FOX Fantasy News Cleaning Up Their Act?
The recently unearthed video of a FOX News producer revving up the crowd at the Washington Tea Party last month has some people at the network scrambling to protect themselves from the inevitable ethical fallout. It will prove to be very difficult to escape the consequences of their unethical behavior. The Tea Party protest and Glenn Beck traveling road show was heavily promoted by FOX and featured daily updates with cheering crowds of protesters standing behind the “reporter” and waving signs. So it is inconceivable that this was the only time that this producer had acted like she worked for the Jerry Springer Show instead of a news organization. Plus, she is clearly shown on the tape with a cell phone to her ear, presumably talking to somebody else at FOX Fantasy News who was giving her instructions. We all knew that ethics were completely dead at FOX but to see visual proof of the blatant manufacturing of a news event places the network beyond redemption. How can anyone honestly say that they trust what they see on “fair and balanced” FOX after seeing this video.
The editors and executive producers know that they have a real problem here and are trying to get out in front of the issue by releasing a memo describing, in detail, the standards by which FOX employees should conduct themselves. The only problem is it condemns every single tactic that its “reporters” and propaganda personalities count on every day to beguile their viewers. Here is the full text of the memo so you can judge for yourself.
From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:25 PM
To: 005 -Washington
Subject: standards
For those of us who have only been at Fox for a relatively short period of time, it’s useful to remind ourselves that, as journalists, we must always be careful to cover the story without becoming part of the story. At news events, we’re supposed to function as dispassionate observers, not active participants. We are there to chronicle the news, not create it.
That means we ask questions in a fair, impartial manner. When approaching interviewees, we identify ourselves, by both name and news organization, up front. We seek out a variety of voices and views. We take note of the scene in order to bring color and context to our viewers.
We do not cheerlead for one cause or another. We do not rile up a crowd. If a crowd happens to be boisterous when we show it on TV, so be it. If it happens to be quiet, that’s fine, too. It’s not our job to affect the crowd’s behavior one way or the other. Again, we’re journalists, not participants — and certainly not performers.
Indeed, any effort to affect the crowd’s behavior only serves to undermine our legitimate journalistic role as detached eyewitnesses. Remember, our viewers are counting on us to be honest brokers when it comes to reporting — not altering –the important events of the day. That is nothing less than a sacred trust. We must always take pains to preserve that trust.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please stop by.
Spend just one day watching FOX Fantasy News and you will see every one of these ethical guidelines broken at least once. They made a decision a long time ago that ethics were just going to get in the way of bigger corporate profits and the promotion of conservative causes. Every programming and production decision they made was designed to get higher ratings by attracting conservative viewers and putting down liberals. When pursuing an agenda like that, the truth often becomes a liability and gets thrown overboard very quickly. FOX Fantasy News personnel following the directions in this memo would be a miracle. The only way FOX achieves any type of credibility is to fire everyone and start from scratch.
P.S. The list of FOX Fantasy News offenses against the truth are too long to list but MediaMatters.org has put together a very informative video example of the networks ethical problems.
