Miles from 'fair and balanced'

[Lexingtonian]

November 1, 2003
(Los Angeles Times)

Tim Rutten:
Regarding Media
Miles from 'fair and balanced'

A veteran producer this week alleged that Fox News executives issue a daily memorandum to staff on news coverage to bend the network'sreporting into conformity with management's political views, refocusing attention on the partisan bias of America's most watched cable news operation.

The charges by Charlie Reina, 55, whose six-year tenure at Fox ended April 9, first surfaced Wednesday in a letter he posted on an influential Web site (www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45) maintained by Jim Romenesko for the Poynter Institute, an organization that promotes journalistic education and ethics.

<....>

Looking back on his time with Fox, his greatest concern is for its young staff. "Many of them wanted to be on television but not necessarily in news. They haven't had the benefit of traditional journalistic training, so they're easily molded.

"Time after time I watched what management's politics did to the young anchors. As they near the time to get their own show, the hair gets blonder and the bias gets clearer."

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/cl-et-rutten1nov01,1,234902.column?coll=la-headlines-lifestyle

(This more on the "The Memo" story- lots of fun new details.)

[spooky3]

1. great article; thanks.

[UpInArms]

2. if there ever was a reason for the "Fairness Doctrine"

this station and its executives drives the point home

In his letter, Reina wrote that "the roots of day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo" written by John Moody, the network's vice president for news, and "distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo is behind it. The Memo was born with the Bush administration, early in 2001, and, intentionally or not, has ensured that the administration's point of view consistently comes across on ....

thanks for the post - well worth the read

[atre]

5. The Fairness Doctrine applied only to broadcast media

It never applied to cable media and the Supreme Court has made clear that it could not. The reasons justifying restraint on broadcast media (particularly bandwidth scarcity) simply do not apply to cable media.

Even a revival of the F.D. couldn't rid us of the joke that is Fox "News."

[teryang]

3. "Fair and Balanced" is a loaded corporate PR phrase

...used for diaster control such as controlling widespread public awareness that science discovered cigarettes cause cancer during the fifties, or that diet drugs cause cardiopulmonary disease, or that ephedrine causes strokes, or that certain well known brands of tires and SUVs kill....

This expression "fair and balanced" has such a malign and unpopular history, it was folly that faux adopted it.

[realFedUp]

4. Using "Bushspeak"

everything is opposite of what's stated. (Thanks Orwell...
you saw the future first)

[Clete]

6. Good article.

I hope this doesn't die. Everyone should read it.