Fox News Chief John Moody - The Memos which prove the bias here...

[VolcanoJen]

This was reported as an LBN thread two days ago, but for anyone who missed it, these are worth a serious first look, if not a second one.

I realize these are related to the "Outfoxed" documentary; I'm arriving a little late to this story, and I'm wondering if anyone wants to discuss these memos. They're shocking to me... not shocking in the sense that I knew Fox was biased, but shocking in the sense that I never actually thought they'd put it in writing.

Fox News Memos - The Whole Batch (Wonkette)

Some greatest hits (emphasis mine):

From: John Moody
Date: 6/2/2003

Heads of state don't leave G-8 meetings early unless they have good reasons. President Bush has two: he has to get to Egypt, and he doesn't like the French. Let's explain to viewers that despite the tepid handshake, Bush and Chirac are far from reconciled, as are the US and Germany. The early departure from Evian should take the sparkle out of the bottled water spa.

We have good perp walk video of Eric Rudolph which we should use. We should NOT assume that anyone who supported or helped Eric Rudolph is a racist. No one's in favor of murder or bombing of public places. But feelings in North Carolina may just be more complicated than the NY Times can conceive. Two style notes: Rudolph is charged with bombing an abortion clinic, not a "health clinic." and TODAY'S HEARING IS NOT AN ARRAIGNMENT. IT IS AN INITIAL HEARING.

---

From: John Moody
Date: 4/6/2004

The events in Iraq Tuesday are going to be the top story, unless and until something else (or worse) happens. Err on the side of doing too much Iraq rather than not enough. Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there? The US is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom and set it on the path to democracy. Some people in Iraq don't want that to happen. That is why American GIs are dying. And what we should remind our viewers.

---

From: John Moody
Date: 4/29/2004

The president and VP are MEETING with the 9/11 commission. They are NOT testifying before it as did witnesses last week. It is an important distinction that we need to make.

While that is going on, John Kerry addresses the Black Mayors conference in Philly. We should take some of that live, until it reverts to stump stuff.

We'll get to the electronic voting machine debate, making the point that it has the POTENTIAL to delay elections in many states.

[Mojambo]

1. We report. You decide?

Sounds like an awful lot of deciding going on there to me.
:shrug:

[galadrium]

2. It should be "we distort, we decide"

[ObaMania]

3. More like... "We distort, you comply"

n/t

[VolcanoJen]

4. To prove I'm "fair and balanced," there is at least one funny directive.

The President and the PM of Canada meet today and will make remarks at midday. Take the remarks, even if Jacko is singing on top of a truck with no pants on at the time.

Also, not-so-funny directives:

From: Ken LaCorte
Date: 4/9/2004

Today is Good Friday and the beginning of a holy week for Christians. Let's not lose sight of the fact that to millions of people, Easter is more than colored eggs and chocolate bunnies.

The religious significance of this week is also not lost on terrorists. Be ready if they're successful.

Condoleeza Rice's testimony will still be picked apart by those looking to blame someone, whether it's Bush or Clinton, for September 11. Let's not forget UBL's share of that blame.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. They're a must-read, VJ -- thanks. You might think other networks...

or even the print press, would be interested in picking this story up. I'm assuming they don't because they might have similar memos, or other instructions for their newspeople.

I know something about one of our best major newspapers. There is no attempt to block, or weaken, stories, but there is a caution when there's a pageful of pieces that reflect badly on Bush on a given day. With a large and diverse readership, they don't want to be pigeon-holed as a "liberal" paper. At this news institution, things could be much worse. In fact, as I look at LBN every day, I see, along with some really unfair and maddening stories from the print press, a lot of real reporting that exposes the Bush cabal again and again. It's TV news -- with Fox, of course, a total propaganda machine -- that's a cesspool. And, unfortunately, TV news is where most of America gets its news, if it gets any at all.

[VolcanoJen]

8. The New York Times Magazine actually printed some of the memos...

... more in this LBN thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=681307

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks!

I'm out of the country for a bit, and getting most of my news from DU and the net -- and I missed that thread!

[sandnsea]

6. "stump stuff"

In other words, Kerry's platform?

[VolcanoJen]

7. Yes, Kerry's platform.

It's encouraged to have Fox anchors show every Bush stump speech, but as soon as Kerry gets into policy, it's time to go back to the latest about the Scott and Laci trial.

Isn't it, well... disgusting? And honestly, CNN's pretty guilty about not showing Kerry's speeches, but covering even Bush's most minute stump speeches....

[VolcanoJen]

10. Great Alterman piece on the Fox Memos here!

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=122010

Alterman nails it again. :D

Meanwhile, a more pristine example of the corruption of the journalistic process would be harder to find than in these Fox News memos. Consider the daily Fox memo, written by senior vice president for news John Moody which goes out to all Fox affiliates, addressing "what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered," according to six-year Fox news veteran Charlie Reina. "One day this past spring, just after the U.S. invaded Iraq, The Memo warned us that anti-war protesters would be 'whining' about U.S. bombs killing Iraqi civilians, and suggested they could tell that to the families of American soldiers dying there. Editing copy that morning, I was not surprised when an eager young producer killed a correspondent's report on the day's fighting - simply because it included a brief shot of children in an Iraqi hospital."