Miles from 'fair and balanced'

[LifeDuringWartime]

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-rutten1nov01181420,1,7939167.story

by Tim Rutten
Los Angeles Times

A veteran producer this week alleged that Fox News executives issue a daily memorandum to staff on news coverage to bend the network's reporting into conformity with management's political views, refocusing attention on the partisan bias of America's most watched cable news operation.

--snip

In his letter, Reina wrote that "the roots of day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo" written by John Moody, the network's vice president for news, and "distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo is behind it. The Memo was born with the Bush administration, early in 2001, and, intentionally or not, has ensured that the administration's point of view consistently comes across on ….


much more!

[wtmusic]

1. A must read

Forward to wingnut acquaintances who fall for Fox's line

[LifeDuringWartime]

2. a must read for anybody

n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. I guess the situation at Fox is easier than it looks then...simply put

Ailes needs to go the way of ATWATER and things will improve.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. ouch!

Give him a ticket on the Hades commuter shuttle, Atwater needs a golf partner! :evilgrin:

[Don_G]

5. That's Been On Poynter For A Few Days Now

I'm glad to see it's making the mainstream press now.

http://poynter.org/forum/?id=letters

[mrsteve]

6. On Salon also

Salon -"Fox News: The inside story"

Good stuff:

"All I can say is, everybody there knows what the politics of the bosses are. You feel it every day, and in good part because of this daily editorial note that comes out. I suppose there are similar things which say who's stationed where that day, where the correspondents are, what we'll be covering and so on. But , oftentimes when there are issues that involve political controversy and debate or what have you, there are also these admonitions, these subtle things like, "There is something utterly incomprehensible about Kofi Annan's remarks in which he allows that his thoughts are 'with the Iraqi people.' One could ask where those thoughts were during the 23 years Saddam Hussein was brutalizing those same Iraqis. Food for thought."

That's something you just don't see in a traditional newsroom. You see a news budget going around, but they'd be a lot like an AP budget -- here's this story, here's this story, this person is writing this. It makes sense to have something like that -- something that says here's where everybody is and so forth. But now, for the first time with the advent of the memo, you're actually getting little bits of guidance here and there."

[Don_G]

8. Katherine Graham Gave "Little" Bits Of Guidance

To Woodward and Bernstein when they were developing the Watergate story.

Outright control of the Media is a different story when the news is treated like "entertainment" and just as carefully scripted as the latest Disney movie for profit at your expense.

[screembloodymurder]

7. 'fair and balanced'

my ass.