Fox News Watch

On Fox News, Jim Pinkerton, Judy Miller Cite MRC, Eyeblast
By NB Staff | April 19, 2010 | 11:57 AM EDT

James Pinkerton of the New America Foundation and Fox News contributor Judy Miller both gave kudos to the Media Research Center and Eyeblast.tv on Saturday's Fox News Watch. Pinkerton applauded Eyeblast for hosting a clip of NBC's Kelly O'Donnell questioning of black tea partyer and his "best answer." (See the Friday NB post, “White NBC Reporter Confronts Black Man at Tea Party Rally: 'Have You Ever Felt Uncomfortable?'”)

Miller, despite naming us the "Media Research Study Center," cited a statistic from the MRC's recent study, "Tea Party Travesty" [audio clips available here].

The transcript of the relevant portion of the panel discussion, which included Pinkerton, Miller, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican Fox News anchor Jon Scott, starting at the 53 minutes into 2 pm Eastern hour:

JON SCOTT: Ellis, you know, this headline in the New York Times: 'Supporters are better educated, wealthier, and more conservative, poll finds.' It almost seemed to me that it pained this newspaper to write that sub-headline.

ELLIS HENICAN: Well, two things- first of all, can the tea party people get better songs? (laughs from other panel members, as Henican sings, 'I need a bailout.') That said, it's no surprise. The tea partyers are whiter, more Republican, more conservative, older and more suburban than America, and that shouldn't be a surprise to anybody.
FNC's Pinkerton Hits Media Hype of Obama Arms Treaty Signing
By Brad Wilmouth | April 12, 2010 | 6:46 AM EDT

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, FNC contributor and panel member Jim Pinkerton seemed to pick up on two NewsBusters items documenting excessive praise for President’s Obama’s recent signing of an arms reduction treaty with Russia. Pinkerton: "I think arms control was a big deal in the Cold War Soviet era, but arms control agreement nowadays with the Russians, who aren't exactly what the Soviet Union used to be, and a treaty that doesn't bring up the topic of suitcase nuclear weapons, which is what we worry about in an era of terrorism, you only can rely on the dinosaur mainstream media, like David Martin at CBS, to talk about how historical this is, and George Stephanopoulos."

He continued: "They are the only ones that are still trying to breathe life into this story and make it sound like an arms control treaty – even as the Soviet, the Russians are overthrowing an allied government in Kyrgyzstan, which NPR called a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia – only CBS and ABC are going to say this is a big deal."

NewsBusters had previously documented that CBS News correspondent David Martin had characterized the treaty as America "catching up with history," while network morning shows also played up the treaty, with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos calling the agreement "historic."

FNC's Pinkerton Cites MRC on Rangel & Media Disinterest in Iraq
By Brad Wilmouth | March 8, 2010 | 5:00 AM EST

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, FNC contributor and panel member Jim Pinkerton of the New America Foundation twice cited the Media Research Center – parent organization to NewsBusters – the first time as he pointed out that ABC News had given six times as much attention to attacking Republican Senator Jim Bunning’s efforts to delay the extension of unemployment benefits – as if doing so were a scandal – as opposed to covering the actual scandal of Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel’s unethical activities. Pinkerton recounted:

Striking, as Scott Whitlock at MRC pointed out, ABC News devoted six times more coverage to trashing Bunning where Jonathan Karl, the reporter, went all Jesse Watters on Bunning, following him around in the Senate and trying to barge into the elevator, than they did on Chairman Rangel's, of the Ways and Means Committee's, forced resignation in a scandal. So a two-day procedural thing was six times bigger news to ABC than a genuine corrupt scandal. [Audio available here.]

The FNC contributor cited the MRC a second time during a discussion of the media’s coverage of Iraq as he noted that the mainstream media have lost interest in the subject and have not asked a question at a White House press conference since June 26. Host Jon Scott brought in Pinkerton by bringing up a recent article in the Daily Beast about positive developments in Iraq which did not mention former President Bush:

Fox News Watch 'Hats Off' To NewsBusters On Obama Admin Leak Of Mutallab Talking
By Mark Finkelstein | February 6, 2010 | 3:36 PM EST

On February 2nd, NBC correspondent Pete Williams announced Breaking News during the 5 PM ET edition of Hardball: the Christmas Day Bomber, Umar Abdul Mutallab, was giving fresh, actionable information to the FBI which the United States was in turn "aggressively chasing down."

Less than an hour later, this NewsBuster blogged on the matter, wondering whether by leaking the news, "the Obama administration compromised national security," in an attempt to deflect the criticism it had been receiving for mirandizing Mutallab rather than treating him like the enemy combatant he is.

On today's Fox News Watch, panelist Jim Pinkerton gave a "hats off" to this NewsBuster for being first to raise the issue.

FNC's Douglas Kennedy to Judy Miller: 'You Went to Jail to Protect Cheney!'
By Brad Wilmouth | January 13, 2010 | 2:29 AM EST

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, as FNC correspondent Douglas Kennedy appeared as a member of the show’s panel, after host Jon Scott’s introduction to the show’s first segment – which involved President Obama’s response to the underwear bomber – Kennedy characterized Scott’s introduction as sounding "like it's written by Dick Cheney in his bunker." Complaining that he was ideologically outnumbered on the panel after left-leaning panel member Judith Miller – formerly of the New York Times – was critical of Obama, Miller declared, "Now, wait a minute. I am very, very liberal on a lot of issues," prompting Kennedy to exclaim, "You went to jail to protect Dick Cheney! Come on!":

FNC’s Kennedy Claims ‘Anti-Semitism’ in ‘Tea Bag’ Movement, Pinkerton Notes LaRouche Leftists Used Obama/Hitler Image
By Brad Wilmouth | January 9, 2010 | 5:37 PM EST

On Saturday's Fox News Watch, panel member and FNC correspondent Douglas Kennedy referred to Tea Party members as the "Tea Bag movement," prompting admonishment from host Jon Scott who pointed out that he was using the "pejorative" term. In the next segment, Kennedy went on to accuse Tea Party members of anti-Semitism and linked Obama/Hitler posters to Tea Party members, leading panel member Jim Pinkerton to remind viewers that an Obama/Hitler poster sometimes attributed in the media to conservative Tea Party members had actually been brought to a protest by left-wing supporters of Lyndon LaRouche – who ran for President in the past as a Democrat:

DOUGLAS KENNEDY: You know, just tell them to leave the swastikas home and the pictures of Hitler, and the, you know, they might gain a little more popularity.

JIM PINKERTON: The pictures of Hitler brought in by Lyndon LaRouche people, you know, who are actually, Lyndon LaRouche ran as a Democrat seven times.

KENNEDY: Yeah, but there's anti-Semitism and-

Panel member Judy Miller then jumped in and predicted that the Tea Party movement would help liberals by splitting the Republican party, prompting Kennedy to divulge some over-the-top wishful thinking:

Fox Newswatch Highlights Couric & Klein in MRC's Awards for Worst Reporting
By Brent Baker | December 26, 2009 | 11:49 PM EST

<div style="float: right"><object width="250" height="202"><param name="movie" value="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=Gd2GkUIrkU&amp;c1=0xCE4717&... name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=Gd2GkUIrkU&amp;c1=0xCE4717&... type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="250" height="202"></embed></object></div><p>Saturday's Fox Newswatch on FNC highlighted two “winners” in the MRC's “<a href="http://mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2009/default.aspx" target="_blank">Best Notable Quotables of 2009: The 22nd Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting</a>.” (Posting <a href="/blogs/nb-staff/2009/12/21/mrc-announces-awards-worst-media-performance-2009">on NewsBusters</a>) Viewers were treated to Katie Couric pining to Barack Obama: “You're so confident, Mr. President, and so focused. Is your confidence ever shaken? Do you ever wake up and say, damn, this is hard?” FNC host Jon Scott announced “her performance there garnered the Media Research Center's '<b><a href="http://mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2009/category.aspx?page=10" target="_blank">Let Us Fluff Your Pillow Award for Obsequious Obama Interviews</a></b>.'” Scott also pointed out how Time magazine's Joe Klein won the “<b><a href="http://mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2009/category.aspx?page=2" target="_blank">Master of His Domain Award for Obama Puffery</a></b>” for his cover story on Barack Obama’s first 100 days.<br /><br />Panelist Rich Lowry of National Review, picking up on Ellis Henican's description of both quotes as “icky,” soon observed they were hardly an aberration: “If you go to the Media Research Center Web site and look at every single video clip from the inauguration” you'll see “every single one of them is icky from every single major media outlet. They were in love with this guy and they still are -- most of them.”</p><p>Audio: <a href="http://media.eyeblast.org/newsbusters/static/2009/12/2009-12-26-FNC-NWAT... clip</a> (45 secs)<br />

Liberal Henican Tags Couric Quote 'Icky'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 26, 2009 | 3:13 PM EST

Saturday’s Fox News Watch gave attention to a couple of entries in the MRC’s "Best Notable Quotables of 2009: The 22nd Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting." Returning from a commercial break, a clip of CBS’s Katie Couric began the segment as Couric was shown expressing awe at President Obama’s confidence as she interviewed him last July. Couric: "You’re so confident, Mr. President, and so focused. Is your confidence ever shaken? Do you ever wake up and say, ‘Damn, this is hard’?"

FNC host Jon Scott then jumped in to credit the MRC:

That’s Katie Couric earlier this year with President Obama. Her performance there garnered the Media Research Center’s "Let Us Fluff Your Pillow Award for Obsequious Obama Interviews." The MRC acknowledging more achievements in its annual awards for the year’s worst reporting. The "Master of His Domain Award for Obama Puffery" goes to Time’s Joe Klein for his May 4 cover story on Barack Obama’s first 100 days as President.

Even liberal panel member Ellis Henican of Newsday thought Couric’s words were "icky," and contended that "I wouldn’t want to be caught on tape saying either one of those things."

FNC’s Pinkerton Corrects FNC’s Kennedy on Global Warming: ‘Cooling Since 1998'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 19, 2009 | 3:24 PM EST

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch on FNC, regular panel member Jim Pinkerton of the conservative New America Foundation corrected fellow panel member Douglas Kennedy – an FNC correspondent and son of former New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy – as Kennedy asserted that "you don't have to be a scientist to know that the world is getting hotter," and that "that's objective reporting to say that the world is getting hotter."

Pinkerton responded: "Actually, it’s inaccurate reporting to say that. The world has been cooling since 1998."

Earlier, Pinkerton also seemed to pick up on a Newsbusters posting by the MRC’s Geoffrey Dickens as he cited a polar photographer who appeared as a guest on Thursday's Today show on NBC and declared that the debate over global warming is over. Pinkerton also alluded to a story by ABC's Jake Tapper which ran on Thursday's World News in which clips of drought and flooding were shown during a soundbite of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talking about climate change.

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Saturday, December 19, Fox News Watch on FNC:

Jim Pinkerton: 'Hats Off To Rusty Weiss At NewsBusters'
By Noel Sheppard | December 16, 2009 | 1:51 PM EST

NewsBuster Rusty Weiss was praised on Saturday by "Fox News Watch" regular Jim Pinkerton.

The program began with host Jon Scott talking about President Obama's declining poll numbers, and how White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs spun them last week claiming, "I don't put a lot of stake in, never have in the EKG that is the daily Gallup trend." 

Scott then passed the baton to Pinkerton who marvelously said, "[H]ats off to Rusty Weiss at NewsBusters who pointed out that back in February, when the Gallup poll showed enormous support for the stimulus package, the same guy, Robert Gibbs, was delighted to flap that as proof for what a great policy he had" (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):

FNC's Pinkerton Corrects FNC Panelists Huckabee Did Not Commute After Child Rape Conviction
By Brad Wilmouth | December 6, 2009 | 2:17 AM EST

On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, as the panel discussed media coverage of former Republican Governor – and current FNC host – Mike Huckabee’s involvement in commuting the prison sentence of Maurice Clemmons – who would later go on to murder four police officers in Washington state – panel members at first left the impression that Huckabee had commuted Clemmons's sentence after his child rape conviction. (Credit to NewsBusters reader Dana Christianson for emailing in a tip on the matter.) Conservative panelist Jim Pinkerton of New America Foundation had to point out that Huckabee commuted the sentence at a time when Clemmons serving time for the non-violent crime of committing burglary – which he did in 1989 while he was under age 18. Pinkerton even had to directly correct liberal FNC analyst Kirsten Powers, who seemed to convey that she thought Huckabee had commuted the sentence after the child rape conviction:

JIM PINKERTON, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: The kid was 17 years old and convicted of nonviolent – not – without a gun burglary and sentenced to 108 years. I think most people would see that as excessive. The real scandal is that he had at least three brushes with the law since the year 2000, and nobody then ever chose to revoke his clemency. That wasn't Mike Huckabee's fault. That was other people.

KIRSTEN POWERS, FNC ANALYST: What about the child rape?

PINKERTON: That was in Washington state.

Former Fox News Host Rips Glenn Beck, Kicks Fox
By Mike Bates | December 5, 2009 | 2:24 PM EST
And they say a woman scorned can be merciless.  Eric Burns once served as the host of Fox News Watch.  It's reasonable to assume he won't be working there again any time soon.  In a December 2 Huffington Post article, "If I Still Worked at Fox News...," he describes it as "the right-wing partial-news-but-mostly-opinion network."

A great deal of his bile, however, is directed at Glenn Beck:
Actually, Beck is a problem of taste as well as ethics. He laughs and cries; he pouts and giggles; he makes funny faces and grins like a cartoon character; he makes earnest faces yet insists he is a clown; he cavorts like a victim of St. Vitus's Dance. His means of communicating are, in other words, so wide-ranging as to suggest derangement as much as versatility.

He is Huey Long without the political office.

He is Father Coughlin without the dour expression.

He is John Birch without the Society.