When Fox News Is the Story

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

Source: New York Times

Like most working journalists, whenever I type seven letters — Fox News — a series of alarms begins to whoop in my head: Danger. Warning. Much mayhem ahead.

Once the public relations apparatus at Fox News is engaged, there will be the calls to my editors, keening (and sometimes threatening) e-mail messages, and my requests for interviews will quickly turn into depositions about my intent or who else I am talking to.

And if all that stuff doesn’t slow me down and I actually end up writing something, there might be a large hangover: Phone calls full of rebuke for a dependent clause in the third to the last paragraph, a ritual spanking in the blogs with anonymous quotes that sound very familiar, and — if I really hit the jackpot — the specter of my ungainly headshot appearing on one of Fox News’s shows along with some stern copy about what an idiot I am.

<snip>

Mr. Lewis <a Fox News spokesman> said that members of his staff were not in the business of altering photos, that they had no control over stories that appeared on “Fox and Friends” or other shows, and he pointed out that it makes their job harder when they go after reporters. He called my suggestion that there was something anti-Semitic about the depiction of Mr. Steinberg “vile and untrue.” Mr. Lewis denied that his staff had threatened one of my colleagues or planted private information about him on blogs.

That comes as a surprise to reporters I talked to who say they have received e-mail messages from Fox News public relations staff that contained doctored photos, anonymous quotes and nasty items about competitors. And two former Fox employees said that they had participated in precisely those kinds of activities but had signed confidentiality agreements and could not say so on the record.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07carr.html?hp

[Skink]

1. I'm going to be hung tomorrow no matter what.

Big Smiley

[SpiralHawk]

2. Juicy quote

The k and the r

"Media reporting about other media’s approach to producing media is pretty confusing business to begin with. Feelings, which are always raw for people who make their mistakes in public, will be bruised. But that does not fully explain the scorched earth between Fox News and those who cover it."

snip...

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

4. there are a lot of juicy quotes in that article

People should read the whole thing.

[ihavenobias]

3. Proof that Fox *is* Fair And Balanced

1)- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x153801

2)- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x153459

[gratuitous]

5. Doubly curious, then

When Fox did the "misshapen head" photoshop on two portrait shots of Times reporters, the New York Times magnanimously decided to forego giving Fox any grief over it. Apparently, they're well aware of Fox's proclivity for distortion, invective, and all-around stinkiness whenever Fox is criticized, and they're just fine with it. So fine, in fact, that even when Fox turns on the Times, they'll just smile and shrug.

But if you, John or Jane Citizen, have the unmitigated gall to question the Times about their reporting or op-ed columns (whether it's Judith Miller, William Safire, Elisabeth Bumiller, or William Krystol), you'd better bring a lunch and plan for a late dinner having to tangle with the Times' reaction.

[Fuzz]

6. Why continue to be bullied by them? Money? Fucking whores.

[azul]

7. Murdock is a pirate, and should be a warning story for future generations.

He flies any flag of convenience to pillage and plunder nations' wealth in cahoots with the other multinational business persons. Writing favorable legislation and extorting political outcomes are the bread and butter of these new swashbucklers. And creeping propaganda is their cannon aimed at US. The epic narration of the goodness of the wealth distribution.

Where is the xenophobia and patriotic fervor against foreign/multinational media, when it might be actually useful? The wicked messenger would tell its own story? Not likely, it's up to the real free press to re-establish itself.