Fox News Makes Up Quotes

[JPhillips]

This should be interesting. A story on Fox's website had several obviously bogus quotes in it. The story has been removed, but so far Fox has refused to explain itself. I can't get a copy of the entire original, but a portion read like this:

Rallying supporters in Tampa Friday, Kerry played up his performance in Thursday night's debate, in which many observers agreed the Massachusetts senator outperformed the president.
"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!" Kerry said Friday.

With the foreign-policy debate in the history books, Kerry hopes to keep the pressure on and the sense of traction going.

Aides say he will step up attacks on the president in the next few days, and pivot somewhat to the domestic agenda, with a focus on women and abortion rights.

"It's about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures," Kerry said.

Kerry still trails in actual horse-race polls, but aides say his performance was strong enough to rally his base and further appeal to voters ready for a change.

"I'm metrosexual — he's a cowboy," the Democratic candidate said of himself and his opponent.

A "metrosexual" is defined as an urbane male with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle.



My guess is that an employee was having a little fun and went too far, but its mindboggling that Fox would first post this and then give it prominent play on their website.

[JimboJ]

Sounds like the Fox website got hacked.

But if you're going to go to that much trouble, at least come up with some better quotes than that!

[John Galt]

Message deleted.

[Cuckoo]

That is just trolling.

Fair enough, post deleted.

[kcchief19]

The site wasn't hacked:

hxxp://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-10-02-fox-kerry_x.htm

[Bomber]

www.talkingpointsmemo.com

John Marshall has been all over this story. Apparently the Fox political analyst who is assigned to Kerry made up the quotes in a post-debate article.

[Dutch]

CNN - (Via the Associated Press - Via Reuters - Via Al Jazeera - Via Answar El Islam - Via Al Qaeda - Via Iraqi "militants" - Via Russian Pravda - Via Paris, France - Via Howard Dean - Via John Kerry) - Our government should ban Fox News, like Canada does. This was an obvious attempt by Fox News to swing the election in favor of George Bush. It was geared at the millions of undecided voters that fall in the "idiot" category.

John Kerry's camp is fuming over these fake quotes not because they are truthfully funny and hurt his campaign but because "...the people that bought that article are the same ones who can't figure out how to fully punch out a chad on a Florida ballot....those idiots belong to us. And...and Fox News almost singlehandedly stole the election from Kerry! They should be ashamed at trying to influence something as important as our presidential elections!"

Our CNN correspondents and our sister networks like ABC and CBS were likewise furious at Kerry's team for mentioning mass media and "influencing elections" in the same sentence.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

It's a good thing that FOX is so fair and balanced. I'd hate to see what the reporter would have wrote if he were actually against Kerry...

[Chubby]

What a surprise, the only thing that matters is which candidate the fake stuff is used against...

[Dutch]

jokes...chubby...jokes...

[Chubby]

jokes...chubby...jokes...
I wasn't referring to you so don't worry :)


But, it's not like I'm surprised that there was total outrage over CBS and basically nothing here.

[MJ4H]

since they were different by orders of magnitude, you shouldn't be surprised.

[Chubby]

since they were different by orders of magnitude, you shouldn't be surprised.
you're right. on one, they knowingly published something made up. on the other they simply didn't research enough. Of course I'm not surprised given the makeup of the board.

[MJ4H]

:rolleyes:

[Chubby]

:rolleyes:
excellent comeback, your logic is astounding! We all know that when confronted with hypocircy the automatic response is the roll eyes emoticon, I mean, why actually admit to the double standard right?

[MJ4H]

if your thought process was sound enough for me to invoke logic in my reply, i would have done so. as it is, i will not be wasting my time on further replies.

[valhalla]

Agreed... No one is allowed to poke fun at kerry.. Especially not those right wing nuts from fox!

[Chubby]

if your thought process was sound enough for me to invoke logic in my reply, i would have done so. as it is, i will not be wasting my time on further replies.
awesome, buh bye. I wouldn't expect 90% of the board to come in here except to give a roll eyes anyways. Thanks for contributing...

[JPhillips]

Its been quite a weekend for Fox. They also posted this story:

Of course, there were some Kerry supporters in attendance who had no doubts whatever about their candidate.

"We're trying to get Comrade Kerry elected and get that capitalist enabler George Bush out of office," said 17-year-old Komoselutes Rob of Communists for Kerry.

"Even though he, too, is a capitalist, he supports my socialist values more than President Bush," Rob said, before assuring FOXNews.com that his organization was not a parody group. When asked his thoughts on Washington's policy toward Communist holdout North Korea, Rob said: "The North Koreans are my comrades to a point, and I'm sure they support Comrade Kerry, too."

It is unclear whether the Kerry campaign has welcomed the Communists' endorsement.


If they had gone to the group's website and clicked the "About" link they would have known it was BS.


"Communists for Kerry" is a campaign of the Hellgate Republican Club, a tax exempt non-partisan public advocacy "527" organization that exists for the purpose of;

"Informing voters with satire and irony, how political candidates make decisions based on the failed social economic principles of socialism that punish the individual by preventing them from becoming their dream through proven ideas of entrepreneurship and freedom."

Our members help elect candidates who support economic growth through Entrepreneurship, limited government and lower taxes. Communists For Kerry is separate and distinct from the Communist party of America and any of its organization. None of it's members are members of any communist organizations.

FOX has posted this in response:

Editor’s Note:

In an version of this article that was published earlier, the Communists for Kerry were portrayed as a group that was supporting John Kerry for president. FOXNews.com’s reporter asked the group’s representative several times whether the group was legitimate and supporting the Democratic candidate, and the spokesman insisted that it was.


So by this reasoning CBS did all it should have to ensure the documents were legitimate?

[RendeR]

oh look, its that ugly little pit bull chubby again...hang on to it chubby, shake it a little more, maybe someone on this board hasn't seen you be an ass enough yet.

[Chubby]

oh look, its that ugly little pit bull chubby again...hang on to it chubby, shake it a little more, maybe someone on this board hasn't seen you be an ass enough yet.
(no troll there)

Is this where I insert the roll eyes? Way to stay on topic, congrats!


JPhillips - It's Fox, they are obviously allowed by some to make stuff up knowingly to "balance out the liberal media"

[sooner333]

Yeah, I realized I didn't read the article close enough and my thought was wrong. whoops.

[valhalla]

Humor often involves making stuff up im afraid. Theres a difference between making things up for malicious intent and to poke fun at someone... Im not validating the actions of this reporter from fox, just that it was pretty obvious to me that the guy was poking fun at kerry.. IMO your getting a bit carried away and blinding yourself from the fact that it was an attempt at humor, i dont see anthing suggesting it was malicious in intent. Your trying to hard to turn one reporters ill humor into a political issue..

For the record i am a democrat and pretty liberal but i have a real problem with the accusations the left makes against fox of being heavily biased towards the right, i think the problem is that every other news organization is so heavily biased to the left that it makes fox appear to lean to the far right. I watch fox news a lot and i really believe they are the only news network in the middle of the political spectrum and that for the most part are fair and balanced..

Im still debating who Im gonna vote for, its never been an issue i always voted democrat, but i have a real problem with kerry and his constant flip floping on iraq.. He comes off as someone who is very indecisive and takes whatever position he feels serves him the best at any given time.. Its a shame because i absolutley love edwards, he should have been the presedential candidate..

[GrantDawg]

Editor’s Note:

In an version of this article that was published earlier, the Communists for Kerry were portrayed as a group that was supporting John Kerry for president. FOXNews.com’s reporter asked the group’s representative several times whether the group was legitimate and supporting the Democratic candidate, and the spokesman insisted that it was.


So by this reasoning CBS did all it should have to ensure the documents were legitimate?
Nope, because CBS went against thier own experts and, even after many publications pointed out the problems with the documents, still sayed they were true and going to "prove" it (which in the end couldn't). Fox here made two mistake that within hours they recanted. Every news orginization does the same thing.

It is sad people get so wrapped up in ideology that they are blinded to reason.

[JPhillips]

Grant: I'm actually not trying to defend CBS. They dug their own grave and I have no interest in standing up for shoddy reporting. My point was that asking the source if it was legit was FOX's defense. The "apology" from FOX doesn't admit any culpability. They asked if it was legit and the source said yes, so that is supposed to excuse FOX.

By this measure CBS should be fine because their source at least initially said the documents were legit. Of course that doesn't excuse CBS, but by the FOX standard, CBS should be off the hook.

The reason the first story is important is because the offending reporter is the "senior political correspondent" and is the lead FOX reporter assigned to Kerry. Can any reasonable person declare that Cameron isn't biased against Kerry? Remember also that the reporter doesn't post whatever he feels like. This had to go through somebody that runs the website and probably an editor that approved it. Nobody at FOX thought that there might be a problem with this story.

The second story is so obviously questionable that it should have been stopped and double-checked as soon as it came in. Its comical how silly it is. Even if it were true, what is the point of running a story on such a fringe group except to smear Kerry. But since it wasn't true and was in fact a Repub. group that could have been checked with even the slightest of effort this is quite clearly a case of FOX being willing to run anything and everything that hurts Kerry. Fair and balanced my ass.

Valhalla: You're a liberal Democrat that sees every media outlet as biased for the left, except FOX which is down the middle and fair and balanced. You haven't decided who to vote for, but you think Kerry is a flip-flopper. Interesting.

[GrantDawg]

Grant: I'm actually not trying to defend CBS. They dug their own grave and I have no interest in standing up for shoddy reporting. My point was that asking the source if it was legit was FOX's defense. The "apology" from FOX doesn't admit any culpability. They asked if it was legit and the source said yes, so that is supposed to excuse FOX.

BUT, again, you're comparing Fox who immediately confesses they were duped when proof came (in a story that would not exactly carry the weight of the CBS story either) versus CBS who had proof BEFORE they reported and still defended the documents when they had many sources pointing out the fakes. Apples-oranges

By this measure CBS should be fine because their source at least initially said the documents were legit. Of course that doesn't excuse CBS, but by the FOX standard, CBS should be off the hook.

They had their own experts saying the documents were fake. Again, apples-oranges

The reason the first story is important is because the offending reporter is the "senior political correspondent" and is the lead FOX reporter assigned to Kerry. Can any reasonable person declare that Cameron isn't biased against Kerry? Remember also that the reporter doesn't post whatever he feels like. This had to go through somebody that runs the website and probably an editor that approved it. Nobody at FOX thought that there might be a problem with this story.

They trusted their senior correspondent (that made a bad error). I wouldn't say Cameron isn't bias, but do you think every one in the Bush pool is voting Bush? Do you think they might tell jokes at Bush's expense from time to time?

The second story is so obviously questionable that it should have been stopped and double-checked as soon as it came in. Its comical how silly it is. Even if it were true, what is the point of running a story on such a fringe group except to smear Kerry. But since it wasn't true and was in fact a Repub. group that could have been checked with even the slightest of effort this is quite clearly a case of FOX being willing to run anything and everything that hurts Kerry. Fair and balanced my ass.

No doubt they thought it was a funny story, and they did think it would hurt Kerry. I wouldn't even begin to deny that Fox is a conservative network, and take what they say with a grain of salt. I also think CBS leans left and take what they say with a grain of salt. Do you?

I think Fox screwed up and should be called on the carpet. To say that these two stories are in any way to the level of the CBS story is just silly.

[MJ4H]

agreed on both counts.

[JPhillips]

Grant: Of course the stories are different. My point is more about the outrage at CBS versus the laissez faire attitude towards FOX. When will we see those who were fighting for a non-partisan media condemn these FOX stories?

When will Ksyrup say this about Cameron: Dan Rather is a biased goober masquerading as an objective journalist

When will gstelmack say this about Cameron and FOX: A journalist is supposed to be all about reporting the truth. If they report a lie, or use false evidence to support a story, what do they have left?

When will Leonidas say this about FOX: Just goes to show 60 Minutes has an agenda, and they got caught out in the light on it.

When will Oliegirl say this about Cameron: Someone who is so obviously incapabable of giving us un-biased news shouldn't be in the high position he is.

When will CamEdwards say this: Considering the media will be shaping public policy long after John Kerry and George W. Bush have retired, I think it's not only fair that we pay attention to this story, I think it's imperative.

When will Farrah say this: the traditional media, IMO, is suppossed to be the watchdog of the politicians. ALL politicians, not just the ones whose ideals they support.
or this
But you cease to be independent when you are a pawn for one party over the other because eventually that party will control the government.

When will SFLcat say this: Report the facts, damnit, and keep your political opinions to yourself.

When will TroyF back up this statement: If they had gotten away with it this time, who is to say it wouldn't have been Fox doing it to a democrat the next time?

When will Arles say: You have to have a certain degree of trust that news organizations are not going to openly take sides in their reporting and it seems that CBS has lost that trust.


As I said, I have no interest in defending CBS, they screwed up and they deserve to pay the price. My real beef is with those who want to yell "balance" and "non-partisan" when it is politically beneficial, but who sit on the sidelines when their side gets caught clearly favoring one candidate over the other.

[Chubby]

Grant: Of course the stories are different. My point is more about the outrage at CBS versus the laissez faire attitude towards FOX. When will we see those who were fighting for a non-partisan media condemn these FOX stories?

When will Ksyrup say this about Cameron: Dan Rather is a biased goober masquerading as an objective journalist

When will gstelmack say this about Cameron and FOX: A journalist is supposed to be all about reporting the truth. If they report a lie, or use false evidence to support a story, what do they have left?

When will Leonidas say this about FOX: Just goes to show 60 Minutes has an agenda, and they got caught out in the light on it.

When will Oliegirl say this about Cameron: Someone who is so obviously incapabable of giving us un-biased news shouldn't be in the high position he is.

When will CamEdwards say this: Considering the media will be shaping public policy long after John Kerry and George W. Bush have retired, I think it's not only fair that we pay attention to this story, I think it's imperative.

When will Farrah say this: the traditional media, IMO, is suppossed to be the watchdog of the politicians. ALL politicians, not just the ones whose ideals they support.
or this
But you cease to be independent when you are a pawn for one party over the other because eventually that party will control the government.

When will SFLcat say this: Report the facts, damnit, and keep your political opinions to yourself.

When will TroyF back up this statement: If they had gotten away with it this time, who is to say it wouldn't have been Fox doing it to a democrat the next time?

When will Arles say: You have to have a certain degree of trust that news organizations are not going to openly take sides in their reporting and it seems that CBS has lost that trust.


As I said, I have no interest in defending CBS, they screwed up and they deserve to pay the price. My real beef is with those who want to yell "balance" and "non-partisan" when it is politically beneficial, but who sit on the sidelines when their side gets caught clearly favoring one candidate over the other.
Those things will never happen of course.

[Sharpieman]

Humor often involves making stuff up im afraid. Theres a difference between making things up for malicious intent and to poke fun at someone... Im not validating the actions of this reporter from fox, just that it was pretty obvious to me that the guy was poking fun at kerry.. IMO your getting a bit carried away and blinding yourself from the fact that it was an attempt at humor, i dont see anthing suggesting it was malicious in intent. Your trying to hard to turn one reporters ill humor into a political issue..

For the record i am a democrat and pretty liberal but i have a real problem with the accusations the left makes against fox of being heavily biased towards the right, i think the problem is that every other news organization is so heavily biased to the left that it makes fox appear to lean to the far right. I watch fox news a lot and i really believe they are the only news network in the middle of the political spectrum and that for the most part are fair and balanced..

Im still debating who Im gonna vote for, its never been an issue i always voted democrat, but i have a real problem with kerry and his constant flip floping on iraq.. He comes off as someone who is very indecisive and takes whatever position he feels serves him the best at any given time.. Its a shame because i absolutley love edwards, he should have been the presedential candidate..
Well, the point that people are trying to make is that Fox News isn't the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It's supposed to be a legit news organization, not the Onion. THEY AREN"T SUPPOSED TO DO HUMOR!!!! BTW, I highly doubt your "pretty liberal" and watch Fox News, that statement is an oxymoron.

[GrantDawg]

As I said, I have no interest in defending CBS, they screwed up and they deserve to pay the price. My real beef is with those who want to yell "balance" and "non-partisan" when it is politically beneficial, but who sit on the sidelines when their side gets caught clearly favoring one candidate over the other.So, you're not going to be happy until the same level of outrage is shown on this as was the CBS thing? Since this isn't the same level of mistake I can't see how the same outrage would be fitting. This was a minor error that would have had next to no effect on the election compared to major error that would have swayed votes.

It is just not going to happened because the things are not equal, and you trying to equate them is damaging your own credibility IMHO.

[Flasch186]

I think both in this political climate are irresponsible.

[TroyF]

Well. . . I'm pissed at Fox over this. I think it's ridiculous of them to have posted things like this.

Yet, these things aren't even remotely on the same level, so they don't deserve the same response. As journalists, Fox made a couple of ridiculous mistakes and deserve to be criticized.

As journalists, CBS intentionally used documents they knew were questionable, put them on a popular TV news show, when they got caught pretended it was a bunch of right wing nutjobs that were making things up, then tried to cover the story up in the face of incredible pressure.

Both CBS and FOX committed ethical lapses. To compare em? Fox news committed petty larceny. CBS beat a 70 year old within an inch of her life for a social security check.

Neither deserve our praise, but one was a lot more reckless and hurtful than the other.

[JPhillips]

Grant: No, I don't need the same level of outrage, a little would do.

I'm not trying at all to equate the two. Journalistically the CBS mistake was far worse. The stories at FOX will almost certainly cause less "damage" but they show how the network is clearly biased against Kerry. Twice they ran stories that were out and out character assasinations of Kerry. This should at least be enough evidence for everyone to finally agree that FOX is anything but "fair and balanced".

[Buddy Grant]

It really steams my clams that FOX News, once the only source of fair investigative reporting left that I could watch without becoming quickly enraged, has gradually turned lefty as the polls start to indicate a closer US Presidential race. It's still obvious to anyone with half a brain who will win the upcoming election but it seems to me that FOX News, by backing off on these important stories (the tape recorded quotes from Kerry at his beauticians office and the clandestine financial backing of the Demoncratics by the Communist Party of the USA) must be wimping out from lefties within their ranks or from French government supported "547" groups. The fact that they retracted the initial stories and even apologized for printing them proves (to me at least) that even FOX News has been infiltrated by left wing infiltrator type people, and this has got to stop if they want to ever be taken seriously (by me at least) again in the future.