Fox News Watch

Judith Miller Smacks Down Time and Ellis Henican Over American Islamophobia
By Noel Sheppard | August 28, 2010 | 5:14 PM EDT

Judith Miller on Saturday marvelously smacked down Time magazine and Ellis Henican over the contention that America is Islamophobic.

As the discussion on "Fox News Watch" turned to Time's cover story about the nation's view of Muslims, Henican said that he attended the protests in New York last week and "there were some views expressed that I think everyone at this table would find a little troubling."

This led Miller to ask, "But, is that America?"

She continued, "That's some people who turned out to protest."

Miller then asked a question that should be posed to every liberal media member accusing Americans of Islamophobica, "Where is there any indication that America as a country is beating up on Muslims or denying them their rights?" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

Henican On Mosque: Pundits Shouldn't Be As 'Ignorant' As Other Americans
By Mark Finkelstein | August 22, 2010 | 7:39 AM EDT
Talk about your teachable moments, the Ground Zero mosque controversy has taught us in just what contempt some in the liberal media hold their fellow Americans.

As I noted here, last week on MSNBC, Cenk Uygur accused Americans who oppose the mosque of being "ignorant."  Washington Post blogger Joel Achenbach upped the ante, calling Americans "numbskulls, dumb, ill-informed, paranoid, gullible and goofy." This weekend on Fox News Watch, Ellis Henican also used the i-word, saying that when it comes to the mosque, pundits shouldn't be as "ignorant" as other Americans. Jim Pinkerton pounced, pointing out the MSM's preening moral superiority that Henican had illustrated.

Henican had opened the mosque segment by saying that those such as himself who live in lower Manhattan are more receptive to the mosque than people who live farther away, speculating that in Idaho are 99% against it. Later came this exchange . . .

FNC Cites NB Item Noting NYT Buried Story of Tom DeLay Charges Being Dropped
By Brad Wilmouth | August 21, 2010 | 7:28 PM EDT

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch on FNC, substitute host Eric Shawn picked up on a NewsBusters item which recounted that, after the Justice Department dropped charges against former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay, the New York Times buried the news on page A-18 while the Washington Post, by contrast, made room for the story on its front page. Shawn: "The Justice Department has dropped its corruption investigation of the former Congressman after six years. DeLay was probed primarily for his involvement with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It hit the front pages of the Washington Post on Wednesday. Guess what, the New York Times, page A-18."

After the FNC host asked if there was a media double standard at play, regular panel member Jim Pinkerton of the New America Foundation cited Tim Graham of the Media Research Center – parent organization of NewsBusters – by name. Pinkerton: "Oh, absolutely. As Tim Graham at the Media Research Center was the first to point out, you know, look, this was huge news at the time when they thought he'd be convicted of all sorts of stuff. When he's exonerated, notice no story."

Rich Lowry Smacks Down Fox Lib: Media Stopped Covering Iraq When We Started Winning
By Noel Sheppard | August 21, 2010 | 6:58 PM EDT

Rich Lowry on Saturday had a fabulous exchange with one of Fox News's many liberal contributors over why the media stopped covering Iraq.

As the discussion on "Fox News Watch" turned to this week's troop withdrawal, the National Review editor claimed wartime press reports are "extremely defeatist all through the prism of Vietnam and then if we succeed it kind of ends in a whimper."

Newsday's Ellis Henican countered, "People get bored in a hurry and we got bored with this [war] two or three years ago." 

Lowry marvelously sniped back, "When we started to win" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

Fox News Watch: Jim Pinkerton Cites CMI Piece on Ground Zero Mosque
By NB Staff | August 14, 2010 | 11:47 PM EDT

Jim Pinkerton on Saturday cited a Culture and Media Institute article about the hypocritical reporting of the proposed Ground Zero mosque.

On Thursday, CMI's Alana Goodman noted in a piece cross-posted at sister site NewsBusters:

Ground Zero mosque organizer Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has been described by the media as a "moderate" and a "bridge-builder." But not too long ago, the same news outlets gave identical labels to a radical Virginia mosque that has been linked to some of the most infamous Islamic terrorist attacks in recent years. 

When the discussion on Saturday's "Fox News Watch" moved to the Ground Zero mosque, Pinkerton brought this up (video follows with transcript): 
Juan Williams: Media Always Make Blacks the Victims and Whites the Perpetrators
By Noel Sheppard | August 14, 2010 | 8:09 PM EDT

Juan Williams on Saturday said when it comes to news stories about race, America's media always make black people the victims and white people the perpetrators. 

As the discussion on "Fox News Watch" turned to last week's murders at a Hartford, Connecticut, beer distributor, host Jon Scott read clippings from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press all claiming the killer had been responding to years of racist treatment.

When done, he said incredulously, "Juan, the guy was caught on camera stealing beer and the media turned it into a racial story."

Williams responded in a fashion that likely shocked many viewers (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

Newsday's Ellis Henican Compares Wikileaks to the Drudge Report
By Noel Sheppard | August 7, 2010 | 3:25 PM EDT

Newsday columnist and Fox News contributor Ellis Henican on Saturday compared the website known as Wikileaks to the popular news aggregator the Drudge Report.

Discussing the recent leaks by this atrocious outlet on "Fox News Watch," Henican made the case that "most of us who work in the media will tell you honestly we live off of leaks. Give me more leaks," he said.

Conservative political commentator S. E. Cupp took issue with this saying, "It seems as though the sole purpose of Wikileaks is to discredit and dismantle our war efforts and at any cost."

She continued, "And I'm sorry, that's not journalism. They're just a collection bin for, for you know, documents." 

Henican responded, "Kind of like the Drudge Report, right?" (video follows with transcript, file photo):  

JournoList: Pinkerton Challenges WaPo To Answer Bozell Questions
By Mark Finkelstein | August 1, 2010 | 8:21 AM EDT
On this weekend's Fox News Watch, panelist Jim Pinkerton proposed a simple way to clear up much of the murk surrounding JournoList.  Let the Washington Post respond to the 20 questions about the matter that MRC head Brent Bozell has posed to the Post's executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, in an open letter.

JournoList was created by lefty blogger Ezra Klein in 2007, who continued to run it after becoming a Post staffer in 2009.

Responding to Pinkerton's proposal, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican, a liberal member of the News Watch panel, swung and missed at Bozell . . . 

Cal: Amanpour Thinks Like Nasr But Too Smart To Tweet It
By Mark Finkelstein | July 11, 2010 | 7:49 AM EDT
CNN fired an editor for expressing "a lot [of] respect" for a Hezbollah leader the US had designated a terrorist.  So how has ABC dealt with someone with similar views?  By hiring her and awarding her the prestigious plum of host of This Week.

So what's the difference between Octavia Nasr and Christiane Amanpour?  Not much, says Cal Thomas, when it comes to their views.  It's just that Amanpour is too smart and sophisticated to stick her views on a Tweet.

Thomas shared his insight on this weekend's editon of Fox News Watch.
Rich Lowry: Media Are In Love With Obama Despite His Contempt For Them
By Noel Sheppard | May 22, 2010 | 5:08 PM EDT

National Review's Rich Lowry on Saturday's "Fox News Watch" noted a bizarre relationship between Barack Obama and the media: "they're in love with the guy and he has contempt for them."

Host Jon Scott started the discussion by mentioning the peculiar irony of the President on Monday signing the Press Freedom Act while refusing to take any questions from media members at the event.

As the conversation ensued, Scott asked the National Review editor if anybody really cares that Obama hasn't had an official press conference in 43 weeks.

With the ball nicely teed up, Lowry knocked it way out of the park (video follows with partial transcript and commentary): 

FNC's Pinkerton Cites NB Coverage Of Rand-Scarborough-Maddow Kerfuffle
By Mark Finkelstein | May 22, 2010 | 3:24 PM EDT
On this weekend's Fox News Watch, panelist Jim Pinkerton cited this NewsBusters item in which Joe Scarborough passed along the comment from an unnamed conservative insider questioning "what the hell was [Rand Paul] doing on MSNBC?", a reference to Paul's appearance on the Rachel Maddow show in which he made comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act that have caused controversy.  The irony of course is that Scarborough is himself an MSNBC host. H/t NB reader Gat New York.

Pinkerton and his fellow News Watch panelists got a chuckle out of this NewsBuster's fond wish which concluded the item: "Oh to be an olive when Joe and Rachel sip martinis together at the MSNBC TGIF."
Fox News Watch Cites Media Research Center Study on Global Warming Coverage
By Kyle Drennen | April 26, 2010 | 11:26 AM EDT
Jon Scott, FNC On Saturday's Fox News Watch, while discussing media coverage of environmental issues on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, host Jon Scott cited a special report from the Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute: "The Media Research Center posted a special report this week claiming networks generally hide the decline in credibility of claims of climate change."

Scott went on to add that: "48% of Americans, according to a March 2010 Gallup poll, think the threat of global warming is greatly exaggerated." Show panelist and Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers admitted: "It probably is exaggerated by some people....I know some very smart environmentalists who think that Al Gore has exaggerated it too much and has made it to a point where it's losing credibility." However, she quickly added: "it's still a very serious threat and so, just because it's exaggerated, doesn't mean it's not a serious threat."

Earlier in the discussion, Powers argued that environmentalists warning of global warming is similar to calls to stop using toxic lead paint: "people who believe in global warming, like myself, you know, are called 'doom and gloom people.' Well, guess what they used to be called when they were talking about lead paint and they were talking about the water being polluted, 'doom and gloom people.'"