At least one local Fox affiliate is trying to distance themselves from the Fox News Channel. Here’s what Las Vegas’ Fox-5 news director Adam P. Bradshaw had to say:

BRADSHAW: We’re as fair and balanced as they’re not. We don’t have an agenda. Some viewers draw that connection. Most have never been able to tell a network from a local (station). I’ll get on a plane in my Fox-5 jacket and somebody goes, ‘I love (Fox News Channel’s) Shepard Smith!’ Or hate him. But it doesn’t have any impact on our coverage.

Bradshaw also addressed the difference between independent Fox affiliates, like Fox-5 in Las Vegas, and those that are owned and operated (O&O) by Fox. “Their (O&Os) coverage is more in line with the Fox attitude,” Bradshaw says. “We’re not following their political agenda in any way, shape or form.”

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Copy/paste mistakes can be embarrassing… Last night, around the time of President Obama’s State of the Union speech, Fox News’ White House correspondent Major Garrett, apparently, made one of those mistakes. He intended to direct followers to excerpts of the speech, but sent people a NSFW site instead.

For those who don’t know, people on Twitter commonly use URL shorteners (i.e. bit.ly) when posting links due to the 140 character limit. Using the URL shortener, Garrett posted a link, but failed to see that the destination of the link was an erotic service in Las Vegas.

The tweet was quickly deleted and Garrett made these statements:

I apologize. Bit.ly turned my original link to SOTU excerpts to a soft-porn link. NOT my intention. whitehouse.blogs…. Wed 27 Jan 19:21

The link just posted works. Any frequent visitor here knows that is not my style. Sorry. Shld have caught it sooner. Wed 27 Jan 19:23

For those suckling snide syrup. I publicly acknowledged an innocent mistake and corrected it. If that’s not good enuf, take a hike. Wed 27 Jan 20:18

Garrett previously tweeted that Obama will be in Vegas in the near future. It will be interesting to see if he’ll be tagging along – perhaps he’s planning his trip and was checking out the local entertainment… What actually may have occurred is that a character or two was not pasted along with the rest of the bit.ly URL, so the URL posted was one that may have been created some time ago. It is funny that his tweet after the mistake had been realized was blaming bit.ly when it was clearly an error on his part.

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While many other channels, including MSNBC and CNN, covered the Haiti Now global benefit, which aired live on Jan. 22, Fox News decided not to. Okay, so they do this from time to time when it aligns with their agenda (i.e. being absent from the gay rights protest). Nothing new… So, why is Bill O’Reilly complaining that he’s being ignored?

O’REILLY: Factor Follow-up segment tonight, getting charity to Haiti. As you may know, a TV telethon last Friday raised nearly $60 million to help the folks at Factor, but now comes the hard part: getting the money to the people who are suffering. Now, we tried to get someone attached to the telethon to speak with us tonight. We were not successful, and that is not a good sign. [...]

I want to be very careful in this discussion. I want Americans to be charitable to the Haitian people. I think they need it. I, myself, have given money to that island nation for a long time. We called up the telethon, which was based out of MTV, and said, Look, we just need somebody to just run through the process where the money goes, how it’s distributed, what the time frame is, all of that. We’ve got DVD albums in play. We’ve got all kinds of stuff coming in.

They could not or would not supply us a spokesperson tonight. And that just worries me.

It’s obvious that Fox News consciously chose not to support this cause, so why on earth should anyone believe they’re surprised when they are not supported in return? They seem to have this backwards – a news channel is supposed to report the news and not ignore certain events and then turn around and demand that they not be ignored. A better question is why don’t Fox News viewers realize this is not how it’s supposed to work?

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Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends made the following factually-challenged statement regarding economic growth and unemployment, both things he spun in George W. Bush’s favor…

KILMEADE: I did not think the President was going to do this. He said, let’s just remember what I got when I walked in the door. What I had is after eight years of tax cuts, unfunded prescription drug plans and two wars without financing, I found myself in a mountain of debt essentially. But what he also found was 50 plus months of economic growth going into that. He also found between 5 and 7 percent unemployment. President Bush had it under 5 percent during those times.

Reality called and left a message – economic growth and employment were both going down before Obama took office. Additionally, unemployment was at 7.7 in Jan ’09, not between 5 and 7 percent.

Economic Growth:

Unemployment:

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Act.ly, the web site for “tweet change,” has a petition created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAction) that you can sign to demand that Fox News take responsibility and apologize for supporting James O’Keefe, who was recently arrested by the FBI.

Sign the petition

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, the largest shareholder of News Corp outside the Murdoch family, offered his opinion on Rupert Murdoch’s replacement.

ALWALEED: I met with Mr. Rupert Murdoch and Mr. James Murdoch. We are always in touch. I’m second biggest shareholder there. And no doubt that News Corp is moving on all the fronts. You’ve seen how FOX rating is skyrocketing. … James is now managing Europe and Asia. … I’ll be the first one to nominate him to be the successor of Mr. Rupert Murdoch, god forbid if something happens to him. … I have full confidence in [James], full trust in him, and he’s capable. He’s really Rupert Murdoch in the making, and he’s almost there now.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, is there is a question of who will be aided by Alwaleed’s financial support?  Alwaleed, King Abdullah’s nephew, has been a friend of the Bush family for 30 years, the richest person in Saudi Arabia, the 22nd richest person in the world and he holds large stakes in many American companies, including Citi, who received billions of dollars in bailout money.

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Remember the filmmaker that posed as a pimp to try and bust ACORN, while recording the events without permission? Fox News praised him as “Power Player of the Week,” calling him an “undercover reporter” and a “fascinating character.” The same man, James O’Keefe, was recently arrested by the FBI, along with a few other conspirators, allegedly trying to illegally wiretap Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) office phones.

James O’Keefe and three other individuals were arrested and “charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony” while “dressed as telephone company employees.” One of the other people arrested was Robert Flanagan, is the son of William Flanagan, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.

Fox News devoted many hours to the ACORN situation, including repeatedly showing edited segments of the filming by O’Keefe. Perhaps, not too strangely, Fox News was mostly silent about O’Keefe’s arrest. In fact FNC personalities who scolded the rest of the media for supposedly ignoring the ACORN films, including Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, didn’t mention O’Keefe’s arrest on Monday at all.

However, Glenn Beck has now spoken out about the incident and it may surprise you… unless you’re not surprised by Beck throwing people under the bus.

BECK: If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal. … I haven’t heard his side, but you don’t do anything illegal, that’s Watergate territory. You just don’t do that. And besides that I don’t think you go dressed up — I mean it’s a senator. For the love of Pete, it’s a senator.

CO-HOST: First of all, it’s different than an ACORN office. Because you’re talking about a U.S. senator here! [...]

BECK: It’s exactly the same thing I said for the state dinner. You must not allow — the Secret Service must come down on these peoples in the White House like a box of rocks. You don’t do anything to hurt security for the president or for a senator or anybody else. You don’t mess around with it. Ever, ever, ever, ever. … We have enough [evidence] to, I believe, condemn.

Keep in mind that Beck seemed to fully support O’Keefe playing dress up and filming ACORN staff without their consent. He never questioned the probability that it was also illegal.

In related news, Salt Lake City GOP Cancels Keynote Speech By Inspirational Speaker ACORN Pimp James O’Keefe! In October, Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) and 31 Republican co-sponsors offered a resolution praising Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe for their “investigation in the fraudulent and illegal practices and misuse of taxpayer dollars” by ACORN. While Olson stated that he does not condone the recent events, there is still no word on whether the resolution has been withdrawn.

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC.org) is requesting your help in fact checking Fox News’ spin on President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night.

Your commitment to fighting for the President’s vision for America’s future and the Democratic Party’s agenda for change, confirms my firm belief that we’re going to have the resources to contest every seat in 2010 and be fully prepared for these crucial midterm elections.

Because of your dedication to the DCCC, I am personally inviting you to join our State of the Union “Fact Check FOX” Team.

This group of Democratic Party activists will stand at the ready to counter the lies and distortions that erupt from the right-wing media and Republican spin doctors like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck following President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight. You will receive rapid response fact check text alerts and a direct line to our Rapid Response team to tell us when you see Republican pundits and Members of Congress twisting the truth.

If you don’t have a cell phone, you can also send in your “Fact Check Fox” reports to our rapid response team at FactCheckFox@dccc.org, or via Facebook or Twitter.

This initiative of the DCCC’s Rapid Response Network is an essential component of our 2010 campaign strategy.

It’s this dedicated army of grassroots activists that gives us the capacity to counter the right wing’s massive propaganda machine.

Thank you again for your generous support. It’s clear evidence that grassroots Democrats reject the doom and gloom scenarios spun by right-wing media pundits about the Democratic Party’s agenda. Working together I know we can achieve the change we voted for in 2008.

Thank you,

Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

Click here to help DCCC

The photos with overlaid text on the front page of FoxNews.com is frequently compared to the Lolcats pictures on ICanHasCheezburger.com, but this is ridiculous… Not only is the use of ellipses not warranted, but the emphasis is beyond sensationalist.

Click to enlarge

State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), running in a special election today to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) seat in the U.S. Senate, has received a considerable boost from Fox News, raising the question of ethics in such promotion. Fox News has provided a soap box and helped support Brown’s campaign:

• On the Jan. 12 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, Brown said, “people can go to BrownForUSSenate.com, they can learn more about that and how to help with donating and volunteering.”
• On the Jan. 11 edition of Fox News’ On the Record, Brown told Fox viewers where to find his campaign’s “money bomb right now that’s hitting.”
• On Jan. 8 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Brown told Fox viewers, “If people are kind of fed up…they can go to brownforussenate.com.”

The political action committee, Republican Trust PAC, run by Fox News contributor Dick Morris, has run ads and fund-raised on Fox News Channel. Both Fox Nation and Fox Business have suggested that a, “Brown win could cause huge stock rally.” Furthermore, Carl Cameron, a Fox News reporter, attended a Brown campaign rally last night, where he was seen relaxing with campaign volunteers, hugging staffers and autographing Brown for Senate campaign materials. While Cameron had enough free time to do that, he ducked questions from ThinkProgress when questioned about journalism ethics, stating, “Dude, I’m on a deadline. I can’t –” …Riiiight…

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Gresham Streigel, senior producer on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show, has left the channel and joined FNC rival, MSNBC. Streigel, who has also worked for Fox News for 13 years on shows such as Your World with Neil Cavuto and Fox & Friends, is now working for David Shuster. Beck’s team was, reportedly, trying to push the producer out. It’s probably more likely that it’s someone simply following a paycheck…

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Last week, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh jumped on the anti-Obama bandwagon, again, to attack the President for his hurried response to the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti where it’s reported that death tolls may reach 200,000.

BECK: I also believe this is dividing the nation…to where the nation sees him react so rapidly on Haiti and yet he couldn’t react rapidly on Afghanistan. He couldn’t react rapidly on Ft. Hood. He couldn’t react rapidly on our own airplanes with an underwear bomber…it doesn’t make sense. [...] Three different events and Haiti is the only one. I think personally that it deepens he divide to see him react this rapidly to Haiti.

Polls showed that most Americans approved of Obama’s handling of the other incidents. Additionally, other Fox News personalities including Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham disagree with Beck’s bashing of the President for his reaction time.

“It’s good that he reacts quickly to Haiti,” O’Reilly said last night on Fox News, later asking Ingraham, “You have no problem with his quick response to Haiti?” “Yeah, no,” she replied.

Perhaps Beck should provide a guidelines of appropriate response times for others to refer to in times of emergency… Would it be based on the number of deaths, or the ratings desired?

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There is a rumor surfacing today that Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes has been fired; however, News Corp., the parent company, denies these rumors. News Corp. CEO, Rupert Murdoch has been silent on the issue, but his son-in-law, Matthew Freud, has been anything but…

Putting the rumor aside, let’s look at what Freud, who claims to represent the controlling shareholders of News Corp., had to say:

FREUD: The family is “ashamed and sickened by Roger’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.”

Regardless of whether or not Roger Ailes has been, or will be, fired, there is certainly a line drawn between Ailes and the Murdoch family.

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Irish bookmakers, Paddy Power, will be taking bets on how long drop-out Governor Sarah Palin will stick with her new position as Fox News contributor before throwing in the towel, as well as who she will offend first.

When will Palin quit? Odds:

• Before 01 September 2010 (8/1)
• Between 01 September 2010 and 31 December 2010 (10/11)
• After 01 January 2011 (11/10)

Early betting points toward Sarah Palin being dropped by the global news broadcaster between September and December 2010 with Paddy Power offering odds of 10/11. Slightly longer odds of 11/10 are available on the 45 year-old politician keeping her broadcasting role at Fox News into 2011.

Who will Palin offend first? Odds:

• Gay and lesbian groups (4/1)
• Muslims (6/1)
• African-Americans (6/1)
• Single parents (8/1)
• Arab Americans (12/1)
• Jews (14/1)
• Irish (20/1)

As reported yesterday, Sarah Palin will join Fox News Channel as a contributor. The news, today, is that the decision to use her to further polarize politics was intentional. Fox News Vice President of Programming, Bill Shine, has previously stated that Fox was the “voice of the opposition” to the Obama administration, and now admits that her “controversial”  statements are “probably going to help” them, and “[t]hat’s what people will want to watch.”

SHINE: With her hiring, Fox News gets a high-profile figure whose pronouncements on issues such as healthcare reform have helped drive contentious partisan debate — it was her Facebook post that first raised the term “death panels.”

“She is one of the most talked about and politically polarizing figures in the country,” said Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming. “First off, we hope she brings that.”

The VP of Programming has clearly dismissed responsibility and accuracy in reporting as long as their viewership is increased. By stating that he was “not concerned that Palin would make false assertions,” but rather welcoming the controversy, the “zero tolerance for on-screen errors” policy is, obviously, another Fox News lie.

According to PolitiFact.com, the following statements made by Palin have earned a “False” or “Pants on Fire” status – This is the kind of accuracy Fox News viewers should expect:

• Seniors and the disabled “will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.” (Pants on Fire)
• Obama would “experiment with socialism.” (Pants on Fire)
• “The truth was revealed there in that report that showed there was no unlawful or unethical activity on my part.” (Pants on Fire)
• “Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession” than the current one. (False)
• The McCain campaign “did not elaborate” on Obama’s ties to ACORN. (False)
• Says she couldn’t take stimulus money because it required “universal building codes.” (False)
• A provision in the health care reform bill for end-of-life counseling for seniors is not “entirely voluntary.” (False)
• Palin said stimulus money for weatherization required “universal energy building codes for Alaska, kind of a one-size-fits-all building code that isn’t going to work up there in Alaska.” (False)
• “We’re building a nearly $40-billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever.” (False)
• “If an Iranian woman shows too much hair in public, she risks being beaten or killed.” (False)

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