Those irascible scamps at Fox News and their mad Photoshopping skills!
Fox News Channel can dish it out, but they apparently can't take it. The home of pundits who have variously confused Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden and said, oh what the heck - shoot them both and decried his "terrorist fist-jab" and referred to Michelle Obama as Barack's "baby mama" has thin skin when it comes to media coverage of Fox News itself.
Case in point: The New York Times recently ran an article about ratings among the cable news channels, and while acknowledging Fox was still No. 1, noted that CNN was becoming competitive. This didn't sit well with the blowhards at Fox, for some reason, who declared the reporter a lapdog for a Times editor with a beef against the Fox empire and distorted the reporter's photo:
Well, that's all nice and grown-up, isn't it? So the Times' David Carr notes today that this is part of a pattern at Fox News:
"Earlier this year, a colleague of mine said, he was writing a story about CNN's gains in the ratings and was told on deadline by a Fox News public relations executive that if he persisted, 'they' would go after him. Within a day, 'they' did, smearing him around the blogs, he said. ... (R)eporters I talked to who say they have received e-mail messages from Fox News public relations staff that contained doctored photos, anonymous quotes and nasty items about competitors. And two former Fox employees said that they had participated in precisely those kinds of activities but had signed confidentiality agreements and could not say so on the record."
He spoke to Brian Lewis in Fox's public relations department, who said, "Yes, we are an aggressive department in a passive industry, and believe me, the executives and talent appreciate it," and added that today's technology quick-spinning news cycle required, in Carr's words, this "new kind of engagement and activism."
Carr's point was that covering Fox News Channel is a real pain in the @ss, that a reporter can expect nothing but grief and likely a series of unreturned phone calls while working on a story about the network.
To which I say: Why bother covering them at all? Every time one of Fox News' more preposterous bloviations becomes a story, that gives the network more credibility to those who don't watch it, suggesting that their behavior merits serious attention. When, in fact, those little burps of lunatic commentary merely reveals an insular little world catering to like-minded troglodytes - good luck to them, but the real world doesn't deserve to be subjected to such pernicious nonsense.
But, to demonstrate that I harbor no ill will towards Fox News' hit squad, I hereby offer them a recent photo of me that I dare them to make more unflattering in Photoshop:
Have fun, guys!
4 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place.
Man, I may of misread it on the closed captioning from across the room, but I swear No-Spin Bill said that what they did was "All in fun." Then compared it to a cartoon illustration the New York Times did for a story on him (probably a commentary) that was done in better taste than that photo is.
Hey Big Bill, there's a difference -- you're on TV.
well, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how's life? hope it's introduce branch ;)
woot woot
There was a time I would have laughed too. But lately it just seems like all the media worships Obama and sweeps a lot of information under the table. Doesn't it bother people that he sent troops in to Afganistan and then left them there with no reinforcements to die? It does me. He needs to either pull them out, or else send reinforcements. My friends little brother is there and they are taking a lot of casualties. But Obama cares about how he looks more then anything else. So they get to die for nothing. And don't give me crap about how "all politocians do that" if it was a Republican doing this the news would be all over it. I don't think Obama is getting any scrutiny and thats not good. And when he does get reprimanded everyone always says its a racial attack. Im pretty tired of him being the golden boy. I don't see things getting better. Instead of attacking Fox news like everyone else, maybe its time to stand up for the underdog and commend them on being the only voice that dares to question our government. I used to think they were out there too. I don't any more. Things have changed.