The news lied to me!

Posted in | Posted on 09-17-2006 | 5,473 views

I just watched a very interesting video on youtube (and no, it didn't involve unicorns):

The video talks about the Florida reporters who were fired for refusing to lie for Fox News. The courts upheld that Fox was not required to tell the truth.

I'm torn by this. I tend to think (outside of libel/slander), that a person can say what they want. Maybe this ruling can be a wake up call to the public to start questioning what they see from the media.

For all it's cheesiness, Running Man did have some very interesting scenes. When the broadcasters were "photoshopping" events to twist them to match what they wanted to show, it now seems more prophetic than I could have imagined. For fun - try googling for reuters photoshop.

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Michael Brennan-White said on 09-17-2006 at 12:49 PM #
	I swear to god, I finished drinking a big glass of milk right before I saw your post. I'm feeling a little sick right now.

doug said on 09-17-2006 at 1:18 PM #
	I saw the interview with the two reporters a few months ago. It pretty much reconfirmed the reasons why I don't watch Fox news.

Raymond Camden said on 09-17-2006 at 1:24 PM #
	Although notice at the end that other media organizations filed 'friend of the something or another' briefs. Fox was not alone in this.

Jamie said on 09-17-2006 at 4:00 PM #
	Probably best to avoid milk anyhow. http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/milkdoc.htm

barry.b said on 09-17-2006 at 7:58 PM #
	anyone remember this line from a movie**? "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" thank heavens we have (well watched) programs like http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/ just 2c, nothing more. (BTW, delivered by Peter Finch, Australian actor)

John Farrar said on 09-17-2006 at 8:31 PM #

So... this means that we should reject everything they say about the gulf war also? LOL (Bottom line, they market the news. You can't tell what is truth and what is not by the integrity of the reporter unless you truely know the reporter.) I will state that there are religious news channels that taint the news to the same degree as secular news. Truth is, the love of money is the root of all evil. When money is a tool, it's a great servant. When money is a goal it's a poor master! ( IMO )

Michael Dinowitz said on 09-18-2006 at 4:07 AM #

Fox lies on their news. The AP lies on theirs. Reuters lies on theirs. the BBC is just about all lies. None of this surprises me anymore.

An AP photographer was found 'embeded' DEEP in with 'insurgents' in Iraq and the AP wants to bury the fact while defending the guy.

CNN says that the historical fact of Islam's spread by the sword in its early history is just a "Christian view".

Reuters continues to defend their photo-manipulated news to the point of absurdity.

And on and on and on.

There is no standard for truth in news, no one to force the news outlets to speak the truth and no one who really cares (in power, that is). I'm watching a case in France where some whistle-blowers are being brought to court for showing proof that the French national TV channel used a forged news piece. They, and the other news outlets will only admit to being wrong when they have no choice and even then will fight it.

Truth, the first casualty of war, peace, diplomacy and ratings.

In Reply said on 09-18-2006 at 5:23 AM #

LOL, CNN must have missed coverage of 9/11 then. CNN must have missed covering Hamas in stirring up the recent war with Isreal. Now granted, like Christians there are different factions (beliefs and interpretations) inside Islam like there are inside Christianity and any other religion/faith. Those who think they are becoming martyrs by blowing themselves up are another example that it isn't just a Christian belief. I can understand someone questioning if it's true just because a group says it is. Yet, my point is simple. It's obviously believed by a number of those claiming to be part of the global Jihad (if that is how you spell it in English.) CNN if they believe that need to wake up.

(NOTE: I do not think that the radical belief is common among all Islam. Or else the term 'radical' would not be attached to those who hold onto Israel's soldiers till this day and cause their own people to suffer to make a point!)

tsuukai said on 09-18-2006 at 9:12 AM #
	I couldn't watch the videos since the IT people have youtube blocked here at work, but I'm willing to bet those clips are from a documentary called "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". You should definitely check it out, if you get the chance. That particular incident doesn't even begin to show their perversion of the news.

Mike Rankin said on 09-18-2006 at 9:22 AM #
	McNeil Lehrer and C-span are about the only place to get decent news reporting.

Michael Brennan-White said on 09-18-2006 at 9:46 AM #
	To Mike Rankins list of honorable newscast I would like to add Keith Olbermann.

Neil Bailey said on 09-18-2006 at 10:26 AM #

I don't personally think that ANY news organization has a LEGAL responsibility to tell the truth (and lets be honest, every news organization in the world - or at least the U.S. - slants the news to fit their political 'slant'....from CNN to MSNBC to FOX to........). However, if their caught simply spinning baloney, then I would *hope* that Americans would vote w/ their remote controls....

But then again, this is a country where the pet rock sold MILLIONS of units. So nobody ever claimed we were a country of brain surgeons.... FOX could come out tomorrow and say - 80% of what we've reported in the last 5 years has been garbage, and you'd still have the Limbaughs of the world that point to the other 20% and claim it was the most accurate reporting available. And believe me (I am a died-in-the-wool conservative), CNN has its apologists, too.

Josh said on 09-19-2006 at 3:30 PM #
	God thats despressing.... thankfully I dont watch Fox, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc... i get my cup of world insanity from NPR

Neil Bailey said on 09-19-2006 at 5:35 PM #

Hahahahahaha, because NPR doesn't have THE single most liberal slant in the country.... I don't, as a rule, listen to NPR, so I can't speak to their veracity. But I have listened enough to know that NPR has even more of a liberal slant than MSNBC or CNN.

Don't get me wrong - Fox goes just as hard the other way (fair and balanced my ass), but don't throw NPR into the ring as a 'non-slanted' news source.

Gary McNeel said on 07-03-2008 at 1:59 PM #

I am late on this, sorry, just stumbled on it.

Another good source of news and views is DemocracyNow.org. I am somewhere in the middle of the road camp, socially liberal and fiscally conservative. DN seems to present good information that I can research. The do not shy away from something because there corporate sponsors or owner (they have none) would not want it reported.

I deplore the way FOX News and CNN twist news and events. There is a lot of falsehood, ommission, conjecture and just plain distortion and spin. But, this is to be expected in a world full of consumers who sit and watch 24 hour a day TV, consume it. Sadly, more people know Paris Hiltons' sisters name than know who I our Secretary of Defense was during the run up the war.

What is important to note is that both FOX and, to a lesser degree, CNN, are focused on their own causes, not reporting news to the people. Now, no news is fully objective. If it were, it would not be being reported by humans. As a younger man, I saw many dead people while on a trip to Africa and it affected me in a way I would not come to understand for many, many years. It changed how I thought about things (a whole different subject). I feel the same can happen with reporters.

The other note is that journalism has declined greatly from the days of the 50s through 70s. People reporting the news really are bubble headed bleeched blondes. I rarely see anyone reporting the news who maybe understands it in the context of history.

I am also astounded by how little news is reported. I mean, I can watch a congressional hearing on the torture with Addington and Yoo and never see a thing about it on CNN or FOX except some spin on how the congress attacked them.

Good cautionary tale movies:
Rollerball (the original) - the world is ruled by oligarchies.
Farenhiet 451 - lets burn the bad books
1984 - The loss of personal rights and privacy

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