{"id":1210,"date":"2009-02-26T15:10:42","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T23:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1210"},"modified":"2009-02-26T15:10:42","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T23:10:42","slug":"fox-business-network-is-on-the-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1210","title":{"rendered":"Fox Business Network Is On The Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year the Fox Business Network filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Treasury Department documents related to the Toxic Assets Relief Program. After filing the request, FBN launched an advertising campaign promoting their tireless efforts on behalf of the American people.<\/p>\n

I have no problem with the FOIA requests, in fact I support them. They are an important part of a transparent democracy, and news enterprises have always used them to provide a complete picture of what our government is doing on our behalf. They do it in the interests of journalism, not some disingenuous grandstanding as protectors of the people. It is unseemly for a network to puff itself up simply for doing its job. Bloomberg also has FOIA requests pending, but they aren’t banging the drum about it.<\/p>\n

Now the puffery is ascending to new highs of absurdity<\/a>. Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee is patting himself and his network on the back for being champions of the people. He is engaging in a sustained campaign of self-flattery that he paradoxically says “is not a wild publicity stunt.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Magee:<\/strong> “One of the ways that we want to differentiate ourselves is to tell our audience that we are trying to protect their interests. We think that’s a wide-open field. CNBC seems to always be the friend of the CEO and that’s fine, nothing wrong with that. It has served them well.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This statement is a direct contradiction of what his boss said<\/a> when FBN debuted:<\/p>\n

Rupert Murdoch:<\/strong> “…a Fox channel would be ‘more business-friendly than CNBC.’ That channel ‘leap[s] on every scandal, or what they think is a scandal.'”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So it is FBN that has always sought to be “the friend of the CEO.”<\/em> Now, in the midst of a Wall Street driven economic collapse, they want to pretend that they are the network of the people. What a crock! The truth is, they are engaging in pure self-promotion. FBN has tried to cultivate the image of being a business channel for Main Street, not Wall Street. But from the beginning, that pretense has been as phony as their “Fair and Balanced”<\/em> sloganeering for Fox News.<\/p>\n

On top of all of this, FBN wants to claim as their victory something that is not really a victory and with which they had little to do anyway. Documents referenced in the FOIA request have already begun flowing. Over 1,200 have been released, 300 of which were previously undisclosed. FBN’s attempt to take credit for this is plausible only if you completely forget that President Obama, on his first full day in office, issued an executive order<\/a> requiring agencies in his administration to cooperate with FOIA requests. This explicitly reversed a Bush executive order that mandated withholding information if at all possible.<\/p>\n

Emerging from the secrecy-obsessed world of George W. Bush may feel strange, but FBN should recognize that they haven’t moved any mountains. They are just in a new era of openness that makes news gathering a little easier. It is more than a little pathetic that somebody else loosened the top of the jelly jar and FBN thinks they’ve grown new muscles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year the Fox Business Network filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Treasury Department documents related to the Toxic Assets Relief Program. After filing the request, FBN launched an advertising campaign promoting their tireless efforts on behalf of the American people. I have no problem with the FOIA requests, in fact I support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,1,4],"tags":[183,182,33,167,472,30],"class_list":["post-1210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-press","category-general","category-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-fbn","tag-fox-news","tag-george-w-bush","tag-kevin-magee","tag-rupert-murdoch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-jw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1157,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1157","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":0},"title":"Fox Business Network Sues U. S. Treasury","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/19\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The U. S. Department of the Treasury is taking on friendly fire. The Fox Business Network has just announced that they are suing them to force the disclosure of information about the Wall Street bailout and how the funds are being used. FBN filed a Freedom of Information Act request\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Free Press"","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":790,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=790","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":1},"title":"Fox Business Network Jinxes The Markets","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/12\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dow Jones announced today that it will be adjusting the components of its Dow 30 stock index. This is the first change since Dow Jones, parent of the Wall Street Journal, was purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, parent of Fox News and the recently launched Fox Business Network. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5576,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5576","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":2},"title":"Memo From Fox Business To Staff – Don’t Copy Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/18\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Reuters is reporting that the Vice-President of the Fox Business Network, Kevin Magee, has distributed a memo to his staff admonishing them for being too much like their sister network, Fox News. Magee: \"I've been asked to remind you all again that they are separate channels and the more we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":638,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=638","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":3},"title":"Fox Business: The Business Friendly Business Network","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/10\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films has a new video announcing the launch of the Fox Business Network (FBN): Remember, we're talking about the network whose chairman promised to make it a more \"business friendly\" business network. Its managing editor, Neil Cavuto, has already compiled an impressive collection of rosy-hued\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":740,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=740","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":4},"title":"Fox Business Network Limps Out Of The Gate","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/5\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The new Fox Business Network may not be living up to the hype. Although Nielsen ratings are not being officially released, numbers have leaked that don't auger well for Murdoch's new baby: \"After less than three months on the air, Fox Business Network is averaging a mere 6,000 viewers in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":667,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=667","url_meta":{"origin":1210,"position":5},"title":"Fox Business Not Hurting Business At CNBC","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/19\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a month since the launch of the Fox Business Network. Actual ratings data won't be available for a few more months but data on CNBC is available. To the extent that you can speculate as to FBN's performance based on the performance of it's main competitor, there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}