Dumb Like a Fox (Columbia Journalism Review)

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By Terry McDermott
March/April issue

Last December 10 was a big news day. U.S. Senate negotiators announced they had agreed to a compromise on health care reform, final preparations were being made for a global conference on climate change, President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, and new details emerged on five young American men who had been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting terror attacks. Not to mention that America was involved in two wars and was still in the throes of the worst recession in eighty years.

That night, the main news programs on the three cable news networks—CNN Tonight on CNN, Fox Report on Fox, and The Big Picture on MSNBC—all led with approximately five minutes of coverage of Obama, cutting between video of his acceptance speech and reports from on-the-ground reporters in Oslo. CNN and MSNBC also included on-air analysis of the speech by a variety of commentators. Fox had no such commentary on its news show, just a more-or-less straightforward report on the speech.
This might seem surprising, given the charges of bias leveled against Fox by members of the Obama administration. Charges, for example, like this from Anita Dunn, then the administration’s director of communications, speaking last October on Howard Kurtz’s CNN program, Reliable Sources:

The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it is not ideological. . . . What I think is fair to say about Fox, and the way we view it, is that it is more of a wing of the Republican Party. . . . They’re widely viewed as a part of the Republican Party: take their talking points and put them on the air, take their opposition research and put it on the air. And that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN is.

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Roger Ailes Admits White House May Have 'Legitimate Complaints' About Fox News (VIDEO)

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Huffington Post  
By Nicholas Graham
03- 4-10 

In an interview with National Review's Peter Robinson, Fox News chief Roger Ailes admitted that the White House may have "legitimate complaints" about the way in which Fox News covers them.

Robinson, referencing President Obama's snub of Fox News last September when he appeared on every major Sunday talk show except for Chris Wallace's "Fox News Sunday," told Ailes that the White House is "whining over nothing." Ailes did not agree:

Well, I don't think they're whining over nothing and I think they have -- look, there's legitimate complaints that they could have. And I've had this dialogue with David Axelrod, who I like very much and, there are legitimate areas.

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10 jokes about Sarah Palin joining Fox News (TrueSlant.com)

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By David Rees

1. Roger Ailes was interviewing Sarah Palin for a job at Fox News. “According to your resume, you left your last position as Governor of Alaska due to ‘philosophical differences’ with your employer. Could you explain?” “Y’see Mr. Ailes,” said Palin, “I became philosophically opposed to doing actual work instead of flying around in a private jet wearing fancy clothes and basking in the adulation of idiots.” “Oh, I didn’t mean that,” replied Ailes. “I meant, explain how you learned how to spell ‘philosophical.’”

2. A producer was giving Sarah Palin a tour of the Fox News studio. He pointed out the coffee machine, the restrooms, and the temperature-controlled pool where Glenn Beck’s tears are harvested. “Where’s the indoor dog track?” asked Palin. The producer was confused: “Indoor dog track?” “Yeah, I’ve heard dogs panting since I got here,” replied Palin. “Ah,” the producer said, “those aren’t panting dogs; it’s Bill Kristol. It means he’s excited to see you.”

3. Why did Sarah Palin cross the road?
Because there was an opportunity to make an ass of herself on the other side.

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Dobbs: 2012 presidential run not "crazy" (Politico.com)

By Glen Thrush

Watch your back, Glenn Beck.

Ex-CNNer Lou Dobbs tells WTOP this morning that he feels "liberated and emancipated" since leaving the network — and he's not ruling out the possibility of running for president in 2012.

When one of the WTOP anchors joked that pundits were floating the crazy idea of the immigration-fixated Dobbs running for president, he shot back: "What's so crazy about that?" — and disclosed that he's talking to advisers to suss out his political options.

"For the first time I'm actually listening to [people who want him to run for office]. ... I don't think I have the nature for it. ... But we've got to do something for this country."

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FOX rolls wrong video, heads may roll (SwampPolitics.com)

by Mark Silva

FOX has done it again, and this time, once again, FOX says its misplay of the wrong crowd video was another regrettable mistake.

Today, FOX News host Gregg Jarrett was talking about Republican Sarah Palin's book tour and the crowd she is drawing at the start of it - no small turnout, with some 1,500 people lining up early this morning for a chance to get into this evening's premier book-signing for Going Rogue in Grand Rapids.

"Sarah Palin continuing to draw huge crowds while she's promoting her brand new book,'' FOX's Jarrett told his viewers. "Take a look at -- these are some of the pictures just coming into us... The lines earlier had formed this morning.''

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