Daily Show: FOX "News" and Their Lies

I've had fun with Jon Stewart's FOX "News" Sunday appearance in a couple of previous posts. This is likely the coda to the story, but it's the best part. See, on Sunday, Stewart told Chris Wallace that FOX "News" viewers were consistently the least informed people according to polls. Politifact reviewed his statement, and dubbed it "not true." FOX viewers are consistently low on the list of knowledgeable viewers, but they're not always last. This is a dubious distinction--and a quibble at best--but right-wing world has apparently been making hay out of it.

But guess what, they lose. They lose hard. This clip from Tuesday night's show is among the funniest in a while, and illustrates perfectly that FOX "News" is not news.

The Daily Show - Fox News False Statements
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

FOX "News" Edited Out Criticism of Exec from Jon Stewart Interview

The most truthful person ever on FOX "News."
Image from source, Media Matters

I watched the FOX "News" Sunday with Chris Wallace interview of Jon Stewart when it aired on Sunday morning. Later, when I posted the clip to the blog, I reviewed it. I did notice some edits--some of the awkward comedy that Wallace was trying to put on (what was the bit with the coffee cup about?)--but didn't think much of it. They have to cut that stuff down to fit in the time available. Well, usually it's live, I thought. But whatever.

Still, there seemed to be more in the online clip about Chris Wallace's "marching orders" from on high. When I heard the name "Bill Sammon," I knew what Stewart was talking about. But did that make air? No, it didn't. Now, I suppose you can give FOX "News" partial credit for putting the whole clip online. But the TV version was definitely edited to make FOX and Chris Wallace look better. And how many F"N"S viewers go back and review the unedited videos?

[Excerpt]

Fox News Sunday Edits Out Jon Stewart's Criticism Of Fox Exec

Yesterday, Jon Stewart appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his sharp criticism of Fox News. But one uncomfortable reference to marching-order emails from a Fox News executive was cut from the program. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

CNN Reporter Rips FOX "News" for Bogus "Human Shield" Comments

Image from source, Huffington Post

Ohhh, FOX "News". . .can't you ever tell the truth?

[Excerpt]

CNN's Nic Robertson Tears Into Fox News For Saying Libyans Used Him As Human Shield

A senior reporter for CNN slammed Fox News for suggesting that he and other reporters who were given a tour of Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Libya were used as human shields by the Libyan government. . .

Read more (with video) at: Huffington Post

Right Wing World: FOX "News" Attacks Obama on Brazil Trip, Other Crap

By now, it is obvious that it doesn't matter what President Barack Obama does or says (or doesn't say or do) that will garner a positive response from a big chunk of right-wing world. It's also clear that talk radio and FOX "News" work in tandem to set the narrative, and let all their followers know the storyline: Obama's dithering. He's too slow to act. He's not a leader. He didn't ask Congress! He jumped in without permission! Often this leads to contradictory storylines, sometimes from the same talking head. But it doesn't matter. Cognitive dissonance is par for the course.

But it just sounds kind of desperate when they start whining about the first lady, the kids, the extended family. The very notion that if the President is in South America, he's just tra-la-la on vacation, and not doing anything else. Obama's itinerary is probably busier on any given day than most of us tackle in a very busy month. It is evident that Obama has finally clued in to the notion that the right is going to hate him--and gin up faux controversies--no matter what, and isn't caring as much anymore. Good for him.

The vaguely creepy Chris Wallace, host of
FOX "News" Sunday, Image from Media Matters

[Excerpt]

Fox Attacks Obama's Brazil Trip As A "Vacation" Then Refuses To Air His Speech



Today, President Obama spoke in Brazil, highlighting that country's rising economic power, growing middle class, and transition from military dictatorship to thriving democracy. The speech capped off a visit meant to promote the United States' economic relationship with Brazil and the entire South American region, with the stated purpose of encouraging job growth. . .
 
Read more at: Media Matters

FOX "News" Shows Fake Footage for Wisconsin Protests

Palm trees. In Wisconsin.

FOX "News" Chief Instructs Employee to Lie

Image of Alfred Hitchcock
Roger Ailes from source, NYTimes

Yeah, sure, this happened a while back. But it's just coming to light, and it's just further evidence that Rupert Murdoch's empire is run by folks like Roger Ailes who have a very loose relationship with the truth.

[Excerpt]

Fox News Chief, Roger Ailes, Urged Employee to Lie, Records Show



It was an incendiary allegation — and a mystery of great intrigue in the media world: After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation, had encouraged her to lie two years earlier to federal investigators who were vetting Bernard B. Kerik for the job of homeland security secretary. . . 


Read more at: New York Times

Crazy Like a FOX: Lying About Ron Paul

Image from source, Raw Story

You know, there's something weird afoot when FOX "News" is lying in order to discredit a conservative. I mean, clearly, they're trying to make Paul look bad. Which is kind of funny. Paul is undoubtedly an eccentric political figure, and it is understandable that many Republicans would want to see him painted as a kook. But the Republican/Tea Party is full of kooks, and FOX employs a great number of them. How far out there do you have to be to be pushed aside by FOX? And then, there is the question of why a "news" channel would be in the business of promoting or de-moting any candidate.

[Excerpt]

Uncovered: Fox News deceptively used old CPAC footage to smear Ron Paul



Interviewing Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on his victory in the CPAC 2011 presidential straw poll, the conservative Fox News Channel did something slimy: they cued up footage of the prior year. . .
 
Read more at: Raw Story

Behind the Scenes at FOX "News"

Nothing in this story surprises me in the least. And any conservative reading this would look at the source, Media Matters for America, and dismiss it. Don't be so quick, Mr. Righty-pants! David Brock, the dude that started MMA? He's the guy who who wrote The Real Anita Hill. You believed him then, didn't you?  No, seriously. Does anybody really believe that FOX "News" is "fair and balanced?" Really?

[Excerpt]

FOX NEWS INSIDER: “Stuff Is Just Made Up”



Asked what most viewers and observers of Fox News would be surprised to learn about the controversial cable channel, a former insider from the world of Rupert Murdoch was quick with a response: “I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up. . .”
 
Read more at: MediaMatters

IF IT'S ON THE INTERNET, IT MUST BE TRUE!!!

Lordy, there's a lot of stuff that conservatives believe that. . .well. . .defies belief.  And look, it's right there on the internets! I read it, it's true, don't you understand?  Ugh. But wait, aren't there things on the internet that liberals might believe that are distortions or outright lies? Probably. But liberals don't have the megaphone of FOX "News" or right-wing talk radio, to turn absolute idiocy into full-blown news stories.

And the weirdest part? These stories can be utterly debunked, blown apart, and laughed about by the rest of us. And if you go onto FreeRepublic.com three years from now, they'll still go on about each of these stories as if they are true.  Hey, did you hear about President Obama's trip to India that cost six million, billion, trillion dollars a day???  IT'S TRUE!!!

Rep. Alan Grayson's Epic Re-election Ad

I'm just a blogger who doesn't live in Florida, but I approve this message! 

FOX "News" Shows Edited Tape (Again) to Make Political Point

Image from source, Raw Story

Rather than taking Andrew Breitbart's embarrassing selective video editing as a lesson, FOX "News" seems intent upon implementing it as a policy.  One more time: FOX "News" is not news.

[Excerpt]

Fox News show edits clip to make it seem like Obama can’t lower taxes

Weeks after Sean Hannity was caught selectively editing a clip of President Barack Obama to paint him in a negative light, the Fox News channel has done it again. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Captain Obvious: Faux Outrage is Actually a Delight for GOP

Think back over the last two years to the big, controversial stories in the news. Excepting "Balloon Boy" (which is only related by also being a hoax), almost all of them have been ginned up by the usual right-wing sources, be it the right-wing blogs, talk radio, FOX "News" or a combination of those.  There may be a nugget of truth at the center of the story, but more likely not.  Even if there is, there are so many layers of supposition, exaggeration and invention, it's like an outrage lasagna.  These stories burst out of the blogosphere, out of the right-wing media, and are birthed into mainstream America, as big mutant hideous beasts.

Soon, even people you thought were rational will be seriously advocating excising rights from the Constitution.  It starts heated arguments, so it must be real outrage, not faux outrage, right?  Wrong.  It's called faux outrage because the outrage is based on a stack of half-truths and lies.  Or sometimes just a profound misunderstanding about the facts.  Such is the case with this so-called "Ground Zero mosque."  As I've already posted, it isn't a mosque, it isn't at Ground Zero, it has every right to be there, and there is already an actual mosque in the neighborhood that predates 9/11 and the World Trade Center.  There is also a mosque in the Pentagon.  But oooh, people are angry!  They're just sure them un-'Merrkan Mulsins are up to no good, spitting in our faces. . .forget the fact that many of the people who'd go to this community center are Americans, and that many Americans are Muslim. 

Trying to knock down these built-up brouhahas is almost impossible. People believe what they want to believe, and convincing people they are wrong is a bitch.  But here is something I can declare that I think most people agree with.  The people whose interests are served by most of these stories--the Republican Party at election time--are not outraged. They're delighted that the latest flames have been fanned into a brush fire.  And each time one of these all-consuming, nationwide poutrages is made out of what should be a local issue of minor contention, they're thrilled.

Sam Seder: "Mosque at Ground Zero?" That's Bullsh*t!

Sam Seder attacks this faux outrage from exactly the same angle I would have thought. It's a ginned up story to stoke white rage, pure and simple. The logic--such as it is--doesn't have to hold together, it doesn't have to be an actual problem, it just has to have enough "truthiness" to seem wrong. 

Bill O'Reilly vs. Rachel Maddow: The Battle Continues. . .

In the end, there can be only one. . .  Heh.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Captain Obvious: It Does Not Matter When FOX "News" Played Tape

I'm catching up on the Sunday morning political shows on the DVR, and am presently in the middle of FOX "News" Sunday, the lowest-rated (for a network that constantly touts ratings, this is noteworthy) and lowest quality of the group.  Newt Gingrich, with his Kermit the Frog voice (seriously, look away and listen) was up first, with Howard Dean. Jesse Jackson was next, and then the famous--and ridiculously named--"Power Panel."  By far, the biggest issue was the Shirley Sherrod/Andrew Breitbart faux racism story.

Notably, the host, Chris Wallace, was very prickly about exactly when FOX "News" actually aired the notoriously out-of-context video from the NAACP.  Wallace claims that FOX never aired the clip before Sherrod resigned.  This is only partially true, and a very disingenuous point.  Bill O'Reilly, who tapes his program, The O'Reilly Factor rather than airing it live, was on the air saying that Sherrod "must resign" before the announcement was made, by bare minutes. But this means he had recorded it hours earlier. Also, FOXNews.com had already reported on the issue, with absolutely wrong information, such as stating that Sherrod was a government employee at the time of her story (which was really 24 years ago).  FOX Nation (the extremely far right blog site) was also discussing the story in an unfavorable light.  I have no doubt that Sean Hannity's and Glenn Beck's radio shows (which air earlier than their FOX shows) were already on this issue as well.  So Wallace's "FOX never aired" the clip is a slice-and-dice of the facts, at best.

All of this points to the fact that FOX was running with this story. If Sherrod's resignation had come six hours later--or not at all--there can be no doubt that this would have been the 24/7 number one story on FOX. . .which it became anyway.  What the White House was trying to prevent--in a regrettable, stupid fashion, I'm not afraid to note--is exactly what did happen.  They wanted to squash a bad news cycle in the midst of a pretty good policy week, and they failed. Exactly when FOX aired the clip,  is a bit of false framing, as though their journalistic integrity was the reason for holding back. BULL PUCKY. Clearly, this thing was a go, and all of Wallace's protestations can't make that go away.

War of the Words: Bill O'Reilly vs. Rachel Maddow

Is a seven-post gap enough space between Rachel Maddow Show posts? It'll have to be, because there is a battle afoot between the top-rated cable news host (if you consider FOX to be "News") and the second-highest-rated non-FOX host.  This is tangentially related to my post below, about false equivalency.  See, from my admittedly biased point of view, Maddow and O'Reilly are not equals at what they do. O'Reilly is higher rated, but Maddow is by far the more principled of the two (and smartest, and funniest, etc., etc.).  O'Reilly has a scolding parent, tsk tsking, "because I said so" disposition, and Maddow has a smart alecky, smart kid (who happens to be right) demeanor.   O'Reilly is apt to blow his top.  Maddow more likely to be amused, even if she's scolding.  Just take a peek at the clip below. See if you agree.

Oh, and I really ought to stop promising a temporary moratorium on TRMS posts, because I apparently just don't have it in me. [And it's worth pointing out that this video got truncated in its trip to the internets. Maddow's last words to O'Reilly?  "Your Highness."]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

White House Press Secretary Calls Out Media on Sherrod Story

Image from CEOWorld.biz

The Obama Administration, the NAACP and the USDA have been harshly criticized over their initial treatment of Shirley Sherrod, and as well they should be.  There is a larger issue though, and that is the tactic of FOX "News", right-wing bloggers like Andrew Breitbart, and the way they successfully push bogus stories into the mainstream. 

For a blogger like me, who started this blog in the dog-days of the Bush Era, this all feels like deja-vu.  Back then, though the Karl Rove alternate reality machine was breaking down, the right-wing spin was still leading news cycles.  I sat here knowing that there stories were bogus, I could see what they were doing, but reality just refused to break through.  Now, here we sit, 18 months into the Obama Era.  And what has led the news cycles lately?  Big, blown-up faux outrage stories, sometimes only tangentially true, sometimes utterly false.  And the mainstream media and sometimes the Democratic elected politicians keep falling for it.

I'm glad that Robert Gibbs is calling on the mainstream press to do some soul searching on how they report on these things. I only hope that he and the rest of the Obama Administration are doing the same.

[Excerpt]

Gibbs calls on media to do soul searching about Sherrod mess

The Shirley Sherrod mess has ignited another national conversation about race, but if Robert Gibbs has his way, it will also spark some soul-searching by members of the media about their willingness to legitimize bogus stories, particularly ones pushed by the right. . .

Read more at:  The Plum Line

Breitbart and the Wingnut Right

Image from Washington Independent

Okay, I think this will be my last post about the faux outrage story about Shirley Sherrod for a while, unless something really newsworthy and interesting happens. But I wanted another perspective on the asshattery that is Andrew Breitbart.  In the early days of the blog, I used a few of his posts in excerpts, not realizing what a douche nozzle he is.  I'm a one-man show for the most part, doing this as a hobby. I don't have the power to break a story, or invent one like Breitbart does.  Hell, I didn't even know the Netroots convention was here in my backyard until yesterday!  So here is a more informed opinion of a guy who should be run out of business by this latest fabrication, but won't be.

[Excerpt]

Fooled Again by Breitbart and the Wingnut Right

There's nothing shocking or surprising about the latest Andrew Breitbart scam in which he released selectively-edited video of an African American USDA worker, Shirley Sherrod, and accused her of racism against a white farmer couple, the Spooners. That's not to suggest we shouldn't be vigorously talking about it. We absolutely should be. But the most outrageous aspects of the story are fairly typical of everyone involved: Breitbart, the so-called "liberal" news media, Democrats, Fox News Channel and all points in between. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Rachelpalooza: I Can't Help Myself.

I know I know I know. . .I've had too many clips from The Rachel Maddow Show lately. Way too many, I mean this is not her blog, right? I'm sorry, I can't help myself, her show has just been awesome lately.  In fact, I could post most of tonight's show, much of which was about the Shirly Sherrod faux racism scandal.  So, I'm posting three clips right here in this post, and will do my level best to avoid the topic for the rest of the week.  Here's a tip, if you want to watch a little and not a lot:

The first clip is top heavy with exposition, allegories and such. It's really good, but it's long.  The second clip is a little breezier, with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and Rachel finding gallows humor in the whole sordid affair.  And the third is a smackdown of FOX "News" and their transparent, baldly partisan faux news machine (it's awesome).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment: Racism, FOX "News" and More

The host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann is on vacation, but he was coaxed back for the aftermath of the latest faux outrage, FOX "News"/Andrew Breitbart, non-story.  And hey you folks out there who insist that MSNBC is just a mirror image of FOX, and that Olbermann is some kind of Obamabot. . .watch this clip to see if you still believe that. He goes after FOX and Breitbart of course, along with President Obama, Robert Gibbs, other members of the administration and the USDA, and even has a dig at "some" on MSNBC itself (I'm guessing Joe Scarborough).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy