{"id":3395,"date":"2010-12-09T13:27:29","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T21:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3395"},"modified":"2010-12-09T13:31:02","modified_gmt":"2010-12-09T21:31:02","slug":"busted-fox-news-memo-reveals-coordinated-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3395","title":{"rendered":"BUSTED: Fox News Memo Reveals Coordinated Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August of 2009, while the debate over health insurance reform was in full swing, GOP pollster Frank Luntz appeared on Sean Hannity’s program and advised Hannity and other Republican operatives to stop using the term “public option.”<\/em> As a result of his own polling Luntz discovered that…<\/p>\n

“…if you call it a ‘public option,’ the American people are split, [but] if you call it the ‘government option,’ the public is overwhelmingly against it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luntz is a Republican pollster who specializes in language. His web site, The Word Doctors<\/a>, sports the motto “It’s not what you say. It’s what people hear.”<\/em> He is responsible for introducing rhetorical distortions such as the “death tax”<\/em> into the public discourse. He truly does have a gift for doctoring words.<\/p>\n

Two months after Luntz’s appearance with Hannity, Bill Sammon, Fox News’ Washington managing editor, issued a memo to Fox producers ordering them cease the use of the term “public option.”<\/em> Media Matters<\/a> published the memo today:<\/p>\n

From:<\/strong> Sammon, Bill
\nSent:<\/strong> Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:23 AM
\nTo:<\/strong> 054 -FNSunday; 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 069 -Politics; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 036 -FOX.WHU; 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers
\nSubject:<\/strong> friendly reminder: let’s not slip back into calling it the “public option”<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Please use the term “government-run health insurance” or, when brevity is a concern, “government option,” whenever possible.
\n2)<\/strong> When it is necessary to use the term “public option” (which is, after all, firmly ensconced in the nation’s lexicon), use the qualifier “so-called,” as in “the so-called public option.”
\n3)<\/strong> Here’s another way to phrase it: “The public option, which is the government-run plan.”
\n4)<\/strong> When newsmakers and sources use the term “public option” in our stories, there’s not a lot we can do about it, since quotes are of course sacrosanct.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is about as clear a demonstration of institutional bias at Fox News as you’ll ever see. The evidence of their bias has always been apparent on the air, but this shows that it isn’t merely the opinions of the presenters, but that it is a coordinated policy embraced and enforced from Fox News’ executive suites. It is also contrary to an earlier memo<\/a> Sammon distributed disingenuously asserting that, “We do not cheerlead for one cause or another.”<\/em> However it is perfectly aligned with Sammon’s ideology as expressed in his books:<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n