Day: 6/4/2013

Fox Nation’s “Must Read Twit Of The Day”

Posted by on June 4, 2013 at 4:43 pm. 1 Comments :

Any article that begins “According to Drudge editor and Washington Times columnist Joseph Curl…” — is one that you know is going to be perversely entertaining. And sitting in the headline spot atop the Fox Nation web site is this item that isn’t the least bit sensationalized: “Must Read Tweet of the Day.”

Fox Nation
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As noted above, the author of the Tweet is Joseph Curl, a columnist at the “Moonie” Washington Times and the editor of the widely disreputable Drudge Report. Curl is also a pal of master conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has been featured on Drudge more than 200 times in the past two years.

On the basis of that resume, the Fox Nationalists chose to make their top story a reposting of Curl’s Twitter feed wherein he reveals a couple of late-breaking, unsourced “scoops” that they regard as having the importance of a “nuclear” blast. Here is what Curl Tweeted:

“Hearing from some top Hill sources that IRS scandal about to explode. Low-level agency workers miffed at being blamed. About to return fire.”

And…

“One source says there’s a paper trail to DC, and some who were worried from the get-go kept a paper trail. Wouldn’t say WH, but said ‘high.'”

The smart money is on Curl’s reporting to be left in the dustbin of journalistic fantasies that never come true. Like most of what Curl writes, there is no factual basis or named sources. It is merely wishful thinking that he, and his enablers at Fox, hope will keep the drool dripping from the mouths of their glassy-eyed followers for another day, while they try to manufacture a smear that might actually stick to President Obama or his administration.

Undoubtedly these soundbites will fade away and Curl will never be called upon to answer for his erroneous reporting. It’s their modus operandi. Make an outrageous and unsupported statement. Get Drudge to post it. Then Fox News cites it as their source for what “some people say.” When none of it pans out, move on to a new unsupported, outrageous statement and start the cycle again.

Fox News White House Correspondent Steps In A Big Pile Of It

Posted by on June 4, 2013 at 12:00 pm. 1 Comments :

So Fox News wants to be taken seriously as a credible news organization? If that’s true, then why do they keep destroying their own credibility with stunts like this:

Fox News - Wendell Goler
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During the daily briefing yesterday, Wendell Goler, Fox’s White House correspondent, took the opportunity to ask press secretary Jay Carney if he would “comment on Ezra Klein’s book indicating that the President has agreed to support his former Secretary of State in 2016?” Carney answered that he was not aware of the book, and with good reason. Ezra Klein has never written the book that Goler described.

What Goler was apparently referring to was the book “The Amateur” by wackadoodle Obama-hater and Clinton conspiracy nut Edward Klein. Ordinarily, it should be a forgivable offense to verbally mangle a couple of similar names, but the problem here is that even if Goler had gotten the name right, it was an utterly inappropriate source to cite in the White House press room.

Ed Klein is a certifiable nutcase who has proffered some of the most inane theories and accusations this side of the Weekly World News. He is a proud and persistent birther. He alleged that Bill Clinton had raped his wife Hillary, whom he believes is a lesbian. All these fantastical delusions and more were advanced by Klein without evidence or named sources. His books have been denounced by critics across the political spectrum.

Nevertheless, this is the cretin who Goler actually intended to cite as his source for some secret deal between Obama and Clinton for future political office. That information by itself would not be particularly surprising, but Klein’s version comes complete with a bucket load of melodrama and personal animus between the parties.

What’s more, the book containing this news bite is more than a year old. It has only come back into discussion because this week marks the release of the paperback edition. So what we have here is Fox News raising the issue to support the marketing campaign of a year-old book that was ridiculed when originally released in hard cover.

It would be one thing if Fox merely had Klein on Sean Hannity’s program to discuss the book (which they did), but to feed this thinly veiled advertisement into the media via their primary White House reporter is unconscionable. It is demeaning to the reporter who now appears to be no more than a pitchman for a disreputable product. Nice work, Fox.