Warts and All
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on December 21st, 2009 5:48 am by HL
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A December 18 Politico article stated that Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier “offers a straight-ahead reading of the day’s headlines every night.” But Special Report’s history of misleading or incomplete information undermines Politico’s characterization of a “straight-ahead reading of the day’s headlines.”
From the December 18 Politico article:
Fox News is having a banner year in the ratings, but critics say it’s because the network has turned away from journalism and turned to advocacy, with its high-profile trio of conservative commentators: Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. The White House recently took on Fox News as well, saying the network was a “wing of the Republican Party.”
When Fox News takes on its critics — and it does, defending its status as an objective news outlet — the network points to anchors Shepard Smith and Baier, a former White House correspondent whose program offers a straight-ahead reading of the day’s headlines every night.
Sandwiched between Beck at 5 p.m. and “The Fox Report With Shepard Smith” at 7 p.m., Baier’s “Special Report” offers an in-depth look at political news designed to appeal to Fox News’s viewership. Hume, who handpicked Baier as his successor, still regularly appears as a senior political analyst.
“Special Report” includes the Political Grapevine, a two-minute segment plugging political tidbits and Beltway gossip. The program is based on correspondent-driven live reports from Washington and ends with a roundtable discussion from a balanced panel of journalists. Baier is winning high ratings and high marks for his handling of the show.
Baier not only advances misinformation, he provides a platform for Fox News correspondents to do so as well. Among the recent examples of misinformation aired by Special Report documented by Media Matters for America:
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