Former NY Times editor calls out Fox News; other media
It would do any liberal/progressive/Democrat good to read the blistering op-ed in the Washington Post online edition today (Friday, March 12). Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines takes on the allegedly “fair and balanced” Fox News cable channel. But he also targets the mainstream news media for not challenging what he calls “a style of journalism that is dishonest in its intellectual process, untrustworthy in its conclusions and biased in its gestalt.”
Here’s a sample:
“Through clever use of the Fox News Channel and its cadre of raucous commentators, Ailes has overturned standards of fairness and objectivity that have guided American print and broadcast journalists since World War II. Yet, many members of my profession seem to stand by in silence as Ailes tears up the rulebook that served this country well as we covered the major stories of the past three generations, from the civil rights revolution to Watergate to the Wall Street scandals. This is not a liberal-versus-conservative issue. It is a matter of Fox turning reality on its head with, among other tactics, its endless repetition of its uber-lie: “The American people do not want health-care reform.”