News Hounds

So-called liberal media makes Abramoff guilty pleas #2 story

Tue 11:17 PM

I had technical difficulties today 1/3/06 - ok, it was a screw-up - and only got the last 20 minutes of The Big Story recorded. The final 20 minutes I did get were different angles on the story of the miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine.

I do not mean to diminish the importance of the rescue efforts or the emotions the friends and families and rescuers are enduring, and my heart and best wishes go out to them.

But that said, this is precisely what is wrong with corporate media today.

News Hounds regulars planning to meet in the spring

Tue 10:58 PM

A bunch of the regulars here at News Hounds are planning to meet in person in Chicago this spring. Go on over to the sticky "NH Con" in the Forums to particpate in the planning and/or to get the details. Everyone is welcome!

FOX Swings Into 2006 Midterm Election Campaign Mode

Tue 06:58 PM

OK folks, fasten your seat belts. FOX officially kicked off its anti-Democrat, 2006 midterm election campaign today with its first hint that the economy will tank if Democrats win, one of its tried and true lies from 2004.

Today (January 3, 2005) on Your World w/Neil Cavuto, Cavuto hosted a roundtable discussion about what the stock market will do this year. One of the participants was Fox's Brenda Buttner, a "senior business correspondent," and the host of Fox's Saturday morning "business news" program, Bulls & Bears.

Jack Abramoff - No Fair & Balanced on Fox's Studio B - Just A Republican Consultant's Take

Tue 06:13 PM

With Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion, Studio B covered this important story with just one opinion - the Republican side. We heard from Major Garrett from Fox and Roger Stone, Republican Consultant.

Not one word was uttered about Abramoff's special friend Tom Delay who toasted his good friend on one of his special trips with Abramoff. However, we did get Fox's and a Republican consultant's spin.

"Culture War" Heats Up on Special Report

Tue 10:59 AM

Jim Angle was still substituting for anchor Brit Hume on Special Report last night (1/2), but the program was in classic Hume style. One particular interview epitomized the fearmongering & instant rewriting of history that characterizes so much of the misinformation on FNC, including alternate versions of reality, Nazi analogies (which are apparently okay when spouted by fascists), Europe-bashing (with particular emphasis on France, of course) & promoting the Bush/neo-con agenda of eternal war.

Mega-Financier Wilbur Ross Owns the Mine Where Disaster Occurred

Tue 07:55 AM

FOX News has been covering the mining disaster in West Virginia non-stop for the past two hours (using a soundtrack theme that sounds remarkably like the old OJ Simpson trial music from CNN). Ben Hatfield, CEO of International Coal Group (ICG), has been very visible on TV and just announced that the air quality tests are not hopeful, since they contain high levels of carbon monoxide . However, to date I've heard no one mention that mega-financier Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., a very high-profile entrepreneur, is the ultimate owner of the Sago mine. The FOX & Friends anchors have mentioned several times that there have been numerous complaints involving the mine and possibly 46 of them were deemed "serious" by the Mining Safety and Health Administration.

FOX News Alert! Stay Tuned! The Great O'Reilly Hunt for the Nefarious Bush-Haters Continues

Tue 05:45 AM

Last night in a Talking Points Memo entitled "Showdown Time" and later during interviews with Republicans and pseudo-Democrats, Bill O'Reilly made overt threats against two employees of the New York Times because, he claimed, that paper engages in what he perceives to be unwarranted and scurrilous personal attacks against the President of the United States. It would seem that FOX News Channel is taking its cue (as usual) from the GOP. As O'Reilly noted in his Memo, President Bush is going on the offensive in the NSA Spygate matter. Well, now, it seems, FOX News has also decided to take a "more aggressive posture" towards Bush's critics. Monkey see, monkey do!

US About To Exceed Debt Limit? No Big Deal To FOX News Reporter Megyn Kendall

Tue 04:04 AM

Less than half an hour after Republican strategist Terry Holt bragged on last Thursdays (12/29/05) Hannity & Colmes that one of Bush's accomplishments in 2005 was "getting spending under control," a FOX Newsbreak reported that the United States was about to reach its borrowing limit. The ever-vapid Megyn Kendall didn't report that this will be the fourth time in Bush's five year presidency that his administration will seek to raise the spending limit. Instead, she deliberately spun his record-breaking profligacy as business as usual.

FOX News Legal Analyst Peter Johnson Distorts The Padilla Case To Make Bush Look Better

Tue 02:46 AM

Peter Johnson, another FOX News analyst more interested in advocating than analyzing, was one of two guests on Hannity & Colmes last week (12/29/05) to discuss a federal appeals court's rebuke of the Bush Administration's efforts to move the Jose Padilla case from a military court to a civilian one. Johnson not only attacked highly respected conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig, a former Bush Administration favorite, as an activist judge for daring to question the Administration's unexplained about-face in its arguments, but Johnson also twisted the facts to make them more sympathetic to Bush.

O'Reilly No Heart Or Humanity

Mon 11:38 PM

Bill O'Reilly actually was heartless enough to have a segment to ponder if Dick Clark should have appeared on TV on New Years Eve since his speech was severely impaired from his stroke last year. He even asked Dr. OIlajide Williams, stroke specialist at Harlem Hospital if he thought it was a good thing that Dick Clark made a brief appearance after having a stroke. 1/2/05

Bill O'Reilly's Sleazy Threat: NY Times' Keller & Rich "have led lives and if they want to attack people personally ... then we're gonna have to just show everybody about their lives."

Mon 10:00 PM

In a move that indicates the level of desperation that must be roiling through the White House, FOX News pundit Bill O'Reilly crossed a line tonight and threatened to reveal personal information about New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller and opinion columnist Frank Rich. Here's the exchange that occurred on the O'Reilly Factor tonight at 8:14 PM EST during an interview with Juan Williams and Mary Anne Marsh, two Democrats who were there simply to be rubber stamps for what looks to be an escalation in the smear campaign tactics so characteristic of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid media outlets.

Fox's Molly Hennenberg Parrots The President & Pushes The 'Leak' Being More Important Than The Fact That The President Is Spying On Americans Without Obtaining Warrants

Mon 09:57 PM

Today on Studio B with Rick Folbaum substituting for Shepard Smith, he went to a segment about President Bush's spying on Americans without a warrant, which was covered by Molly Hennenberg.

Hennenberg simply repeated words from the president instead of presenting the story, as they would say, 'fair and balanced.' They did go to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the end of the segment, but his time was but a small percentage of the time that Hennenberg and the president received.

They're Back!!!!

Mon 07:57 PM

Watching the first 40 minutes of Studio B with Rick Folbaum filling in for Shepard Smith, I thought I was watching the weather channel. There was some coverage of the miners trapped in the mines in West Virginia, but a majority of the first 40 minutes were spent on the weather.

Fighting off falling asleep I did get some amusement from a cross promotion done on one of the commercial breaks.

Fox Does its Evil Work - It Obfuscates the Wiretap/Leak Issue

Mon 06:21 PM

Fox News is down in the trenches these days, doing its frightening, unAmerican, dangerous work and obfuscating the issue of whether or not George Bush's wiretaps are legal. On Fox, the issue isn't about legality at all, but about allowing George Bush to do whatever he wants to fight the war on terror while at the same time dealing with the treasonous behavior of the "liberal media" (the New York Times being the leader of that pack), Democrats, and groups like the ACLU.

'Happy New Year' Thanks To All For Donating During Our Holiday Donation Drive

Mon 07:30 AM

Happy Monday, January 2, 2006! It already feels funny writing that year. So, Happy New Year, this will be the last Monday of our Holiday Donation Drive. We'd like to thank all who have donated to News Hounds so far. We're running our Donation Drive thread on Mondays and Monday, January 2 will be the last time we put our holiday post up. So, if you have any money left after the holidays (yeah, right) don't forget the News Hounds. It's been so nice to hear from so many of our regulars. Have a great week, all.

Happy Holidays to all of our News Hound faithful and new alike! We’ve been around for about a year and a half now and we are glad to bring you the truth about Fox News so that you don’t have to watch it.

The Year on FOX: News Hounds Reflect on 2005

Sun 11:59 PM

from all of the News Hounds to all of our wonderful supporters!

Our various and sundry ruminations on the year just past are published below. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy your feedback!

- Chrish, Deborah, Donna, Ellen, Janie, Judy, Marie Therese, Melanie and Nancy

2005 In Review - Studio B

Sun 09:25 PM

It' been great to be here this year with the News Hounds. Everyone has welcomed me and covering Fox always brings a steady supply of new surprises. Here are a few of my favorite posts. I started posting on January 23, 2005, so my one year anniversary is coming up.

During that time I believe I've covered the facts when it comes to Studio B. I've brought up instances of bias and given kudos when deserved. Too bad the kudos didn't match the posts that were biased.

Be sure and check below for other year end reviews from our other News Hounds.

2005 in Review: Top Ten Lists from a Year of Watching the FOX

Sun 08:22 PM

Happy New Year to one and all from VERY soggy northern California! For our New Year's edition, I was going to write up a lengthy and erudite post entitled "Bill O'Reilly's War on Christmas as a Metaphor for the Right-Wing Agenda." However, Mother Nature intervened. The lights went out yesterday, the result of damage from the awful storms that have battered California this past week. (As I write this a fourth storm is dumping even more water into our overloaded streams and hillsides. And there's a fifth one on the way! Those of us who are old-timers contend these rains are worse than those that caused the Great Flood of 1982!) To make a long story short - there will be no long-winded, overly analytical post. Instead, here are some Top Ten lists culled from the 276 posts (gasp!) I wrote in 2005. Thank you for supporting News Hounds in its quest for truth, justice - and a better media pundit!

2005 in Review - Fox News Live Takes "Tabloid News" to New Lows

Sun 06:44 PM

So many themes, so little time. As I posted over & over again, FNL is a mishmash of slash-&-burn, rapid-fire, content-free, hit-&-run, miniblurbs that is best described as "Infotainment for the Attention-Span-Impaired." The full FNL treatment: multiple teasers, short clips & 2-minute interviews, mini-blurbs & excessive repetition, sort of like Hit-&-Run News. While largely content-free, FNL "news" always has a message, & that message is usually "Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid. Of Everything & Everyone."

2005 in review - trumpeting the White House message and muddying issues: Fox "News" IS #1!

Sun 06:16 PM

When I think of what I've seen and heard on Fox this past year a few things leap to mind. First I am amazed at how so many people can be so brainwashed into believing this propaganda is "fair and balanced". I am also struck by how obvious the pro-administration slant is and how willing viewers are to accept it as viable journalism. I'd find it laughable if it wasn't having such damaging consequences in this country and around the world.

It would be impossibly long to select the worst of FOX over this past year, so I'll just take a quick look back at some of my personal milestones and favorites.