">Here we see Rick Sanchez protesting a claim by FOX that other networks "missed the story" on the 9/12 rallies. He responds to show this is an outright lie (using Joe Wilson's wording at the end of the clip). A part of me, though, can't help but think he's been unwittingly roped into giving a reprise of the coverage, giving these blowhards more of the attention they crave. What think ye? (Also, happy Talk Like A Pirate Day.)

Campbell Brown engaged in a refutation of FoxNews on her show last night too. For comments, she brought on three CNN reporters who covered the event. One of them noted that giving attention to ginned up controversies meant less time to cover more important stories. Campbell Brown agreed, thanked her colleagues and proceeded to introduce the next story (something unimportant).

FoxNews is playing the refs. For CNN to "get the story" it would have to be FoxNews. It would have to have promoted the event, believed the event, cherished the event. It would have to have gone along with pushing the falsehood that 2 million people showed up at the event. That's really what this is about. FoxNews pushed the claim that 2 million people showed up at the rally. Every other credible source of information says that at most 75,000 people showed up. So instead of acknowledging a mistake, FoxNews would rather attack CNN for "missing the story". And when a FoxNews fan meets a person in the reality based community and they get to talking about this event and the FoxNews fan says there were 2 million people there and the person from the reality based community says there were 75000 people and supports that fact with "I saw it on CNN", the FoxNews fan can rebut with the claim that CNN missed the story.

CNN doesn't make this analysis but I think that's the origin of the attack. Yes, CNN does fall into the trap of giving blowhards more attention.

"Then if the function of injustice is to cause hatred wherever it appears, won't it produce strife in any group of free men or slaves and make them unable to act in common?" -- Plato

Some bullshit about Mark Levin -- Promit

[Edited by - Promit on September 19, 2009 4:06:10 PM]

Mark Levin has nothing to do with this issue.

Has O'Reilly called Sanchez a "far left smear merchant" yet?

Wasn't the "L" word unspeakable not so long ago among professional journalists? Not that I'm complaining, I just can't picture the CNN of ten years ago calling out Fox like this. Is my memory faulty, is Olbermann's nightly willingness to call a spade a spade being adopted by other news personalities on serious news networks?

That thought crossed my mind, but I think CNN was simply responding to an attack on it's credibility as a source of news. As a side note, this weekend President Obama is making the rounds of every television news outlet except FoxNews. ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo and CNN. Is that a snub? It looks so, but maybe FoxNews turned down his request to appear there.

Quote: Original post by Zahlman
What think ye?

So Fox published an ad that contained falsehoods. Big deal, just let it go. I think he's a little overreacting, especially with dramatic statements like: "[..] that's an offense to myself, and to my colleagues who risk their lives for our viewers in Irak and Afghanistan [..]".

If he really feels it's necessary to rectify the allegations, fair enough, but he could've done that in a 20 second statement rather than making an entire news report out of it.

Quote: Original post by LessBread
It looks so, but maybe FoxNews turned down his request to appear there.

No, O'Reilly was bitching about it Friday night on his program:

Quote:
President Obama will appear on five networks Sunday morning, including Spanish-language Univision, but is conspicuously skipping Fox News. The Factor asked Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace about the president's snub. "I can understand the administration's fight with some people on Fox News," Wallace said. "But Fox News Sunday is truly a fair and balanced show. There is a kind of childishness or pettiness about this. Everything is personal with this administration; they are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my thirty years in Washington. And this is a president who said he wanted to reach out to all Americans?" The Factor opined that the president is making a tactical error. "The power in the media is now with Fox News and talk radio, and the Obama administration doesn't seem to understand that. The people who need to be persuaded are watching us." Wallace added that his program will feature Bertha Lewis, CEO of the embattled ACORN organization.

Quote: Original post by cyansoft

Quote: Original post by LessBread
It looks so, but maybe FoxNews turned down his request to appear there.

No, O'Reilly was bitching about it Friday night on his program:

Quote:
President Obama will appear on five networks Sunday morning, including Spanish-language Univision, but is conspicuously skipping Fox News. The Factor asked Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace about the president's snub. "I can understand the administration's fight with some people on Fox News," Wallace said. "But Fox News Sunday is truly a fair and balanced show. There is a kind of childishness or pettiness about this. Everything is personal with this administration; they are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my thirty years in Washington. And this is a president who said he wanted to reach out to all Americans?" The Factor opined that the president is making a tactical error. "The power in the media is now with Fox News and talk radio, and the Obama administration doesn't seem to understand that. The people who need to be persuaded are watching us." Wallace added that his program will feature Bertha Lewis, CEO of the embattled ACORN organization.

What a load of crap! Wallace claims his show is fair and balanced and then goes on to slam the White House as childish, petty, unprofessional, crybabies and so on. That's not a very professional response in my view and it confirms the wisdom of Obama's decision to avoid his show.

I expect Robert Gibbs will be asked about this at the next press briefing. I wonder what he'll say.

Sorry, but we'll get better ratings on Letterman!
Sorry, but we wanted to spare their viewers the heart attack!
Sorry, but we wanted to deal with a host who was fair and balanced!

Maybe Letterman will make this his Top-10 tomorrow?

This adds an interesting twist: Fox News Producer Caught Rallying 9/12 Protest Crowd In Behind-The-Scenes Video.