Fox News Reports So You Don't Have To Think

Although I signed a pledge not to patronize businesses that run Fox News, I've found I can't avoid it, as it is on at every physician, dentist, hotel, salon,  restaurant/bar, and family's house in my area and, even worse, my own workplace.  Sounds more like a state-run television, doesn't it? Talk about indoctrination (my word, not theirs).

Following the numerous apologies for errors and the initiation of a "zero tolerance" policy on November 20, TPM complied the following of recent errors:

November 20: Fox News institutes a "zero tolerance" policy for on-screen errors after a rash of mistakes and apologies. An internal memo about the new policy: "That means we will start by going to air with only the most essential, basic, and manageable elements......It is more important to get it right, than it is to get it on.' We may then build up again slowly as deadlines and workloads allow so that we can be sure we can quality check everything before it makes air, and we never having to explain, retract, qualify or apologize again." Seems like that may go against their entire business model...

November 19: Fox runs a segment about Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue: An American Life." Instead of showing a picture of Palin's book, they show one of "Going Rouge." Twice. "Going Rouge" is a collection of essays mocking the former Governor, and was released the same day as Palin's memoir. Fox News later apologizes for the error.

November 18: Fox uses footage from 2008 McCain-Palin campaign rallies when describing the huge crowds at a Palin book tour event. Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news at Fox, explains the mistake: "This was a production error in which the copy editor changed a script and didn't alert the control room to update the video. There will be an on-air explanation during Happening Now on Thursday." Fox News later apologizes for the error.

November 10: On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart points out that Fox News' Sean Hannity used footage of the 9/12 rallies in D.C. when describing the crowd size at Michele Bachmann's Capitol Hill Tea Party, in an apparent effort to inflate numbers at the much smaller Bachmann rally. Hannity later apologizes for the error.

October 31: During its coverage of the NY-23 special election, Fox repeats the erroneous claim that moderate Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava -- who dropped out of the race -- had thrown her weight behind Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. In fact, Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, after her campaign was undermined by national conservatives who criticized her for being pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. Watch Fox News repeat the mistake, to hilarious effect, here.

March 16: Martha MacCallum misleads Live Desk viewers in a segment about the economy: "After weeks of economic doom and gloom, the Obama administration is now singing a slightly different tune. Take a look at what was said in recent interviews this weekend." Fox then airs a reel of Obama Administration officials supposedly talking positively about the economy, including a clip of Joe Biden claiming that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong." Only problem? This clip was actually from a 2008 campaign event, during which Biden criticized John McCain for his statement that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" after the financial market collapsed. Fox conveniently failed to provide that bit of context when editing its segment.

June 24: Republican Mark Sanford holds his infamous tearful press conference, confessing to an affair with an Argentinian woman after disappearing from his state for several days. Fox News airs the press conference with the chryon "SC Gov Mark Sanford (D)." Trace Gallagher later apologizes for the error.

November 23: So where are they now? Well, apparently Martha MacCallum didn't get the memo, breaking the Fox News purity pledge after only three days by telling viewers a public option would be funded by taxpayers: "The reason that the public option is so controversial is, it's a government-run health option. So if you can't get health care anywhere else, this is the idea, that you could get it from this government-offered plan, which of course would be paid for by the taxpayers."

Pick up a book. Pick up a newspaper. Turn on your public television or public radio stations. Turn off the 'Jerry Springer' of news called Fox. It can only make you smarter.