Quoted from FoxNews.com:

President Obama and Vice President Biden released their tax returns on Thursday (Tax day). They reveal that Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $330,000 in 2009, but gave just four tenths of one percent ($4,820) in cash and “in kind” contributions to charity. The Obamas did slightly better. They gave almost 6 percent of their $5.5 million joint income to charity. Much of their income came from the president’s two bestselling books.

Check the math. The amounts provided by Fox News for Joe Biden do not represent “four tenths of one percent,” but rather almost 1.5%.  Additionally, there is no mention of President Obama’s Nobel Prize donation ($1.4 million) to ten different charities, but not claiming a tax deduction for the donation. The Nobel Prize contribution would have amounted to over 25% of the $5.5 million income reported by Fox News.

FoxNews.com currently has a poll asking, “What Do You Think Tea Party Movement Is About?” At this moment, the leading response is “Fruitless mix of racism, conspiracy theories.” Classic!

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While Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) did ask Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair about the “likelihood of another terrorist-attempted attack on the U.S.,” and Blair did reply that the “priority is certain,” the headline and graphic posted on Fox News’ site, FoxNation.com, was arguably misleading and of the fear mongering variety…

1. The question was about the likelihood of an attempted attack, 2. the response was that an attempt is thought to be certain, 3. the three to six month time line in the question is fairly typical and 4. why the need to invoke the image of 9/11 when there have been numerous “terrorist-attempted attack[s]” on the U.S. that would have been more accurate to depict? Or, show the the senator and/or intelligence chiefs from the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. They decided not to use a photo of an attempted attack that occurred under Obama’s watch… That wouldn’t be yellow enough for Fox News’ “journalism.”

At the time of this post, MSNBC.com and CNN.com both had photos of the intelligence chiefs answering Feinstein’s question, which is an accurate depiction. FoxNews.com did not have a photo accompanying their article. FoxNation.com was just absurd, like usual, stirring up the emotions and hateful comments (i.e. “If this terror event does happen (and I hope it does not) can they at least take out the White House & congress?”). FoxNation.com was not alone in the headline usage, however – MSNBC.com had a similar one: “Al-Qaeda ‘certain’ to attack U.S. within months.” CNN.com’s headline was better: “Intelligence chiefs: Terror attempts on U.S. ‘certain.’”

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.

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Nearly one year into Barack Obama’s first term as President, FoxNews.com is still displaying news from the Bush era. If you navigate to “WORLD,” select “The Mideast” from the “SECTION MAP” dropdown and look under “LATEST MIDDLE EAST NEWS” you will see the following severely outdated list:

• Bush, Olmert Meeting to Focus on Iranian Nuclear Fears, Mideast Peace
• U.S. Professor Donates Israeli Prize to Palestinian Students
• Lebanese President Sworn In as Beirut Cheers
• Bush Administration Wants to Speed Up Aid to Lebanese Army
• Bush Readies for Visit to Middle East in May
• Syrian Ambassador to U.S. Says CIA Fabricated Photo Evidence of Nuclear Reactor
• White House Hosts 2 Days of Mideast Diplomacy
• Hamas Leaders to Meet With Former President Jimmy Carter in Egypt
• Carter Says He’ll Meet With Another Hamas Official
• Army Gen. Martin Dempsey Takes Charge as Central Command Chief
• Bush Believes ‘Plenty of Time’ to Strike Mideast Peace in His Term
• Rice Heads to Mideast as Israeli-Palestinian Fractures Grow
• Bush Administration Targets 4 Individuals Accused of Financial Assistance to Syria
• Syrian Businessman Targeted in Bush Administration Sanctions
• U.S. Concerned Over Massive Palestinian Flows Into Egypt

It appears the latest news item is from June, 2008. Of course, this is only one example. Here’s another: If you select “The Americas” the latest news you will find is from February, 2008!

Way to stay on top of things Fox News!

FoxNews.com contained a graphic stating, “GOP SWEEP,” however, it wasn’t. Their own text below the graphic even confirms that it wasn’t. This is not a mere “typo” that (to use a Palinism) “gotcha” commenters can criticize – this is an obvious and deliberate attempt to show more strength for the GOP.

In the Politics section on FoxNews.com there was a headline that read, “Security Chiefs Way Risks to Modernized ‘Smart’ Grid Electrical System,” but now correctly reads, “Security Chiefs Weigh Risks to Modernized ‘Smart’ Grid Electrical System” (emphasis added). Here’s a screenshot showing the error:

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According to Alexa.com, which tracks web traffic metrics, demographics, and more, FoxNews.com ranks 10th in the News category. Here is the current top ten web sites, according to Alexa:

1. Yahoo News
2. BBC Newsline Ticker
3. CNN
4. BBC News
5. My Yahoo
6. Google News
7. NY Times
8. Weather.com
9. MSNBC
10. Fox News

Contrast the above rankings with those from Compete.com, another web site analytics tool. The web sites from above have been re-ranked depending on number of unique visitors, tracked by Compete:

1. Yahoo News – 36,654,823
2. CNN – 29,188,144
3. Weather.com – 28,356,573
4. My Yahoo – 23,930,896
5. NY Times – 16,677,000
6. Google News – 14,949,452
7. Fox News – 10,121,190
8. BBC Newsline Ticker – 8,097,821
9. BBC News – 5,274,688
10. MSNBC – 2,806,653

Keep in mind that both of the above rankings is subject to error and that earlier this year Nielsen Online ranked Fox News sixth behind MSNBC, CNN, Yahoo, AOL and the New York Times.

FoxNewsBoycott.com just received the following response from SpendOnLife.com, a credit report site, regarding their decision to cease advertising on FoxNews.com:

Subject: Contact Form Results: We have removed advertising
Date: Thu, August 27, 2009 6:15 pm

Just FYI, SpendOnLife.com has stopped advertising on FoxNews.com

Thank You

Their small banner used to be found at the bottom of FoxNews.com and it has been confirmed that it is no longer there.

Leave it to Fox News to report pure hearsay as fact, especially if it’s regarding Fox News, or from Rush Limbaugh, or both. Supposedly, a 18 year old Michigan high school student called into Rush Limbaugh’s radio show and complained that his teacher scolded him for reading FoxNews.com. From the article, Fox News did not get a direct statement from the student, they did not find out which teacher, nor did they have a first hand account from anybody. Also important to note is that the student never made a complaint through the school, so the only record of this is a more-or-less anonymous call to Rush Limbaugh. Wow.

This is becoming an increasingly important indication of global news audience ratings because more and more people get their news online. Nielsen Online has released their ratings for Top Global News Sites, by Unique Visitors for March 2009. FoxNews.com places sixth, behind MSNBC, CNN, Yahoo, AOL and the New York Times. Here are the top ten:

1. MSNBC Digital Network – 39,900,000
2. CNN Digital Network – 38,724,000
3. Yahoo! News – 37,902,000
4. AOL News – 23,604,000
5. NYTimes.com – 20,118,000
6. Fox News Digital Network – 16,791,000
7. Tribune Newspapers – 16,513,000
8. Google News – 13,668,000
9. McClatchy Newspaper Network – 12,508,000
10. ABCNEWS Digital Network – 12,189,000

In an article on the Fox News web site written by Glenn Beck, himself, he starts off with the fear mongering about a global Swine Flu pandemic. He asserts that the approximately 150 deaths are just the beginning, yet fails to mention that every year there are approximately 36,000 flu-related deaths in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Further on, in the same article, Beck tears into the media, of which he is part, for focusing on the Swine Flu on one hand, while not paying attention to what the other hand is doing. He mentions the Air Force 1 fly over of New York and the teleprompter operator error, both of which he blames on Obama, as examples of what the media should be reporting.

And there you have the hypocrisy of Glenn Beck. He begins his rant about the Swine Flu, which he later states is getting too much coverage. Keep in mind that Fox News is covering it non stop, and on other networks I’ve seen fairly even coverage. Glenn Beck is not only a danger to others, but shows that he’s a danger to himself.

As if you really needed another reason not to visit their site… According to the security forum on DSLReports.com, certain advertisements on the Fox News web site may be distributing malware. And, apparently, you don’t even need to click on the ad to get infected and may contain a keylogger. It looks like someone at Fox News isn’t keeping on top of the ad filtering, or they just don’t care.