(Blog Post) The Obama administration's recent characterization of Fox News is a long overdue acknowledgment of the obvious: Fox News is not a legitimate news organization Full Story »
Posted by Chris Finnie - via Jay Rosen
This passionate appeal for reality-based journalism suffers from two defects. First, it ignores the impetus to defend one media outlet because of the fear that yours may be next. Second, in defending Richard Engel, Froomkin exposes the sort of framing under the guise of asking questions that Fox has been accused of.
Reality can be a slippery thing, influenced by how good you think the poll was or which experts you listen to. But there are some things that can be proven. When the Republican governor of Hawaii says the president was born there, you drop the story. It's not true. And no professional journalist should touch it. Campbell Brown of CNN put it so well. She said when one pundit claims it's raining and another says it's not, it's her job as a journalist to look outside and check. Fox does not meet this elementary standard.