Fox News Continues To Alter the Meaning of "Fair and Balanced"

The (admittedly impartial) CommonDreams.org — online home of Ralph Nader — hosts this story about MoveOn.org’s new Fox News Watch Group. The idea for “Justice for Judges Marathon” sprang from the mind of Fox News anchors Brit Hume and Tony Snow and was pitched to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on 10/26’s Fox News Sunday. So, MoveOn.org is organizing viewers to keep an eye on the new alternative to yellow journalism. Here’s a couple highlights from the timeline:

• May 19: The Murdoch-owned Weekly Standard publishes an editorial calling for “marathon, stay-up-all-night sessions like those of yesteryear” in response to Senate Democrats’ efforts to block Bush’s four most radical judicial nominees.
• October 26: Fox News anchors Hume and Snow, in an interview with Senator Frist, challenge the Senator’s repeated contention that an all-night protest session would be counterproductive. Snow prods, “Make people stay in all night. Make it the central political event in Washington. Why won’t you do it?”
• November 12: According to a leaked email, a producer for Hume’s evening news show, Special Report with Brit Hume, worked directly with a staffer for Senator Frist, in an effort to choreograph the launch of the Republican protest as a “live opening shot” for Hume’s November 12 newscast. As reported in The Hill, the leaked memo read: “It is important to double efforts to get your boss to S-230 on time … Fox News Channel is really excited about this marathon and Brit Hume at 6 would love to open with all our 51 senators walking onto the floor — the producer wants to know will we walk in exactly at 6:02 when the show starts so they get it live to open Brit Hume’s show? Or if not, can we give them an exact time for the walk-in start?”

Wow. Now I know how the public felt in the early day’s of Hearst’s exposure. We live in a scary time.

Posted by etrigan at November 29, 2003 12:14 PM