March 29, 2003


"Cynical and bush league"
Real professional, guys.

Faux Nooze 'Fox News had its own response to the demonstrators. The news ticker rimming Fox's headquarters on Sixth Avenue wasn't carrying war updates as the protest began. Instead, it poked fun at the demonstrators:
"War protester auditions here today ... thanks for coming!" read one message.
"Who won your right to show up here today?" another questioned. "Protesters or soldiers?"
Said a third: "How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ignore them."
Still another read: "Attention protesters: the Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street" - a reference to the film maker who denounced the war while accepting an Oscar on Sunday night for his documentary "Bowling for Columbine."

'The protesters said Fox's sentiments only proved their point: that media coverage, in particular among the television networks, is so biased as to be unbelievable.

'"They're all bad, but Fox is the absolute worst," said Tracy Blevins, a New York City resident. "The people who report the news aren't journalists. They just say what the government tells them to say."

'Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, Fox spokeswoman Tracy Spector was unaware of the messages on the news ticker and said she would look into it. Spector said the network "didn't mean to insult anyone." Spector did not return calls for further comment by early Thursday evening.

'Media experts said what Fox did Thursday morning was not shocking - Fox was openly hawkish about the war long before it began. But, they said, the display - tagged with the Fox News logo - threw journalistic objectivity out the window and also ridiculed the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.' - link.



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