The good news is I may not be getting dumber. The bad news is Fox News may be getting dumber. Apparently they allowed a terrorist’s address (including satellite photos and directions) to be announced to their viewers.
Small hitch. He moved.
THREE YEARS AGO.
Gary Farber has the gory details.
demimondian
But you know that it isn’t Fox’s fault they published that information. They got it from…Google. Yeah, that’s right. It’s all Google’s Fault.
Damn librul, no-do-evilers. Don’t even have the guts to be do-gooders.
Gary Farber
“He moved….”
It’s worth emphasizing, I think, that he moved three years ago and this happened last week. No correction made on air by Fox, either.
Good thing they’re not part of the unreliable MSM, though.
Thanks for the link, John.
jcricket
Yes, and as Kevin Drum said earlier, if you have information about a terrorist’s location, CALL THE POLICE. You don’t air it on national TV and hope the police get there before the local thugs.
Unless you’re John “5 to the head makes ’em real dead” Gibson
Mark-NC
I was wondering why Fox didn’t go all the way and invite viewers to just go over and burn the house down – terrorists and all.
capelza
Now if there ever was a reason to sue a business (like say, Fox and anyone else involved, this would be it.
Fox should air a retraction loud and clear before some yahoo goes all Rambo on the family that currently and innocently resides there now…
Mike S
FOX News. “We Report, You commit homicide.”
Blue Neponset
This is from the website of the moron who gave out the address:
I guess you need double secret ‘ain’t I wicked cool’ access to peruse the phonebook.
Brad R.
Apparently they allowed a terrorist’s address (including satellite photos and directions) to be announced to their viewers.
Here’s what I don’t understand- if you had evidence that a terrorist lived at that address, WHY wouldn’t you tell the FBI or police before announcing it to the whole goddamn world?
Mark-NC
Brad R:
Because they are inciting public action.
Can’t get that from quitely telling the FBI!
demimondian
Because it’s good publicity, of course, and because the editors didn’t think through the consequences of falsely announcing the man’s residence.
And, you know what? If the report said “Mr. Halil’s last confirmed address was [blah].” then I’m not sure that the Voricks (the new residents of the house) have a case. The statement, as made, might be true, so it isn’t slanderous, libellous, or defamatory. The Voricks’ attorney would have to work some kind of miracle to convince the judge to accept the interpretation that a reasonable man would conclude that Halil’s current address was the one listed before the statement would be actionable.
Sometimes, the law just sucks.
morinao
The Voricks’ attorney would have to work some kind of miracle to convince the judge to accept the interpretation that a reasonable man would conclude that Halil’s current address was the one listed before the statement would be actionable.
The ongoing drive-by harassment and vandalism indicate that a number of people have indeed concluded that Halil’s current address was the one listed. So the attorney only has to convince the judge that a reasonable man should have predicted that people would believe the news report and be incited to act.
Gary Farber
Ah, I see you decided to lend some gentle emphasis to the “3 years” part.
:-)
Mr.Ortiz
One question: Where can I donate to this family’s legal fund?
Mark
Maybe I missed something, but is there any evidence that this guy is actually a terrorist, or is that just something out of John Loftus’ immagination? I read the LA Times story about this whole incident, and it sounds like the authorities aren’t too concerned about this Halil guy. It sounds like he’s an innocent victim too.
carpeicthus
Holy fuck. That’s the most horrid thing Fox has done all hour.
rafael
I think now the biggest group of people beating down their doors will be lawyers. And god, I hope they take a lot of money out of Fox’s pockets. Oh, someone should be fired too.
linda
for more fox hilarity, check out the video at crooksandliars. the falafelman comes close to popping a vein screaming at the publisher Joe McQuaid of the NH Union Leader.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Far North
Can’t wait for Stormy and Darrel to spin this one.
Veeshir
The bad news is Fox News may be getting dumber.
You say as if you are surprised. That’s pretty funny.
Now I watch Foxnews more than any other news network, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re nitwits just because they don’t believe I’m evil like all conservatives.
They are still drawing from the same talent pool as the rest of the clueless media.
I have an extremely low opinion of all journalists. Especially the on-air types who usually just read copy, and many don’t do that well.
Defense Guy
Amen. I don’t think very many are earning their positions of trust and respect these days. With that said, FOX deserves a black eye for the potential harm done to the people living there. The right thing to so is ensure the news goes out of their screw up so some drunk jerk doesn’t end up on the front door of some random person.
Hey FOX, get better fact checkers or interns or whatever you would normaly use to ensure the validity of the “truth” you are putting out there for us. Thanks so much.
DougJ
The other networks make mistakes all the time, but it never gets this kind of attention. But Fox makes one mistake and they’re the devil. Look, the guy had his heart in the right place, he was probably frustrated with lack of FBI action on what he viewed as important case, who knows, maybe he felt that the Gorelick wall between the intelligence services was preventing action, and he decided it was time to do something. He happened to have incorrect info and the family deserves an apology of course. But the war on terror will inconvenience people sometimes. It’s sad, but it’s a fact of life. Freedom is messy.
Defense Guy
DougJ
This has nothing to do with Freedom or the fight to ensure it, both areas in which we are in general agreement. This is just laziness for which no party affiliation or bias is necessary, and the potential harm of this one is not hard to calculate. I would just as quickly slam any other news organization or individual for what is close to yelling fire when there is none. It is unnecessarily stupid from a group that should know better.
Someone commented on the O’Reilly interview, which I watched. I like what he is trying to do on the child abuse/molestation, but shame isn’t the only tool to getting what you want. Bill should expand his arsenal and suck up the pride, because the issue is very worthwhile.
TallDave
That poor guy. They really need to issue a correction.
danelectro
he didn’t even know the guy hadn’t live there in three years, so how would he know what the fbi was doing about it? further since the the we don’t require charges or due process how does he know there was a lack of action at all?
in addition to endangering a unlucky family, he might have blown the investigation entirely.
DougJ
Okay, okay, I’m wrong I guess. You’re right, DG, about O’Reilly. He’s an arrogant jerk sometimes, and it isn’t always clear he has the best interests of the nation at heart (though I do like his show for the most part).
Mr Furious
Even if the terrorist did still live there, why the fuck would he announce the address? Doesn’t Mr. Former DOJ Bad-Ass realize he might be jeopardizing an ongoing investigation? At the very least he (and FOX) are inciting a lynch mob.
Everybody who touched that segment deserved to be canned.
Oh, and make sure they give out DougJ’s address as part of correction that FOX should be running on the crawl at the bottom of the screen…
Defense Guy
I’d at least give DougJ good odds on being armed and ready to defend himself should this have happened to him. I hope this same is true of the people living there now, for emergency purposes.
DougJ
You got that right. I have to admit, though, that I’d feel pretty bad if ended up shooting someone who came by thinking I was terrorist. When I think about the possible end results of what happened here, it’s really pretty bad. There should be severe consequences for the people who made the decision to air this.
DougJ
I’m coming around to agreeing with this somewhat.
Jim Caputo
This wasn’t part of the “war on terror.” There’s been no request by the government that news media publish the addresses of suspected terrorists. This was an action that Faux News did entirely on its own with no government involvement. I hope that family sues their Faux balls off.
Geek, Esq.
Man, there must be about a thousand lawyers begging to represent these people.
Jim Caputo
Let me be the first to say I’ll forgive you if you start shooting up people who take their cues from Faux News. And if you can wing a few Freepers in the process, I’ll tip my hat to ya.
Jim Caputo
I just noticed no one answered Cole’s question…
Very. All the time.
DougJ
What does get me a little bit — and as I said earlier, what Fox did was wrong — is that people are acting like nothing has ever happened like this on a regular network. This sort of thing — maybe not exactly this, but things like it — happen all the time on NBC, CBS, etc. Can you say forged memos? If you think of the White House as president Bush’s house, the forged memos made a lot of people come by his house and bother him. So not all that different in a way, huh?
James C.
It’s good to see that all my old buddies from atrios and Daily Kos are now regular posters here. Good job, folks.
Mr Furious
FOX acted unconscionably by revealing that info even if it were accurate. As a former DOJ official who once held a variety of high-level security clearances, Loftus should have realized that revealing that info could have jeaopardized an ongoing investigation. And both he and FOX certainly should have realized at the very least they were jeopardizing the safety of that individual. The fact they were flat-out fucking WRONG and have endangered this family is fucking outrageous.
Go read the LA Times article, it only gets worse…
Jesus. Hey douchebag, when you have a hot tip to help the police, pick up the fucking phone! This is worse than yelling “FIRE!” in a crowded theater, this is reckless endangerment. A one-line retraction in the paper? Not even close to good enough. FOX sould run a correction and retraction on the screen crawl, and post it prominantly on their website. This isn’t a run of the mill news typo. They deliberately released this info for no other reason than to “create” news and to stir up trouble for this Hilal guy. They were intentionally stoking their ignorant, hothead, paranoid, racist, jingo-addled audience. Well, they fucked up, and now they have a responsibility to help this family out. They should be providing private security for the family, that would be a start, and would actually “help the police” as well.
I hope they were wrong about Hilal too, so he can sue the shit out of FOX along with the Voricks.
Oh, and what did one of the braindead fucktard FOX viewers spray paint on the house? “TERRIST.” You couldn’t make that shit up…
capelza
Doug J, if you can’t see the difference between the memos and possiblt people protesting in front of the White House (which belongs to the American people anyway) and Fox broadcasting the address and SATELLITE PHOTOS of the house of someone who may or may not be a terrorist and who in fact had MOVED THREE YEARS before then well..words fail me. To use your analogy, it would be like CBS publishing the White House addy three years after Bush left office.
It is the satellite photos that really get me…let’s make sure that everyone can find the house, just in case the address isn’t enough to find it.
DougJ
They published them thirty years after they were allegedly “written”.
Mr Furious
Can you say forged memos? If you think of the White House as president Bush’s house, the forged memos made a lot of people come by his house and bother him. So not all that different in a way, huh?
Can you say “Secret Service” or “public figure who ran for the office and is surrounded by a giant wrought iron fence, SWAT teams and the latest electronic surveillance available?”
Um, innocent family minding thier own business vs. a true story about the POTUS with flawed evidence. Yeah, same fucking thing.
BinkyBoy
Not to change the subject off the interesting “questionable” memo’s, but:
What if Fox News, a proven mouthpiece of the Republican party, began giving out the names/addresses and satelite photo’s of houses of anti-war liberals? What about suspected Communists?
Joseph McCarthy would have been proud at what his loins have produced. Scientists probably took the Britany-sock out of McCarthy’s bedroom and spawned Fox news from its ample DNA.
Brian
DougJ:
“What does get me a little bit—and as I said earlier, what Fox did was wrong—is that people are acting like nothing has ever happened like this on a regular network. This sort of thing—maybe not exactly this, but things like it—happen all the time on NBC, CBS, etc. Can you say forged memos? If you think of the White House as president Bush’s house, the forged memos made a lot of people come by his house and bother him. So not all that different in a way, huh?”
I would like to add that when CBS did air the memoes, people DID demand Rather be fired, CBS be censured, etc. etc. etc. which is what people are demanding for Fox. As it should be. The lame “apology” Fox did is much, much less than what CBS ended up doing; however, Fox’s act has actually placed a family in some danger and should merit AT LEAST the same media saturation CBS did.
Tim F
Let’s say, by analogy, that DougJ is a dog humping my leg, where by ‘humping my leg’ I mean annoying me with stupid and inappropriate analogies. I’d definitely mace the dog and then sue the owner to have it neutered.
chadwig
DougJ I know you won’t, but if you want to see real documented news fuck-ups and lies, then you should check out Media Matters. Bill O’Leilly likes to call them “left wing” and “radical”, but you’ll notice he never takes up the specific issues they raise; because he can’t. They indict idiots like O’Leilly and LimpJaw by simply re-broadcasting their bullshit, and then contrasting it with the official record.
Your limp contention that “well, the other networks fuck up too” is really a non-sequitor. Nobody claims those other networks aren’t useless fuck-ups like Faux. They all took the bait and helped push the whole Iraq debacle sled down the hill. MSM should be tuned out by all until they locate their ethics and meet a higher standard of achievement.
Sean P
John: I first heard about this story on a KTTV morning news report. KTTV is Los Angeles FOX affiliate. Looks like everybody’s hanging Fox out to dry on this one, and deservedly so.
ps: The KTTV report indicated the home in question was vandalized by some genuis who spray painted “Terrist” on the stucco.
Rick
They published them thirty years after they were allegedly “written”.
Touche!
Cordially…
pmm
I don’t see how we can all castigate news organizations for running shoddy, counter-factual pieces if we don’t drop the hammer on Fox when it does it. Credibility ought to be the difference between a “good” news organization and a “bad” one–as a conservative, it does me no good if I can’t trust a news source, no matter how many flags they wave or Republicans they support. I seem to recall that Fox deigned to bring in the psychics for interviews during the Chandra Levy investigation…
I have it on good information that the lady that lives down the street from me was a Nazi official in the 1940’s (she speaks with a German accent!) and I’m pretty sure that the local Chinese restaurant is run by witches. Who do I call to get on Fox & Friends?
It pains me to say this, but Mr. Furious’s take is dead-on.
Vladi G
As much as I hate to defend Fox, from the article, it didn’t look to me like they showed the satellite photos. I’m guessing the address was given out over the air, then people took that information and published the satellite photos on the web, which are available in a few places. From the article:
It doesn’t say who did it. I’m guessing it wasn’t Fox that did that. If someone knows otherwise, though, please correct me.
Pistol Pete
As a conservative Republican, it took a little time but I too have tired of Fox News. I rarely see anything like “reporting” on the show. It’s largely opinion and, the bane of my existence, puff pieces on the tragedy of the day like the Aruba situation. How is that news? 1 girls goes AWOL on an island and Fox News redirects their entire programming to give it more time and attention that the real issues of the day. Egads. I’m done with the network.
Otto Man
Right, because your average home has the same level of security as the White House.
Do you really think Bush was out on the White House lawn himself chasing away protestors with a garden hose?
Bruce from Missouri
****Satellite photos of the house and directions to the residence were posted online.
It doesn’t say who did it. I’m guessing it wasn’t Fox that did that. If someone knows otherwise, though, please correct me.****
I think that was Little Green Footballs. To no ones surprise, I’m sure. Someone ought to post the directions to his house….
Bruce
BinkyBoy
Oh yes! Please let that be the case.
For LGF to pull some idiotic stunt like this and get his ass sued off for it, mmmmmm, thats just like the cherry on top of the sundae.
LGF’s new motto: Screwing up national security in our ruthless hunt for brown skinned terrorists.
Darrell
Aren’t the leftists the ones most often guilty of that type of behavior? Outing gays who don’t tow the leftist party line.. Hello, Jeff Gannon. The despicable Left
Brian
Fox News: We Report Wrongly, You Decide Wrongly
There are several people who argue that Fox News is biased, just as many who argue CNN is biased. That’s a judgment call. However, no one who is sane can doubt that Fox News f*cked up BIG TIME here.
(http://ownedbycats.blogspot.com/2005/08/fox-news-we-report-wrongly-you-decide.html)
For some reason I can’t place a trackback, so I did it here.
Otto Man
The guy was advertising his services as a man whore on the internet. By your logic, I outed the Chinese restaurant last night when I looked them up in the phone book and asked for a delivery.
capelza
Hahahaha…Darrell…hahahahaha…Jeff Gannon of the websites like Hotmilitarystuds.com got “outed”? Putting nude pics of yourself in come hither positions and an erection to attract gay men is NOT usually the criteria for being in the closet.
And yet, you miss the main point of this topic. In their rush to incite trouble for someone by posting their address, they didn’t even get it right and an innocent family is under seige…so that is acceptable?
Darrell
You see, it’s not just the fringe extremists.. Much, probably most on the left feel that Gannon ‘had it coming’
Sully nails it:
Exactly
Vladi G
And I’ll bet a librul lefty leftist like you librul lefties out there think the Chinese restaurant “had it coming”, didn’t you?! You anti-Chinese racists lefty leftists!
capelza
Darrell, that’s horseshit (pardon my language). Any liberal psuedo-pundit that is dumb enough to SELF-Publish to the whole world wide web his nekkid self would have it coming. I love how the rightie groups suddenly become so sensitive to the privacy of a homosexual because he was Scotty McClellan’s catcher…and before you even say it, Barney Frank should have known what that guy was doing in his home.
Anyway, you have yet to answer how ANY of this relates to the fact that FOX, through it’s egregious behaviour, has inflicted a form of terror on an innocent family. I await your next deflection.
Darrell
Note how the left injects race into everything.. as if it it’s racist to hunt terrorists. It’s how the left really thinks
Back to thread topic: Fox News has an obligation to pro-actively and publicly correct their error on giving out that address, and they need to do it repeatedly.
DougJ
There are several people who argue that Fox News is biased, just as many who argue CNN is biased. That’s a judgment call. However, no one who is sane can doubt that Fox News f*cked up BIG TIME here.
DougJ
Whoops, I screwed up block quoting there. Sorry.
Vladi G
So legal=moral? Then you must have no moral issues with abortion, pornography, etc. Not what I’d expect from a wingnut like DougJ. Well, except for the pornography. But I wouldn’t expect him to admit that publicly.
capelza
At the risk of a threadjack, DougJ, where did whoever was quoted in that get the idea that Gannon was working from Nevada?
DougJ
I didn’t say he was working in Nevada. I just said I didn’t know if it was legal wherever he was working.
Here’s a question for you libruls: if you Bill Moyers or Helen Thomas, totems of librul media world, turned out to have worked as prostitutes before becoming journalists (as Jeff Gannon did) would you think that should be broadcast all over the world, along with naked pictures and customer reviews of them? Would THAT be okay with you? If you answer “no”, then you must agree that this should have been done to Jeff Gannon.
capelza
Gulp…the image of Helen Thomas ever having worked ad a prostitute is…well never mind.
I think you might need to find more relevant examples, DougJ
tBone
No. No it wouldn’t.
I wouldn’t have any objection to it on principle, mind you. I just wouldn’t want to have to scrub my eyeballs out of my skull with bleach if I accidentally caught a glimpse of a ho’ed up Helen Thomas or a leather daddy Bill Moyers.
BTW, wasn’t Gannon still advertising his services even after he became a “journalist”?
Mr Furious
They’re working on it. But it takes time to “fix” the intelligence on this house. Rumsfeld “knows where the terrorist activity is taking place—in the area around the kitchen table and basement stairs…” Once they get everybody on board they will send a bunch of poor, minority enlisted men over to burn it down for them. FOX and their viewers will just add a magnet of a burning house to their SUVs instead of actually doing anything themselves.
Freedom isn’t free, people.
Otto Man
Were they working for media outlets created as shills for one party, and doing so under an assumed name? Yes? Then, sure, out them.
But there’s no way I’m looking at the Thomas pictures.
DougJ
How about Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn?
capelza
Okay, DougJ, more current and less heebie-inducing. It’s already pretty much acknowledged that Anderson Cooper is gay (damn, and he’s cute, too..but yawn). Paula Zahn is liberal????
Did they still have their websites of their nekkid piccies up online when they instantly got press passes to the WH? If so, then hang ’em high…
DougJ
I assume so. She’s on CNN. How about Elizabeth Shogren from NPR/PBS (hey, the Newshour is a good show and not as left-wing slanted as some people think)?
capelza
Robert Novak is, wait, WAS on CNN too, does that make him a liberal? And please for the love of all that is holy, do not use his name and nekkid pics in the same sentence.
I have to admit that I don’t listen to radio or get very good reception to our PBS station so I can’t speak to her. Is she HOT? :P
Again, I’ll answer as I did in my previous post.
Anyway…Fox needs to have one the those “Breaking News” banners across their screen apologising to the family, so all the “terrist” haters will know to stand down on this one.
Glenda
Why do folks on BJ INSIST on continually feeding the DougJ Troll?
:-(
Rocky Smith
While FOX News should have vetted the story and should appologize, Loftus is not simply a Fox news employee. He is a free lancer who has appeared on many news outlets, including CNN. Is FOX biased toward the right? Of course! Is almost every other news outlet biased toward the left? Of course!
capelza
Can they now change their “fair and balanced” to “search and destroy”?
Rocky Smith, Loftus may be a freelancer, but Fox, by not lifting a public finger to rectify the situation is culpable.
Has Fox done anything yet, while I wasn’t looking to help the situation? Besides the one line in the LA Times, a rag I can pretty much assume does have a wide readership with FOX viewers?
DougJ
And yet when Robert Novak “outed” Valerie Plame by looking in Who’s Who, it was a crime. Ah, the inconsistency of the librul mind.
Otto Man
Do you think Who’s Who had a listing that said “Valerie Plame, secret CIA operative”?
He got her maiden name from Who’s Who. That wasn’t a secret.
He outed her as a CIA operative. That was a secret.