As if it weren’t already abundantly clear, Fox News has generously demonstrated just how intertwined they are with the Republican Party. This item from Media Matters about the stimulus bill requires no further commentary from me:
In tracking how and when the bill purportedly ‘grew,’ [Fox News host Jon] Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods. However, all of the sources and cost figures Scott cited, as well as the accompanying on-screen text, were also contained in a February 10 press release issued by the Senate Republican Communications Center. One on-screen graphic during the segment even repeated a typo from the GOP document, further confirming that Scott was simply reading from a Republican press release.
Wow!
Update 02/11/09: Jon Scott issued an apology on today’s program. However, he only apologized for the typo. He didn’t say anything about the fact that the whole segment was him reading from a Republican press release and presenting it as if it were independently produced news.
Scott and Fox News actually seem to believe that the problem here is an incorrect date and not that a so-called news enterprise is acting as the broadcast press agency for Republican Party propaganda.
Double Wow!
Do I recall a total Fox News melt-down over one of the Democratic nominees, Hillary or Obama, being plagiarists for quoting from a speech? Simply reading from a press release without attribution is different from plagiary how?
Obama used a line from MA Gov. Deval Patrick. But Patrick, an Obama campaign advisor, had given him the line.
This is worse than plagiarism. If Fox had simply stolen a story from another reporter, that would have been bad enough. But they intentionally misrepresented a Republican press release as a news story. That’s colluding with a government/party organization to manufacture news.