White House correspondent for Fox News, Major Garrett, has left the network and TV, returning to print journalism. This comes after Garrett helped Fox News gain the coveted front row seat at the White House Briefing Room. Wendell Goler and Mike Emanuel will share the White House beat.

“Throughout my television career, I’ve known with certainty I would someday return to my roots in print journalism,” Garrett said in the announcement. “That day has come. I will soon announce an exciting new phase of my career — one made possible in no small part by FOX News’ consistent support. It would take a lot – something near perfection – to lure me away from the best job I’ve ever had. Details to come.”

Garrett has accepted a job at National Journal, returning to his roots in print journalism. National Journal Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier said in a separate announcement. “He is known across Washington as one of the hardest-working journalists in the business, a fierce competitor on his beat, and a good and decent man. It is a rare combination, and one we’re incredibly lucky to be bringing into our newsroom.”

“We think Major Garrett is a legitimate reporter,” former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said in the midst of the administration’s battle against the network.

Of course, if you want an example of Major Garrett twisting President Obama’s words, here you go. And, if you want to see Wendell Goler taking an Obama quote out of context, you can find that here. But Goler has also provided a voice of reason about the czar issue.

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News Corp., Fox News‘ parent company, has recently made an extremely unfair and unbalanced $1,010,450 contribution to the Republican Governors Association (RGA). The next largest contribution was made by the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Typically, when a media company donates to a political group, it donates to both sides, as News Corp. has done in the past. For example, General Electric, which owns NBC, and Time Warner, which owns CNN, have donated comparatively near-equal amounts to both  Republican and Democratic campaigns. News Corp. reportedly has not made any contribution to the Democratic Governors Association.

Nathan Daschle, executive director of the DGA, called it “stunning” that a media company would make such a large, partisan investment in politics. “The people owning Fox News have made a decision that they want to see Democratic governors go down to defeat,” said Daschle. “It’s a jaw-dropping violation of the boundary between the media and corporate realm.”

“‘Fair and Balanced’ has been rendered utterly meaningless,” Hari Sevugan, the DNC’s national press secretary, said in a statement. “Any pretense that may have existed about the ties between Fox News and the Republican Party has been ripped violently away.

“No Republican who appears on Fox can be seen as answering to an independent press and all should appear with a disclaimer for who they truly are – the favored candidate of the corporate-friendly network. No Fox News political coverage can be seen as impartial and all of it should have a disclaimer for what it truly is – partisan propaganda.”

There’s no way Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. could have seen this as being anything but politically biased. Obviously they don’t care.

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A year ago, Glenn Beck called the President a racist who had a deep-seeded hatred for White people.¹ In just over a week, he says he will “reclaim”² the legacy of the civil rights movement by holding his “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC — on the same day and place as Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.³

You can get mad at Beck. You can protest and try to prevent him from stepping on Dr. King’s honor for one day. The reality is that the next day — and five days-a-week from there on out — Beck will be back on Fox News, speaking to millions and spreading hate, lies, and fear, as he does every week.

The real problem is Fox News. Fox News gives Beck his platform, and Fox promotes his events — all despite Beck losing virtually all of his major advertisers in the last year.

Fox’s rhetoric is not just divisive; it’s dangerous. Last month, a heavily armed man got into a gun fight with police after he was pulled over on his way to kill people at the Tides Foundation⁴ — a non-profit that was little known until Glenn Beck repeatedly demonized it, claiming it to be the center of a great conspiracy.⁵ Last year, Kansas doctor George Tiller was gunned down while at church⁶ after Bill O’Reilly called him a Nazi, a “baby killer,” and warned of “Judgment Day.”⁷

It’s why today we’re launching TurnOffFox, and we hope you’ll join us. TurnOffFox is the first step in our overall effort to beat back the poison, hate, and division of Fox. We’ll get Fox turned off in stores, restaurants, and other public places — places where Fox pulls in new viewers and gains legitimacy. But we need your help.

Click below to declare your household “Fox free” and at the same time call on establishments in your community (and across the country) to follow your lead and turn off Fox. Then invite your friends and family to do the same. Armed with thousands of signatures, including yours, ColorOfChange members will then visit businesses in their community that play Fox, explain how divisive and dangerous it is, and call on them to stop. And we’ll give you a FREE Turn Off Fox sticker when you sign on — it takes just a moment:

http://colorofchange.org/turnofffox

Some people watch Fox at home because it reflects their view of the world; but there are others who see it on TV in public places and assume that it’s legitimate news. Fox News is often on in bars, restaurants, airport lounges, stores — appearing to be real news, while spreading lies and fomenting hate and division.

The goal of Turn Off Fox is to reduce the number of public TVs showing Fox News, while spreading the word about Fox’s poison (and how it works) to those who don’t know.

Signing up for the campaign is just the first step. We make it easy for you to tell us about businesses playing Fox. If you’re willing to talk with them, we’ll provide you with straightforward materials that explain why they shouldn’t be a party to what Fox is doing. And if there are businesses you know that want to tell the world they would never play Fox, you can help them declare themselves a “Fox-free zone.”

As businesses Turn off Fox and stand up as Fox Free, and as we encourage our friends and family to do the same, we’ll help make clear, to people across the country, what Fox is about. And we’ll reduce their ability to do harm.

Click the link below to join us in standing up to Fox, and we’ll give you a free TurnOffFox sticker. And then please ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://colorofchange.org/turnofffox

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Milton, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
August 25th, 2010

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

https://secure.colorofchange.org/contribute/

References

1. “Beck caps off week of race-baiting by calling Obama a ‘racist’,” Media Matters, 07-30-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/385?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=7

2. “Beck says his 8-28 rally will “reclaim the civil rights movement. … We were the people that did it in the first place’,” Media Matters, 05-26-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/386?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=9

3. “Glenn Beck’s plans for rally on a hallowed date and spot spurs countermarches,” Washington Post, 08-17-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/387?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=11

4. “I-580 gunman targeted ACLU, Tides Foundation,” KGO-TV, 07-20-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/388?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=13

5. “Beck denies being ‘responsible’ for planned massacre at office of group he demonized,” Media Matters, 07-29-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/389?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=15

6. “George Tiller Killed: Abortion Doctor Shot At Church,” AP /Huffington Post, 05-31-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/390?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=17

7. “O’Reilly’s campaign against murdered doctor,” 05-31-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/391?akid=1581.108868.E4v0dt&t=19

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