prompted by a news release from the Senate Republican Communication Center. Their point that a $56 billion proposal in September has grown to $838 billion in five months. In compiling that story, our producers and researchers did what we always do -- we verified the accuracy of the material. But in double checking the newspaper quotes referenced in that news release we made the same mistake they did. We labeled a Wall Street Journal article as having run in 2009 when in fact it was 2008. That was our error, and we apologize."

So, let me get this straight. Fox News ran a Republican press release as news, and Jon Scott apologizes for the typo? That's a bit like a thief getting caught in a jewelry store, and apologizing for leaving broken glass on the carpet.

Jon, no one cares about the typo. We care that Fox News pretends to be legitimate, but airs Republican propaganda as news content -- unapologetically.

Karl Frisch concluded, "I'd question Fox News' journalistic integrity; that is of course if they had any to question in the first place."

—Steve Benen 4:30 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (23)

Comments

In compiling that story, our producers and researchers did what we always do -- we verified the accuracy of the material.

The problem is, they didn't even do that. And who's kidding whom anyway. Since when does Fox challenge the veracity of something that comes from the Partei?

Posted by: Danp on February 11, 2009 at 4:34 PM | PERMALINK

They're admitting only that they made the same mistake in typos as the press release? What are they apologizing for, then?

Posted by: Trevor J on February 11, 2009 at 4:34 PM | PERMALINK

"without telling viewers that the "story" was a creation of Republican officials."

Isn't Fox News a creation of Republican officials?

Posted by: Saint Zak on February 11, 2009 at 4:39 PM | PERMALINK

At least they felt enough shame to cover their blatant partisan hackery with lies and obfuscation.

That's progress, right?

Posted by: doubtful on February 11, 2009 at 4:39 PM | PERMALINK

Steve Benen wrote: "We care that Fox News pretends to be legitimate, but airs Republican propaganda as news content ..."

In fairness and balancedness to Fox News, they don't really "pretend" very hard.

Actually, in my opinion the supposedly "liberal" NPR is much worse, since they give lots of airtime to Mara Liasson and Juan Williams to regurgitate scripted, partisan Republican talking points as "analysis", but NEVER, EVER identify them as paid Fox News commentators.

Posted by: SecularAnimist on February 11, 2009 at 4:40 PM | PERMALINK

"how's that government transparency and bipartisanship working for you guys ??"

any particular gripes or just trolling?

Posted by: dk on February 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM | PERMALINK

I tell you I'm Shocked! Deeply Shocked , I'll have to fire eveybody including myself.

Posted by: Rupert Mudoch on February 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM | PERMALINK

red state mike wrote: "Maybe they can hire Dan Rather and use forged documents to try to bring down a sitting President."

maybe you shouldn't drink quite so much before you sit down to post blog comments

Posted by: SecularAnimist on February 11, 2009 at 4:42 PM | PERMALINK

Rush Limbaugh is paid big bucks by corporations to keep people like "pete" ignorant and make them even more stupid than they were to begin with. Got to admit, he gets results.

Posted by: SecularAnimist on February 11, 2009 at 4:45 PM | PERMALINK

red state moron said "Maybe they can hire Dan Rather and use forged documents to try to bring down a sitting President."

Dude, that is flatter than Michelle Malkin's chest.

Posted by: Jazz on February 11, 2009 at 4:53 PM | PERMALINK

Your title is delightful:

FOX NEWS MISSES THE POINT

Heh heh.

Isn't that like announcing THE EARTH REVOLVES AROUND THE SUN?

Or, WATER IS WET?

Or, SEAN HANNITY IS STUPID?

Kinda overstating the obvious, is my point.

Posted by: UncommonSense on February 11, 2009 at 4:59 PM | PERMALINK

Meh. You're focusing on trivia, where it came from, who made the typo, etc.
You should be paying attention to CONTENT.
OK, so the bill was $56 billion in September, and it's gotten bigger.
Um, so how many jobs have disappeared since September?(let's round down, and say it's been 3 months, at 500,000 plus lost jobs per month).
That would be in excess of 1.5 million additional Americans out of work since that time.
Which is why the bill got bigger - the problem is increasing in scope.
It's nice to make the point that Fox is passing along RNC talking points.
It is MORE IMPORTANT TO POINT OUT THAT THEY ARE WRONG.

Posted by: kenga on February 11, 2009 at 5:02 PM | PERMALINK

Comrades,

Do not let boozhwa tendencies like kapitalist free press deestract us frum zuh truth of zuh pahrty!

Posted by: pj in jesusland on February 11, 2009 at 5:09 PM | PERMALINK

Steve, they're not "missing the point." They're rubbing your nose in the brazenness of their cut-and-paste job.

Posted by: Tyro on February 11, 2009 at 5:10 PM | PERMALINK

FOX "news" personalities lack even a basic self-reflection ability. To a T, every FOX personalities most likely end their sexual play with their preferred partners by noting, "it was good for me, and how about you, was it good for me too?" What sophomoric imbeciles they are, those working for Rupert! -Kevo

Posted by: kevo on February 11, 2009 at 6:01 PM | PERMALINK

Kevin, you misunderstood his claim. He said "we verified the accuracy of the material" but made the same typo they did, which is why it looked as though they had just passed on the talking points. He said they did pass them on, but they checked to make sure they were correct first.

Posted by: anandine on February 11, 2009 at 6:12 PM | PERMALINK

Our story prompted by a news release from the Senate Republican Communication Center. Their point that a $56 billion proposal in September has grown to $838 billion in five months.

Our sentences missing verbs. Our English usage ungrammatical.

Posted by: Stefan on February 11, 2009 at 6:16 PM | PERMALINK

You write: "So, let me get this straight. Fox News ran a Republican press release as news, and Jon Scott apologizes for the typo? That's a bit like a thief getting caught in a jewelry store, and apologizing for leaving broken glass on the carpet."

Let's get real. It's like Dick Cheney carelessly shooting a friend in the face and the friend apologizing for sticking his face in the path of Cheney's shotgun blast.

It's a question of who's doing the sucking and who's getting sucked. Fox News and Cheney's friend are doing a lot of sucking.

Posted by: CMcC on February 11, 2009 at 6:49 PM | PERMALINK

It is sorta like the man accused of robbing vending who pays his bail in quarters.

Posted by: dwight meredith on February 11, 2009 at 9:47 PM | PERMALINK

I'm suprised you were even watching FOX News. You were undoubtable waiting for any material to use as fodder for this site. You don't mention NBC, ABC, CNN, CBS, MSNBC and the whole gambit of news organizations that have been running the Democratic Party talking points constantly for decades. Gimmie a break!!

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Posted by: pass4sure on February 12, 2009 at 3:52 AM | PERMALINK

"That's a bit like a thief getting caught in a jewelry store, and apologizing for leaving broken glass on the carpet." -- nice!

Posted by: Michael on February 12, 2009 at 9:59 AM | PERMALINK

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