Huffington Post is taking FOX News to task for running this ad in Friday’s Washington Post (which is also taking heat for the ad), A9.
The critics may have a leg to stand on. The other networks offered coverage; just not the kind of coverage FOX deemed the event warranted; and the image may have been used as emblematic of the wider issue of liberal media bias: A failure on the part of MSM in providing Americans with an informed, balanced critique of President Obama’s attempts to radically transform America.
ACORN (especially during the 2008 Election)? Van Jones? Where were the other networks on these? Where were they before and during the presidential election?
The problem with the ad is that the other networks indeed covered the protest, which — like similar demonstrations across the country — were heavily promoted by Fox, especially talk show host Glenn Beck.
The ad appeared Friday in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, both owned by Fox’s parent company, and in The Washington Post.
ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider described the ad as “outrageous and false.” NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said that “the facts . . . prove it wrong.” CNN spokeswoman Edie Emery called the ad “blatantly false.”
Fox News provided more coverage than other news outlets in the run-up to what Beck branded the “9/12” protests, but the other networks hardly ignored the story. ABC, for instance, covered it Saturday and Sunday on “Good Morning America” and Sunday on “World News,” along with extensive reports by ABC Radio and the network’s Web site. NBC covered it Saturday on “Nightly News” and the next morning on “Today.” CBS covered it on the “Evening News.” CNN covered the Saturday protests during the 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. hours, as well as on other programs afterward. Correspondents such as NBC’s Tom Costello, ABC’s Kate Snow and CBS’s Nancy Cordes were involved in the coverage.
Fox’s view is that the ad refers to the other networks’ missing the larger story, not failing to cover the demonstration itself — although the photos suggest that the headline refers to the protest. “Generally speaking,” Michael Tammero, Fox News’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement, “it’s fair to say that from the tea party movement . . . to ACORN . . . to the march on 9/12, the networks either ignored the story, marginalized it or misrepresented the significance of it altogether.”
There is a reason why Glenn Beck and FOX News is kicking ass in the ratings competition. And it has to do with “fair and balanced” coverage; and, yes, even a more conservative perspective on interpreting the news (when so much of today’s news is reported through the lens filter of liberal worldview). When looking for criticism and a hard look at President Obama’s policies, you’re not going to find it by tuning into the “slobbering lovefest” that is the gushing liberal media establishment.
Hat tip: Chuck Thinks Right
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.