Fox News’ mainstream apologists

On Dec. 9, the website Media Matters published a leaked e-mail written by Fox News’ Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon. In the e-mail, Sammon instructed reporters to avoid the phrase “public option� when referencing President Obama’s healthcare plan. He wanted employees to instead call it the “government option,� a phrase that Republican pollster Frank Luntz instructed Fox News personality Sean Hannity to use simply because “public option� was polling too well.

I wrote that the e-mail “once again illustrates just how laughable the Fox News slogan ‘Fair and Balanced’ really is.� Here was a high-ranking Fox News official explicitly instructing employees to avoid using the term “public option.� In short, Sammon was ordering employees to slant their coverage.

The Times’ Dec. 17 editorial said that this startling revelation was “hardly worthy of mention� because “arguments over semantics and perceived bias are commonplace and seldom fruitful.� In putting a link to my blog post in its editorial, The Times used me a microcosm of the entire “liberal blogger� community.

Of course, now we know that Fox News’ slanted coverage extends beyond the “commonplace� bias in coverage one might find on the other major networks. What Fox News has demonstrated is a repeated, aggressive agenda to slant coverage to favor right-wing platforms.

Even The Times’ editorial board partially conceded this point when another Sammon missive surfaced. In it, he ordered Fox News employees to immediately point out that global warming “theories� are “based upon data that critics have called into question� in segments discussing climate change.

This, it seems, was a bridge too far for The Times, which called the memo “a bit more troubling.� Of course, the point is that it’s all troubling, but the slanting trends were easy to ignore when it was those of us in the left-wing blogosphere pointing out the propaganda campaign — even though it was as real back in the public option days as it is now, when global warming denialism is at its zenith. It’s hardly a secret that Fox News promotes a right-wing agenda. In fact, I doubt the network wants to keep it a secret any longer.

Still, it’s startling to see how willingly the establishment media serve as apologists for the unethical practices of Fox News, while at the same time dismissing as too irrational or too shrill the liberals who have been accurately diagnosing Fox’s rot.

Journalist Allison Kilkenny co-hosts Citizen Radio (wearecitizenradio.com) and blogs at allisonkilkenny.com.