Back when Sean Hannity was still with Alan Colmes, a story was aired about an alleged “manhunt” for seven migrant workers on the Fox News Channel. The law suit against Fox News, Inc. was regarding the the caption at the bottom of the screen that ran throughout the story, which read, “Manhunt at the Border” and a “wanted” poster depicting the plaintiffs. The problem is that law enforcement was not involved.

In a bizarre ruling, the California Court of Appeal determined that  cable news programs can, basically, use inaccurate captions in a “colorful way” to grab attention and increase viewership.

“an owner of a cable television news program has broad First Amendment rights to present information in the manner it chooses. The use of captions and graphics has become a popular method for television stations to enhance their news programs and thus to increase viewer audiences. In this case, plaintiffs seeks to isolate a four-word caption from the rest of the story to create a legal basis for their defamation claim. If we were to uphold this approach, it is likely the courts would be faced with a plethora of new claims from viewers dissatisfied with how a particular television caption or graphic has accurately summarized or represented the essence of the news story.”

I completely disagree that a reasonable person would determine “manhunt” to be anything other than a search by law enforcement. Apparently, California courts have routinely thought the same. Unfortunately, this time they gave Fox News, Inc. a pass…

Original story

Discussing the Obama/Chavez handshake with Alan Colmes, Bill O’Reilly attempts to rewrite history concerning Nixon meeting and shaking hands with Mao Zedong.

COLMES: Well, first of all, this shows — first of all, what do you, ignore the guy? When George W. Bush was at the UN and asked, “Will you ever — will you talk to Ahmadinejad if you’re in the same room?” “No, I won’t talk to him” — like a 5-year-old. What do you, ignore somebody standing right next to you? Do we — because he touched him, put his hand on his shoulder, shook his hand? Do these people have a problem with Mao and Nixon? And of course, you worked for Richard Nixon. I mean, Nixon goes to China, do you have a problem with –
O’REILLY: It was Zhou and Nixon. Mao was not involved.
COLMES: There was –
O’REILLY: Yeah, Zhou.
COLMES: Did you have a problem with looking into Putin’s eyes and seeing his soul? Did you have a problem with any of the other –
O’REILLY: All right, but — OK, all of those are valid points, as long as you realize it was Zhou Enlai, not Mao Zedong.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words…

Original Story