Gingrich accuses Faux News of bias

MoonHowler

New York Times:

The fight for the Republican nomination is no longer just candidate versus candidate. It’s candidate versus Fox News.

Newt Gingrich became the latest Republican candidate to lash out at the cable news network, accusing it on Wednesday of dooming his flagging campaign by slanting its political coverage to Mitt Romney‘s benefit.

Mr. Gingrich quickly found that Fox News’s tenacity is a match for his own. The network shot back on Thursday, calling the former House speaker bitter.

The sniping started when Mr. Gingrich, a former Fox News commentator, told a gathering of Tea Party supporters in Delaware that Fox News had distorted its coverage of him. And he accused Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the network’s parent company, News Corporation, of pulling the strings behind the scenes. His comments were reported on Thursday morning by Real Clear Politics, which gained access to the Delaware event.

“I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’ ” Gingrich was quoted as saying. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”

He went on to add: “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”

I never thought I would agree with Newt Gingrich, but he is right on this one.  I have never known a news station to distort, twist and lie like Faux News.  Fox and Friends is probably the worst.  Kelly’s news isn’t much better.  I don’t mind conservative news.  I mind lies and spin.  I am going to have to start checking out CNN more.  It’s biggest problem is it just is dull.  Faux News has good graphics and better lies.  Maybe that’s the sell off.  You have to go boring to get unbiased news.

The Evil, Dog-Themed White House Christmas Card

MoonHowler

The Foxie News Team and Sarah Palin are enjoying their mock indignation over the White  House Christmas card this year.  When will Sarah Palin’s opinion stop tickling our funny bone?  Sit back and share the hypocrisy….

Nothing says hypocrisy like the Foxies….

Fox News has been droning on for weeks about the secular war on Christmas.  It seems that they are part of the war.

From the Washingon Examiner:

And strangely enough, for a network known for reporting on the “War on Christmas,” all the Biblical references have been stripped out of the song “Joy to the World,” and instead replaced with Fox-friendly lyrics. Here’s a taste of the song: “Joy to the world for Fox News Channel, consistently number one, we are the network that viewers choose, fair and balanced news, see our ratings we don’t lose, beating the rest in TV news,” reads the first stanza. Later ones give kudos to Fox News personalities Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Shepard Smith, Megyn Kelly, Neil Cavuto, Bret Baier and the folks on “The Five.”

So, is  this a lot of reindeer crap or what?  How does Fox News get ahead with their mock war on Christmas.  Their card is funny.  I have no problem with it.  Good healthy competition is always fun.  But…why act like the President and his family are held to a higher standard regarding Christianity, of all things?
Shame of the Fox News Channel for this one.

 

Hank Williams Jr.: Out-Foxed and Outta ESPN

MoonHowler

Longer version:

Gretchen disavows his remarks about the president.

Hank Williams Junior mouth flashed on Fox and Friends. He compared President Obama to Hitler. In addition, he said that Obama and Biden were the enemy. His bosses at ESPN didn’t like it and they fired him from singing “Are You Ready for Some Football,” his Monday night theme song.

Read More

Colleagues admit to pulling punches on Palin

MoonHowler

Fox News severs contracts with those candidates who announce their candidacy for president.  (What’s worng with this picture?)  So far, Rick Santorim and Newt Gingrich have both been terminated.  No so with Sarah Palin.  She has not announced, therefore she is still an employee of Fox News. 

 

In The Five, Greg Gutfeld and Bob Beckel both manned up and admitted that they pulled punches when it came down to talking about Palin because she worked there. Beckel basically clarified and said really that it was because he got a paycheck. Do we interpret that as Palin is under the protection of Fox News?   Perhaps she will never declare and will have no one criticize her ever on Fox News.  That’s one way to keep things quiet. 

On the other hand, Palin does not disappoint.  She predictably threw out her victim card in the video.  Don’t you love someone that easy to predict?  Whine, Sarah, Whine.  Show a little tooth there, Mama Grizzly!  No one does victimizaton any better.

 

Juan Williams: The Assault on Honest Debate

MoonHowler

Juan Williams feels we don’t have an honest exchange of ideas.  He feels we have a niche media landscape.  People seek their own media sources that affirm pre-existing opinions.  There is little effort to get outside one’s comfort zone. 

Williams makes excellent observations. 

Extended interviews  with Williams

 

Sean Hoare, whistleblower, found dead

MoonHowler

From the Washington Post:

The Guardian reports that Sean Hoare, the former News of the World reporter who first claimed that Andy Coulson knew of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead at his home. The police told the Guardian that they do not know how Hoare died, but do not believe the cause of death to be suspicious.

Hoare gave an interview to the New York Times in 2010 that bolstered allegations the phone hacking was a widespread and accepted practice at the tabloid. He also said that Coulson encouraged the practice. Hoare was let go from the News of the World for problems related to drinking and drugs.

Hoare had been in contact with the Guardian and the New York Times only last week, stating that the News of the World staff used police technology to track phones.

Here is the 2010 BBC interview with Hoare speaking about the phone hacking.

So why do people just die but nothing is suspicious?  The guy doesn’t look old enough for it to have been from natural causes.  In fact, he looks downright chipper.  The more that is turned up, the more suspicious all of this story is beginning to sound. 

It can’t all be about phone hacking.  As nasty of a habit as that might be, it isn’t worth the head of Scotland Yard resigning and the Prime Minister (or 2 or 3) ducking and heading for cover.  Was Sean murdered to protect some big muckety muck in England?  Will the Murdoch scandal cross the Big Pond?  Will Steve Doocy continue to make up excuses and exclaim that the media is ‘piling on’ poor Rupert Murdoch?  Are the friends at Faux News getting a little nervous over their jobs?  If Murdoch crumbles, can their godfather be far behind?

Inquiring minds want to know. 

Where does the buck stop, Murdoch?

MoonHowler
Murdoch's desk?

As the tale of the  tabloid, the News of the World implodes over scandal, law-breaking, dead girls, hacking, and other disreputable acts not worthy of the name journalism, it will take a long time to sort it all out.  NOTW will go to press for the last time on Sunday.  Robert Murdoch, owner, has pulled the plug.  Murdoch has even more influence in the UK than he does in the United States.  He has refused to comment. 

Should we be surprised?  Faux News certainly has done things for years that are questionable in the ethnics department.  They seem to make up their own rules, all while pointing fingers at everyone else.  The buck has to stop with Robert Murdoch.  Maybe his world will come crumbling down.  Maybe he will decide there is more to journalism than making money.  The American press has always seemed like a gentle, well-mannered giant compared to the irreverent junk-yard dog habits of the British press.  Faux News continually pushes the envelope.  This would be a good time for American journalists to re-evaluate what the word professionalism means and perhaps do a little house cleaning of their own.  Meanwhile, Faux News needs to do a lot of damage control before I call them by their rightful name. 

The buck stops at Robert Murdoch’s desk. 

D-I-V-O-R-C-E – – – Glenn Beck and Fox News

MoonHowler

From the Daily Beast   (Howard Kurtz):

Despite his monster ratings, Fox News is bidding farewell to Glenn Beck as tensions between the incendiary host and the top-rated cable news channel have led to a near-total divorce.

I say near-total because the two sides announced a deal today in which Beck’s production company will produce occasional content for Fox. But insiders say this will amount to a handful of specials and that many senior Fox executives are relieved to be rid of Beck, whose ratings have dropped 40 percent.

Beck, too, has tired of the friction with Fox and is said by people close to him to be happy to end the partnership.

Whatever the genesis, for Beck to give up his daily 5 p.m. program, which at its peak drew more than 2.5 million viewers, is a case study in how even the most successful broadcast personalities can become too hot to handle.

In the end, the man who drew a huge crowd to the Lincoln Memorial, but also became a lightning rod after calling President Obama a racist, lasted less than three years as a daily Fox host. More than 300 advertisers fled the Beck show, but he still delivered a huge lead-in audience for Bret Baier and others who followed him on the Fox lineup.

This news was predictable.  Glenn Beck has been under fire for some time now for his incendiary remarks.  Since the last election,  his shows have gotten boring.  His outlandishness has become a drone.  Did he quit trying or was mission accomplished?  Now he sounds like he is just trying to advance Mormon ideas.  I stopped listening several weeks ago. Read More

Rabbis call on Fox to rein in Beck

MoonHowler

Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  The 27th of January was designated as such in 2005 and marks the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945.  The U.S. Holocaust Museum will honor survivors in the Museum’s Hall of Remembrance. 

The Washington Post reports:

A coalition of rabbis wants Fox News chief Roger Ailes and conservative host Glenn Beck to cut out all their talk about Nazis and the Holocaust, and it’s making its views known in an unusual place.

The rabbis have called on Fox News’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, to sanction his two famous employees via a full-page ad in Thursday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal – one of many other media properties controlled by Murdoch’s News Corp.

Read More

Fox News trots one out of the ball park

MoonHowler

Responding to Limbaugh’s criticism of Fox, Krauthammer retored, “As one of the three slobberers… I find it interesting that only the ruling class wants a president who is smart articulate and oratorical in delivering a funeral oration… It’s an odd and rather condescending view of what the rest of America is looking for in their president.

It looks like the Fox News Panel trots one out of the ball park for a change. Good for Krauthammer!  Good self deprecating humor!

(Thanks to Juturna for bringing this gem to my attention.)

Will the Prez go slumming before the Super Bowl?

MoonHowler

Just released:  Bill Reilly will interview President Obama right before the Super Bowl pre game.  O’Reilly interviewed Obama as a candidate but he has not interviewed him as  president.  The President has granted one interview with Fox News so far and that was with Brett Baier.  Baier was not on his best behavior.  In fact, he was very rude to the President and continually interrupted him.

O’Reilly is a much more skilled interviewer.  According to Politico:

O’Reilly interviewed Obama as a candidate, but as president Obama has given just one interview to Fox News, last year with Bret Baier. The Obama Administration has had a famously contentious relationship with Fox News, with then-White House communications director Anita Dunn calling it “not a real news organization” in 2009, but the relationship has thawed someone over time as Obama administration officials went on shows like “Fox News Sunday.”

O’Reilly is smart.  I don’t always like him but I have confidence that he will handle this situation as a professional commentator, if not journalist.  This might just be an opportunity to see the President and  the President  both shine.  It might be a great night for both Mr. O’s.  O’Reilly can be very fox or he can outfox the foxes.  I predict he will rise about all the Murdoch fox doo and conduct one hell of a good interview. 

So is the President slumming or is this a great move for him?  How about O’Reilly? 

Shep Flips Fox Over 9/11 First Responder Bill

MoonHowler

That Jon Stewart.  He’s an activist.  Oh well, that’s apples and oranges.

1.  Jon Stewart addressed the 9/11 first responders bill with interviewees on Thursday night.

2.  Shep and Chris Wallace responded to Jon Stewart of Friday.  There was no 3 days of 9/11 first responders special by Shep.  That was simply a lie.

3.  Shep flipped Fox, to his credit. 

The Tres Amigos, Fox and Friends, were really on Jon Stewart’s pork chops though.  The Gretch had the nerve to say people already thought Jon Stewart was real news. Hmmmm…and what about HER show?  Real news or satire?

Who cares.  He’s an activist.  {{{snicker}}}

The New York Times had nothing but praise for the efforts of Jon Stewart:

Did the bill pledging federal funds for the health care of 9/11 responders become law in the waning hours of the 111th Congress only because a comedian took it up as a personal cause?

And does that make that comedian, Jon Stewart — despite all his protestations that what he does has nothing to do with journalism — the modern-day equivalent of Edward R. Murrow?

 

To read more  click here.

Shep Smith Agrees with Stewart, Blasts Congress

MoonHowler

Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart called on Fox News to address what needs to be done for the  9/11 responders who have a myriad of life-threatening diseases all caused by  the  environmental hazards of 9/11.  Many are sick, have lost their health insurance, jobs, etc.  The Zadroga Bill for 9/11 First Responders was to help with this situation. 

Shep Smith of Fox News can always be counted on to stand up for what’s right, regardless of what political party is pushing what.  Both Shep and Chris Wallace blasted Congress for their inaction yesterday:

 

 

 For those without sound, from Mediaite:

Shep begins his rant:

How do they sleep at night after this vote on Ground Zero first responders from 9/11? Are they going to get that done, or are we going to leave these American heroes out there to twist in the wind?

Smith and Wallace never named names Friday afternoon, but did rip the “political” failure. Smith continued to skewer:

“Who’s going to hold these people’s feet to the fire? We’re able to put a 52 story building so far down there at Ground Zero, we’re able to pay for tax cuts for billionaires who don’t need them and it’s not going to stimulate the economy. But we can’t give health care to Ground Zero first responders who ran right into the fire? Went down there to save people? Do people know what this city was like that day? People were walking over bridges they were covered in ash they were running for their lives they were crying their family members were dead. And these people ran to Ground Zero to save people’s lives. And we’re not going to even give them medicine for the illnesses they got down there? It’s disgusting, it’s a national disgrace, it’s a shame and everybody who voted against should have to stand up and account for himself or herself.

It really was high theater. I wanted to get up and high-five both Smith and Wallace for saying what needed to be said.