Jounalism at its best

[witness23]

Link: Fox Falls For Phony Jetpack Story | Media Matters for America

Fox Falls For Phony Jetpack Story
October 06, 2010 10:30 am ET by Joe Strupp

Fox News didn't help its credibility when it fell for a false story about the Los Angeles Police Department spending $1 billion on jetpacks for its forces, according to Huffington Post.

HuffPost reports that the Fox & Friends report that ran Tuesday might well have come from a Weekly World News story:

"We certainly haven't bought any jetpacks," police chief Charlie Beck told the LA Times. "We haven't bought [squad] cars for two years."

The hosts of "Fox and Friends," the network's morning show, missed a great opportunity to yell "makeup!" But they were mildly skeptical when first discussing the concept and retracted the report within an hour. They initially said that Los Angeles was ordering 10,000 jetpacks at a cost of $100,000 each. The Times notes that the city "is regularly sending its police detectives home because it can't pay all their overtime." There's no money for anything this over the top.

Where on earth could such an out-of-this-world report come from?

Gawker first noted that it probably came from a story in the Weekly World News.

 

[RLENT]

Serves as a very good example of how mindless some folks are when it comes to repeating things .....

Only thing worse might be those who are inclined to listen to such folks .... and then take it as gospel .....

 

[dieseldiva]

But they were mildly skeptical when first discussing the concept and retracted the report within an hour.

Probably record time for a retraction and at least there was one. Many news organizations refuse to retract and some, when they do, bury the retraction so as not to defuse the lie or put the spotlight on their mistakes. Hat's off to Fox for caring about their integrity, that's what makes their ratings so high, a position that brings on just these kind of attacks over a simple mistake.

 

[chefdennis]

Jounalism at its best

Kinda like CBS and Dan Rather and the bush story...........

 

[Turtle]

Fox News is an oxymoron. It's tabloid journalism and political commentary presented in a quasi-news format. When you have 2 or 3 people sitting there in chairs or on couches, as one would do in a casual conversation, they are not delivering the news, they are delivering conversational commentary, and people think it's real, actual news because it's on a "news" network. Fox doesn't care about their integrity. The first day of Journalism School they tell you to confirm the story with a minimum of two sources. They didn't do that. A story about the LA Police Department spending a billion dollars on jet packs, and no one bothered to pick up the phone and check it out? Are you kiddin' me? That's not a simple mistake, that's gross incompetence. They have good ratings for the same reason CNN does, because they cater and pander to a specific audience who wants to hear what they have to say.

The first rule of news is to deliver the news without passion or bias. Fox doesn't do that. The first rule of entertainment is to give your audience what they want. Fox does that, and they do it very well. That's why they have the ratings they do, not because they have integrity about the news. Rupert Murdock is all about the Benjamins, and he doesn't care about anything else.

Fox News (and most other news organizations) have become the new Internet, where everything you read and hear from them must be viewed with skepticism. While Fox and CNN and many others don't get caught very often in a mistake this glaring, they very rarely are able to give the Five Ws and then leave it alone. They routinely either mix in or add at the end some biased commentary, basically telling you what to think about a story, or telling you why what you already think is the right way to think. It's shameful.

Kinda like CBS and Dan Rather and the bush story...........

No, not really. CBS (and NBC and ABC) has so few of those episodes that they stand out in glaring fashion to where you can point to them. Fox has too many to count. Which is pretty glaring in and of itself, considering the massive head start that the big 3 networks had on Fox.

 

[muttly]

Some people are just jealous of Fox news' success. I know it must hurt the libs to have a conservative leaning news organization do so well. Too bad,so sad Lebron.

 

[dieseldiva]

When you have 2 or 3 people sitting in there chairs or on couches, as one would do in a casual conversation, they are not delivering the news, they are delivering conversational commentary, and people think it's real, actual news because it's on a "news" network.

It should be noted that ABC, NBC, and CBS.....all three....have "morning shows" like Fox and Friends that includes "2 or 3 people sitting in their chairs or on couches", delivering what most viewers would believe to be "solid" news.

 

[Turtle]

It should be noted that ABC, NBC, and CBS.....all three....have "morning shows" like Fox and Friends that includes "2 or 3 people sitting in their chairs or on couches", delivering what most viewers would believe to be "solid" news.

Absolutely. Fox News doesn't hold a monopoly on pseudo-news being passed off as the real thing. Not by a long shot.

I still remember a speech at the Washing Press Club of a well respected news reporter and Sunday night weekend news anchor for ABC's World News Tonight (Carole Simpson) when she related why she wanted to become a journalist.

She said it was because she wanted to change the world.

Holy crap.

 

[dieseldiva]

I think I've found the best solution, for me, and that is to switch around and see for myself what everyone is saying. That can get a little comical when you go from network to network and seeing how they all report the same story....and what part of the story they each focus on.

 

[dieseldiva]

Absolutely. Fox News doesn't hold a monopoly on pseudo-news being passed off as the real thing. Not by a long shot.

I still remember a speech at the Washing Press Club of a well respected news reporter and Sunday night weekend news anchor for ABC's World News Tonight (Carole Simpson) when she related why she wanted to become a journalist.

She said it was because she wanted to change the world.

Holy crap.

Kinda like Chris Matthews "misunderstanding" his job description......

While we're on old Chris and those like him, it should be noted that making a mistake in airing a story is far different from putting such a positive spin on a presidential candidate, and not only refusing to vett him properly (part of their real job description) but shooting down and burying anything negative, whether true or not. As a result of their carrying his water, we all now are paying/will pay the price.

Pretty big mess they helped create compared to an err in reporting that was retracted before the hour was out!

 

[Turtle]

Kinda like Chris Matthews "misunderstanding" his job description......

Exactly. And Carole Simpson and Chris Matthews are not the exceptions to the rule. I would submit that most journalism students these days leave college with an agenda to promote using their journalism career. Some, like Matthews are just more open and blatant about it. Matthews was all over Bush and his administration to hold their feet to the fire and make them accountable for every little thing, yet he's hands off and even a cheerleader for Obama. It's disgusting for someone that to call themselves a journalist. And what's even more disgusting is, I can't think of a single reporter or news anchor that isn't just like him, for one side or the other.
I know what you're saying, but I don't see any difference at all. They're both dishonest and impassioned, two of the cardinal rules of news reporting. Fox News screwed up with a story, and then retracted it (spending far less time on the retraction than the original story, but that's the norm for everybody), but they also spin things their own way just like Chris Matthews others of his ilk (nearly all of 'em on all networks) do. I still remember the FUBAR that Beck did with the Cash for Clunker deal where he was logged onto the government's actual computer network, and not a Web site on the Internet, and he was scaring people about the TOS of the system and making them think it was the same rules as all government Web sites. Even after he learned the unambiguous truth about it, he still pounded away at the lie for five more days. That was a pretty blatant one, but Fox as an organization routinely skirts and spins the truth for ratings.

They all do, and I'm not giving any of them a pass just because I may agree with this or that slant to the story. Biased is biased, whether I agree with it or not. I prefer to be given the facts of a story and then make up my own mind, rather than be manipulated, or flat out told, to believe one way or another. Clearly, I'm in the minority of the American people, as the poll results from another thread indicate.

Kinda like Chris Matthews "misunderstanding" his job description......

Exactly. And Carole Simpson and Chris Matthews are not the exceptions to the rule. I would submit that most journalism students these days leave college with an agenda to promote using their journalism career. Some, like Matthews are just more open and blatant about it. Matthews was all over Bush and his administration to hold their feet to the fire and make them accountable for every little thing, yet he's hands off and even a cheerleader for Obama. It's disgusting for someone that to call themselves a journalist. And what's even more disgusting is, I can't think of a single reporter or news anchor that isn't just like him, for one side or the other.

 

[LDB]

Sitting on a couch? Really? I'm sorry but delivery method has nothing to do with whether it's news or not. One of our local news stations now has the anchor pair stand flanking a large video monitor the entire newscast. Standing, sitting, in front of a desk, behind a desk, indoors, outdoors, doesn't really matter where the news is presented from it's either news or it's not.

 

[muttly]

The very reason Fox news has become popular is because the other news networks have failed to present the news on a consistent basis in a fair and balanced way by slanting coverage to the left and by omitting the conservative side in a fair manner.

 

[davekc]

Hard to argue with the Fox viewership numbers. I still like them as far as my primary news source. Although I do peek in from time to time to catch Brian Williams on NBC. Have to stay balanced. Can't take much of Katie Couric so that is a no go.That leaves Diane Sawyer on the networks. Yawn.
If it is political that one wants with no commentary, best bet I guess is C-Span if one can stay awake long enough.

 

[Turtle]

The very reason Fox news has become popular is because the other news networks have failed to present the news on a consistent basis in a fair and balanced way by slanting coverage to the left and by omitting the conservative side in a fair manner.

Fox is overtly conservative. Fox is "fair and balanced" only insofar as they fairly balance the liberal news media outlets. They do not present a fair and balanced newscast when viewed alone, not even close. Those who get the bulk of their news from Fox News are no different than those who get the bulk of their new from MSNBC or CNN. Both are being spoonfed an agenda that they already agree with, or want to agree with.

News reporting should not be liberal or conservative, it should be facts delivered without bias or passion so as to chronicle the events of the times. By definition journalism is "to reflect superficial thought and research," as distinguished from scholarly writing, so as to be just the facts without interjecting what the facts mean or are supposed to mean. Journalism doesn't require, or want, in-depth thought behind a story. It's the basics of basic information gathering, and then once gathered, it is to be reported. The Five Ws (and one H) are all that is required for news reporting.

Who? Who was involved?
What? What happened (what's the story)?
Where? Where did it take place?
When? When did it take place?
Why? Why did it happen?
How? How did it happen?

Anything else (like "this means..." or the even more common speculation as to "why") is pure commentary, and all the major news networks, Fox included, are just loaded with commentary.

Headline News (or HLN nowadays) comes about as close to real, actual news as any of the news networks, but they stray quite a bit. There are bits and pieces of real news on Fox, CNN and the others, but it's like SNL where you have to sit through a bunch of crap before you get a brief glimpse of the real deal. If you can separate out the commentary from the facts, most any network news show is fine. I get my news from Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS, as well as the BBC and online publications. Somewhere in there I can usually find the Five Ws (and the one H).

 

[Turtle]

Sitting on a couch? Really?

Yes, really. Like I said, when they are sitting there on a couch and delivering conversational commentary passed off as news, it ain't news.

I'm sorry but delivery method has nothing to do with whether it's news or not.

Oh, it absolutely does, and they know it, and it's why they do it. They sit there and have a conversation with someone, including the viewer, and will slip news and non-news in there in the same manner. Pretty soon viewers have a hard time distinguishing one from the other. Oh, it absolutely matters. The trend of news being delivered in a relaxed atmosphere didn't happen by accident. Lots of research went into it.

One of our local news stations now has the anchor pair stand flanking a large video monitor the entire newscast.

With the video monitor, and not the conversation, being the focal point. There's a difference.

Standing, sitting, in front of a desk, behind a desk, indoors, outdoors, doesn't really matter where the news is presented from it's either news or it's not.

That much is true. But the problem comes when it's delivered in a manner that makes it hard to differentiate between news and non-news. Regardless of the setting, if they only delivered news, then it wouldn't matter. But they mix in news and non-news together, and depending on the setting, it matters a great deal.

 

[greg334]

"It's tabloid journalism and political commentary presented in a quasi-news format."

There isn't a news outlet that doesn't seem to be just like this.

As for Fox, I think they may have the record for the time alloted the sitting president on their network. But who knows...

 

[chefdennis]

It is ALL Agenda driven, and as Turtle said, (paraphased), they are "preaching to THEIR choir"....

 

[Freightdawg]

In Iraq on the AFN news station, we got about one hour of each news outlet at a time. Some times we just looked at each other, scratching our heads on the reporting regarding Iraq, especially CNN. It was really interesting to see all the different slants on the same story!

 

[tallcal101]

FOX is steadly becamong a parady of themselves. It had to happen, but now with the success of the Obama administrations policies to deal with the tough issues ( W's watse product) they have fast forwarded to "over the top" stage antics which they refer to as reporting.Once again it was bound to happen, just a matter of time. That time is apparently now. The hillarious antics of the Tea Bagger's will be remebered as another Newt contract with America joke, a typical Republican response to their failure to have a message. The difference here is the massive whale size problem of the Republican party.Poor dears are adrift in party leadership issues and are steadfastly failing to get any message to Americans other then tea bag hot air.As silly as it may seem these people are serious. So is Fox in their lame attempt to make a case for it.With Palin (backed by a few wealthy right wing nut jobs) they have a bimbo who gives the same speech day after day to like minded kool aid drinking zombies. They have lost their way and it's pathetic and funny at the same time.
I guess FOX has no choice with Rupert Murddock calling all the shots. Desparate lies and gross innuendos are grist for a mill that has long since failed to provide anythig but rubbish for the mass's. FOX is doing their part to bring about a crumbling disaster for the right in the mid terms.Look for big wins for the baggers in MS,.AL, and other equally Tea worthy states.