Fox Flops Flat Fabricating Falluja Fiesta Fallacy

I didn't think that a memo from Fox News bosses telling their (ahem) journalists to keep an eye out for one particular bit of news (which hadn't happened yet — e.g. Terrorists celebrating the Democratic election win) was that big a deal. After all, it makes perfect sense that a news company would pick and choose what (other, non-headline, non-breaking) news items would receive a focus for a particular day (if such news were to happen).

And yes... Fox News is 100% Fair and Balanced towards the Republicans. Duh. That's news? Basically, I blew off the whole kerfuffle as just more "In case you didn't know Fox sucked" oratory.

Then, I saw this Olberman clip, in which he shows a Fox News anchorlady — not 3 hours after the memo was sent out — reporting on (Hey! Guess what!) ...

"... some reports of cheering in the streets on behalf of the supporters of the insurgency in Iraq that they are very pleased with the way things are going here and with the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld."

No video clips, no citations, no sources, quite simply... no evidence. To quote Mr. Olberman, "Now that's a coincidence."

Oh. I didn't know about that part of the story.

Now, I have no problem with biased news... as long as it doesn't contain deliberate falsehoods, and doesn't use misleading reporting to cause viewer misinterpretation. If Fox News wants to focus their news coverage on stories that help Republicans, I think that's their right. I won't be tuning in, but (and feel free to correct me), I don't think that there is a law that says they can't bias the content of their news coverage towards one subject or another.

(Hell: I personally think all news channels should be more my blog: I'll write about the news that is important to me, which focuses on the things I find interesting or noteworthy, and if you want to find out about the other stuff, go to the other blogs. My promise is that I won't lie, mislead, or create false facts in order to influence your opinion.)

However, if Fox News is making up the news as they go along, or is misquoting, or manipulating the news, then I have a problem with that... as should we all. I don't ask much from the purveyors of news... just that what they tell me is true.

Hmm...

Charles Foster Kane: Read the cable.

Bernstein: "Girls delightful in Cuba. Stop. Could send you prose poems about scenery, but don't feel right spending your money. Stop. There is no war in Cuba, signed Wheeler." Any answer?

Charles Foster Kane: Yes. "Dear Wheeler: you provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war."