In the case of firebrand leftist Keith Olbermann versus the inhumanly rich and powerful conservative Rupert Murdoch, the combatants have a history that extends well beyond Olbermann's almost nightly attacks on Murdoch from his pulpit on MSNBC. A history that belies Olbermann's constant criticism of the man behind the ugly, ugly Fox News channel and one that deserves to be addressed.
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"FNC averaged 11,098,000 Total Viewers during last night's vice presidential debate, most among the cable networks and the highest viewership in the network's 12 year history. CNN averaged 10,685,000, and MSNBC averaged 4,412,000." [TVN]
Finally, Sarah Palin will have to answer questions about her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. Except whoops, she's doing it on Fox News, and the big revelation is that she seemed flustered and ill-prepared because she was annoyed that Katie wasn't asking the right questions. The questions the American People wanted to hear!
Watch after the jump, and decide for yourself if this is what you've been waiting for a politician to say all your life:
Political writer and former Clinton adviser Dick Morris has a little bit of history with Fox's preferred only liberal, Alan Colmes. The two sparred in August when Colmes called out the creepy foot fetishist for defending John McCain's hypocritical Iraq policies, and now the duo are at it again, this time over Sarah Palin's performance in the debate last night:
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Best moments of the debate included Palin winking, Palin telling Biden that his wife's reward was in heaven (4:15 into the clip), and everyone agreeing on gay rights.
But what did the guys who are payed to analyze the debates think? A pundit round-up, after the jump:
We'd like you to take a look at something. Last night, presidential debate moderator hopeful Bill O'Reilly had Rep. Barney Frank on his show, to slam him for supposedly recommending to America the type of crappy investments that got us into this economic mess. Screamed O'Reilly while demanding Frank step down as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee: "C'mon you coward! … You're a coward!" Shining moment stuff here, folks.
And then there's this clip, of a wee version of the Fox News pundit, who is to Bill O'Reilly what Tina Fey is to Sarah Palin. CONTINUED »
Surprise! This one has nothing to do with John McCain or Sarah Palin or reading or believing women should have their rapist's babies. This post is purely about the idiocy of Fox News and how badly every ding dong in that place's employ understands satire and common decency.
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and the Associated Press are suing Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Attorney General Lori Swanson for enacting a law to expand the amount of space news orgs have to remain from polling stations. Previously, the law was the crews had to stand 100 feet away from the booths (inside the buildings), but with the new statutes, that 100-foot circle would start outside the buildings, pushing the networks farther away:
"As a polling reporter moves farther and farther away from the polling place, the likelihood of a voter getting into his or her car and driving away, or of melding into a crowd of non-voters, increases.
"Second, as distance increases, it becomes harder to discern those who are voters from those who are not.
"Third, as distance increases, the statistical reliability of the sample itself decreases because it becomes impossible to interview in the scientifically selected pattern (e.g. every fourth voter, every fifth voter, etc.)."
You can see how this be a problem: After polling, most Republicans veer off to the right of a building to go to McDonalds, while most Democrats tend to get in their car and crumple into a tiny ball to cry. It would be really hard to get a random sampling of the pollsters.
As John McCain's campaign carefully orchestrates a tightly held press unveiling of Sarah Palin to the media, the interviewers allowed to ask Palin questions are carefully vetted not for their journalistic integrity, but by how well they will shape Palin's image with viewers.
McCain first chose ABC News' Charlie Gibson because he's known for not exactly asking hard (or relevant) questions. Then they pushed Palin to Fox News' Sean Hannity, where, following MSNBC's tactic with Barack Obama, the network offered to fluff her seat cushions before beginning the softball Q&A. And then came Katie Couric, whose womanhood was intended to lend a softness to Palin's ball-busting image.
So, in the eyes of media on-lookers, who came out on top? So far, just Gibson and Couric. While Hannity put out the tea and biscuits for Palin, Gibson and Couric completed friendly tete-a-tetes — complete with walk-and-talk segments — that earned them the respect of their peers by doing one simple thing: CONTINUED »
"Infamous freelance Fox News producer Jessica Herzberg who cluelessly used the phrase “Baby Mama” to chyron Michelle Obama has been thrown overboard and is out of a job with Fox." [Chickaboomber, earlier]
WTXF 29 is Fox's Philadelphia O&O, and like most of Murdoch-owned network, it likes to do a little "investigimative journalism" from time to time. That was the case when Fox followed around Latrice Bryant, an aide for Philadelphia Councilman Wilson Goode, for ten days without her knowledge to do an "in-depth" study on city workers slacking off while taxpayers pay the bill.
Tailing somebody for 10 days without alerting her? Some might call that stalking. But Bryant has another name for it: racism.
After Bryant made a big to-do at a council meeting about Fox's paparazzi tactics, the station's news team, headed by anchor Jeff Cole, hit back with this awesome promo for the network's upcoming expose. Tonight at 10pm: It's not racism if you're upper middle class! CONTINUED »
After condemning members of the hacker group Anonymous for leaking Sarah Palin's personal email information, conservative blowhard Bill O'Reilly found his own site in jeopardy after the "hacktivists" retaliated the only way they know how:
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We have good news and we have bad news. First we'll start with the good: Shrewish conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck is considering leaving her chair at The View round table. The bad news: She's still going to be gracing our television sets.
Live from Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren's blog —
Do you think there is a campaign - by some- to destroy Gov. Palin? (And of course I am not talking about the legitimate inquiry into her experience and her policies, etc. You know what I am talking about - a deliberate effort to destroy her.) [GW]
Um, yes?
If you're wondering why the gift shops at LaGuardia seem a little less snow globe and keychain oriented and a little more hellbent on getting you to watch The O'Reilly Factor, it's not your Murdoch-induced paranoia or the Ambien kicking in preemptively. Brands like USA Today, CNBC and Fox News are outsourcing their brand names to retail shops in airport lounges that exclusively feature items bearing the corporate watermark.
Two possible reasons for the baffling business tactic:
1) The decline in viewership, for both television and glossies, has media corporations looking to expand their names into wholesale businesses as a way to raise revenue and
2) September 11th:
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Editorial Director
