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You are here: Home / Leave Fox Alone

Leave Fox Alone

by $8 blue check mistermix|  July 22, 20108:18 am| 69 Comments

This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment, Technically True but Collectively Nonsense

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Howie Kurtz has Fox News’ back:

But for all the chatter–some of it from Sherrod herself–that she was done in by Fox News, the network didn’t touch the story until her forced resignation was made public Monday evening, with the exception of brief comments by O’Reilly. After a news meeting Monday afternoon, an e-mail directive was sent to the news staff in which Fox Senior Vice President Michael Clemente said: “Let’s take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get confirmation and comments from Sherrod before going on-air. Let’s make sure we do this right.”

Kurtz says it “may be true generally” that bullshit videos originate with Breitbart, are flogged relentlessly by Fox, and ultimately end at places like the Kaplan Test Prep Daily, in this particular case the fact that Sherrod was fired before the machinery could be fully cranked up makes it all different. His conclusion:

Still, one fact is indisputable: It was Vilsack, not Breitbart, who kicked Sherrod out of her job.

The Post should change his title to “media apologist” to make his role more obvious, though this column does a pretty good job of that.

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Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    4tehlulz

    July 22, 2010 at 8:23 am

    RUPERT PLZ HIRE ME KTHXBAI

  2. 2.

    wilfred

    July 22, 2010 at 8:24 am

    In the final analysis, Fox News et. al.—sleazy and despicable as they are—were doing their job as part of the opposition.

    Obama and his administration —weak sisters that they are— are terrified of the oppostion and its tactics and will let themselves be jerked around and humiliated.

  3. 3.

    August J. Pollak

    July 22, 2010 at 8:27 am

    Well, true to the Fox method he’s exploiting a partial fact for his own gain. I mean let’s not dance around this; he’s completely right that Sherrod’s firing was Vilsack’s fault. He fucked up royally. Of course he just wants to talk about that part: that an Obama official fucked up: and not what “fucked up” actually means, in this case “stupidly giving in to right-wingers like those harbored by Fox News and creating a distracting and embarrassing news cycle where none was necessary.”

    Man, the Washington Post is really not the best source of commentary on firing people based on doctored evidence from right-wing snipers, is it?

  4. 4.

    Cat Lady

    July 22, 2010 at 8:27 am

    This was to be expected, so no one should be shocked. I’ll be shocked if you can find one media outlet today that does a mea culpa on their own culpability. I won’t hold my breath.

  5. 5.

    stuckinred

    July 22, 2010 at 8:27 am

    Mornin Joe is asking Ms Sherrod to explain her message of reconciliation again. Pretty nice.

  6. 6.

    Violet

    July 22, 2010 at 8:29 am

    I hope the Obama administration, any organization on the left, and (and I know I’m dreaming here) the MSM have learned a lesson from this incident. The right is not to be trusted. Whatever they say, they’re trying to destroy you, someone, or something. Believing anything they say without verifying it is a recipe for disaster.

  7. 7.

    stuckinred

    July 22, 2010 at 8:29 am

    After her father was killed the Klan held a cross burning in front of her house.

  8. 8.

    Cat Lady

    July 22, 2010 at 8:31 am

    @stuckinred:

    Breitbart must be so proud.

  9. 9.

    Chris Johnson

    July 22, 2010 at 8:32 am

    Shep Smith (on Fox) was apparently the ‘lone holdout’ and the only guy who WOULDN’T run the story. For what it’s worth.

    I saw a clip of him reading a statement about it all and saying that as far as his show “we did not and DO not trust the source” and it was good to see, let me tell you.

    I has mancrush on Shep now :D

  10. 10.

    WereBear (itouch)

    July 22, 2010 at 8:33 am

    @stuckinred: She has to be a strong and bighearted woman to cme out of that a hero.

    I mean it. She IS strong and bighearted. AND

    she has to be.

  11. 11.

    demo woman

    July 22, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Earlier I left a comment suggesting that Fox News will take a hit for shoddy reporting. I woke up with magic fairy dust sprinkled about…. Now that I’ve had my coffee, I’d like to leave this comment…. f.u.c.k.
    Wilfred…News organizations are not suppose to be the opposition but thanks for the reminder that in fact they are.

  12. 12.

    Violet

    July 22, 2010 at 8:36 am

    @Chris Johnson:
    Shep has had many good moments. His “We are America. We do not f#%^king torture!” moment was good too.

  13. 13.

    Michael D.

    July 22, 2010 at 8:36 am

    “Mistermix is a pedophile who especially likes ’em under 4!”

    You heard it here first! If he gets fired from his job for this lie, don’t blame me. Blame his employer!

    Kurtz should not have a column.

  14. 14.

    matoko_chan

    July 22, 2010 at 8:37 am

    Ms. Sherrod just said on CNN that Breitbarts site should be shut down and that he has not apologized.
    She refuses to go on FOX, and CNN is gloating over the exclusive.

  15. 15.

    stuckinred

    July 22, 2010 at 8:37 am

    @WereBear (itouch): I hope to get to meet her since she lives here in Athens.

  16. 16.

    Cat Lady

    July 22, 2010 at 8:38 am

    @Violet:

    He was all WTF when he was in NO after Katrina. Also.

  17. 17.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    July 22, 2010 at 8:40 am

    Michael D.

    “Mistermix Breitbart is a pedophile who especially likes ‘em under 4!”

    Fixed.

  18. 18.

    Nick

    July 22, 2010 at 8:44 am

    He’s lying. This was Fox’s big story on Monday night. CNN picked it up on AC360 at like 11pm. Morning Joe was all over it the next morning wondering if she will be forced out. CNN was bringing up the Black Panthers. The news didn’t “barely touch it” until she was forced to resign.

  19. 19.

    Bulworth

    July 22, 2010 at 8:44 am

    Does Kurtz actually watch Faux, including Megyn “The New Black Panther Party is coming to get me” Kelly and Faux & Fiends? Or does he just “report” whatever the network says about some email one of its execs sent out?

  20. 20.

    mai naem

    July 22, 2010 at 8:46 am

    I believe Breitbart just gave Sherrod what conservatives call a high tech lynching.

  21. 21.

    debit

    July 22, 2010 at 8:48 am

    Turley looks at the chances Sherrod would have if she sued Fox, but also makes a stunning display of insensitivity and ignorance.

    “That would put this story around the late 1980s and 1990s. It is pretty shocking to hear that Sherrod was still thinking of that white should work with their “own kind” and viewed the case in largely racial terms.”

    Because, really, the best judge of a when a black woman should be able to get over that whole racial thing is a white man.

  22. 22.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    July 22, 2010 at 8:49 am

    So nice to see the WaPoo joining forces with a competitor against the threat of older African-American ladies.

    Does Kurtz actually watch Faux, including Megyn “The New Black Panther Party is coming to get me” Kelly and Faux & Fiends? Or does he just “report” whatever the network says about some email one of its execs sent out?

    Hey, just because Bush is out of office doesn’t mean these guys are going to start doing any actual research. The idea!

    Liberals. Hmmph!

  23. 23.

    mistermix

    July 22, 2010 at 8:50 am

    @Nick: I think she resigned Monday afternoon, so Kurtz’ point is technically true. Of course, Fox was fired up to flog the shit out of that video, but they just didn’t get a chance.

    BTW, I know that the “technically true, but collectively nonsense” tag is a tribute to a McMegan misuse of the term, but this is a case of the real thing.

  24. 24.

    Frank

    July 22, 2010 at 8:51 am

    @wilfred:

    In the final analysis, Fox News et. al.—sleazy and despicable as they are—were doing their job as part of the opposition.

    While I agree with you, this is not how the rest of the media sees it. When Obama criticized FoxNews last year, the rest of the media stood by FoxNews against the White House.

    And in this episode, a guy like Chuck Todd stated that the media had a black eye (he refused to single out FoxNews).

    So, as long as the rest of the media claims that FoxNews is a legitimate news network, they should be held to the same standard as CNN etc. As such, FoxNews did not do its job.

  25. 25.

    Frank

    July 22, 2010 at 8:52 am

    @Violet:

    I wish MSNBC would trade Morning Joke for Shepherd Smith.

  26. 26.

    JCT

    July 22, 2010 at 8:55 am

    @Nick: You are dead on– Kurtz is full of it. Jeez, Morning Joe was gleefully digging the grave for her job.

    Contrast this to the timeline that the NYT put together today:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/politics/22sherrod.html

    Gee I wonder why the two stories are so different? Could it be, Satan? /Church Lady

  27. 27.

    That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal

    July 22, 2010 at 8:56 am

    Shep Smith (on Fox) was apparently the ‘lone holdout’ and the only guy who WOULDN’T run the story. For what it’s worth.

    Here’s what this means: Fox anchors can’t pass off the blame to management for the crap they run should there ever (hah!) be an accounting. Shep Smith demonstrates that they have a high level of choice in what they decide to cover and how they want to play it.* These maggots don’t say what they do because they are told to; they say it because they want to.

    *Unless, of course, Shep has been given the assignment of being the sole counterweight to put a thin veneer of truth to Fair and Balanced. That I can’t dismiss this possibility out of hand is a sad statement about Fox, and probably also a disservice to Mr. Smith. I suspect that it’s some of both: this is his basic inclination, and the reason Fox keeps him is because he plays a role they can point to and say, “Look at Shep! We have a diversity of ciew points!”

  28. 28.

    Earl

    July 22, 2010 at 8:57 am

    It’s not often I lose my temper, but last night was an exception…

  29. 29.

    Nick

    July 22, 2010 at 8:58 am

    @mistermix: The it was Monday morning that Morning Joe was all over it, because I distinctly remember a discussion on whether or not she will be fired and how this “scandal” would effect midterms

  30. 30.

    Mike in NC

    July 22, 2010 at 8:59 am

    Howie is on the short list to replace Michael Steele.

  31. 31.

    brendancalling

    July 22, 2010 at 9:00 am

    Howard Kurtz would rat his own mother out to the Gestapo if someone paid him.

    That’s the kind of piece of shit he is.

  32. 32.

    MattF

    July 22, 2010 at 9:04 am

    It’s more than a little weird that the Post’s media-and-journalism correspondent needs to be fact-checked. Gah.

  33. 33.

    Dennis G.

    July 22, 2010 at 9:05 am

    I’m glad to see the Howie is still the same old reliable whore that he has always been. He is the Sergeant Schultz of media watchdogs.

  34. 34.

    Warren Terra

    July 22, 2010 at 9:06 am

    Kurtz already covers the WaPo for CNN and CNN for the WaPo (and covers Fox and the rest of the media for both). Covering both for Fox and vice versa would mean just a little more conflict of interest.

  35. 35.

    Dungheap

    July 22, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Kurtz is full of shit. I think FOX may have disappeared their original story, but in the piece about Sherrod getting asked to resign they note:

    The Agriculture Department announced Monday, shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video, that Sherrod had resigned.

    So FOXNews did indeed “touch the story” before her resignation was made public, at least if FOXNews is to be believed.

    But hey, there’s an email. And that’s good enough for Howie.

  36. 36.

    Nick

    July 22, 2010 at 9:11 am

    @Dungheap: This just proves how to media uses the short attention span of the American people to defend itself. On Monday and Tuesday, everyone in the media was so proud about how THEIR “reporting” made them fire her and then when they realized their “reporting” was shoddy and crappy, they pretended like they never did anything, and who is gonna remember?

  37. 37.

    Bhall35

    July 22, 2010 at 9:13 am

    Also, too, just a little bit of ratfvcking in the accompanying pic of a Code Pink activist holding that “We ♥ Shirley Sherrod” sign. Nicely played, WaPo.

  38. 38.

    redoubt

    July 22, 2010 at 9:22 am

    @WereBear (itouch):

    “Then will she strip her sleeve and show her scars,
    And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.'”

  39. 39.

    El Cid

    July 22, 2010 at 9:23 am

    Wait — Kurtz’ own timeline has the bullshit edited web video from a known lying racist propagandist premiering on Fox News (as if “O’Reilly” is some separate, unrelated entity which just happens to appear on FoxNooz).

    Thus, from the very beginning, it’ being treated as a real story by one of the largest national, um, ‘news’ networks.

    And then it goes on from there.

    How does this exculpate FoxNooz from taking a bullshit webclip and treating it as an important national story on one of their most watched shows?

    Kurtz is and has been a stupid, lying piece of shit, and couldn’t do rational, empirical ‘media analysis’ if he was given a computer program to do it all for him.

  40. 40.

    General Stuck

    July 22, 2010 at 9:25 am

    Gawd I hate these people. They live in their little bubble of autoerotic self adulation from the stupid galaxy far far away.

  41. 41.

    Bulworth

    July 22, 2010 at 9:34 am

    From the NYT:

    Fox News began its pursuit of Ms. Sherrod in prime time on Monday night on three successive opinion shows that reached at least three million people. Leading off, Mr. O’Reilly asked on his top-rated program, “Is there racism in the Department of Agriculture?” He discussed the tape, plugged Mr. Breitbart’s Web site and demanded that Ms. Sherrod resign immediately.

    By the time Mr. O’Reilly’s remarks, which were taped in the afternoon, were broadcast, Ms. Sherrod had indeed resigned, a development that Fox’s next host, Mr. Hannity, treated as breaking news at the beginning of his show. He played a short part of what he called the “shocking” video from Mr. Breitbart, and later discussed the development with a panel of guests, mentioning the N.A.A.C.P.’s recent accusations of racism within the conservative Tea Party movement.

    “It is interesting they just lectured the Tea Party movement last week,” Mr. Hannity said, telegraphing a talking point that would come up repeatedly on other shows.

    Fox’s 10 p.m. show also covered the resignation as breaking news. Ms. Sherrod later said Fox had not tried to contact her before running the video clip repeatedly on Monday. (A Fox spokeswoman said the O’Reilly program had contacted the Agriculture Department for comment. On Wednesday, Mr. O’Reilly said he owed Ms. Sherrod an apology “for not doing my homework.”)

    (note: the quote function didn’t work for all these paragraphs, which are from the NYT article).

    Gee, didn’t the NYT get that truthiness email from Faux that Kurtz mentioned?

  42. 42.

    David in NY

    July 22, 2010 at 9:47 am

    The Times’ editorial this morning about this affair was also appalling. It focused entirely on Vilsack’s error and not at all on the background — that the press had a history of buying into, and making a great scandal of, Breitbart’s fraudulent charges. This verges on the hypocritical, since the Times itself has been suckered by Breitbart in the past in the ACORN affair, just as Vilsack was here. As far as I know, the Times has never acknowledged its culpability in giving credence to Breitbart with respect to ACORN. It really has no standing to complain about the Administration’s handling of this matter, since the flawed coverage it and the rest of the non-propaganda press gave to the ACORN matter paved the way for the Administration’s gun-shy response here. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/opinion/22thu4.html?ref=editorials

  43. 43.

    Bulworth

    July 22, 2010 at 10:21 am

    Josh Marshall is shrill:

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/07/shame_on_obama.php#more?ref=fpblg

  44. 44.

    Tim I

    July 22, 2010 at 10:25 am

    Howie is always shilling for Republicans. He frequently uses his Sunday show on CNN to flog stories that the Republicans want to spread.

    He did it this weekend with the Black Panther voter intimidation bullshit. He even had Bob Scheifer on to defend the lack of coverage over at CBS. Kurtz always pretends to be a neutral observer of the media, but in reality he uses his platform to keep alive stories that the Republicans want out there.

  45. 45.

    MattF

    July 22, 2010 at 10:30 am

    @Bulworth

    Good for Josh. I’m thinking now that this is the actual big fkng deal here.

  46. 46.

    kansi

    July 22, 2010 at 10:30 am

    @Frank:
    What a lovely idea! Take Mika with you, Joe.

  47. 47.

    JCT

    July 22, 2010 at 10:39 am

    @Bulworth: I agree with everything he wrote. A nice piece.

  48. 48.

    Cat Lady

    July 22, 2010 at 10:49 am

    @Bulworth:

    We know who the guilty parties are here. Anything else is cowardice, denial or complicity.

    I’ll take complicity for 1000, Alex.

  49. 49.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    July 22, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Shorter Howie Kurtz:
    Well, we did do the nose.
    And the hat.
    She’s got a wart!

  50. 50.

    Bulworth

    July 22, 2010 at 11:11 am

    Also, too, I’m shocked, shocked I say, to read that Steve King (R-Racist), the Wash Times, Fauxnation and other assorted reichwingers aren’t much fond of the gov settling the cases stemming from the USDA’s decades long discrimination against African-American farmers.

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/shirley_sherrod_and_the_discrimination_of_black_fa.php?ref=fpblg

  51. 51.

    cfaller96

    July 22, 2010 at 11:13 am

    Still, one fact is indisputable: It was Vilsack, not Breitbart, who kicked Sherrod out of her job.

    I’d also add it was White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina who celebrated Sherrod losing her job. Those two statements are true and relevant, and both directly point to failure in the Obama Administration.

    I don’t understand this idea that somehow the decision to fire Sherrod is less important than the general behavior of the news media. The media is what it is, and for the foreseeable future won’t change. So…what’s the point of arguing that media behavior deserves more attention and shame than the conscious decision by an executive in the Obama Admin to make an innocent person unemployed? I don’t understand this sentiment.

    Sherrod was directly harmed by Tom Vilsack, apparently with the White House’s blessing (and according to her their encouragement). Or to put it another way- the Obama Administration made happen the Sherrod firing, it didn’t happen to the Obama Administration. I don’t understand why the frontpagers think that’s less important than Fox News or Breitbart.

  52. 52.

    Woodrow L. Goode, IV

    July 22, 2010 at 11:20 am

    I hope the FSM forgives me for saying this, but what Kurtz wrote is 100% correct. Fox didn’t nail her– the USDA (possibly at the behest of the White House) did.

    They were doing it because they were panicked about Fox– but that’s not the same.

    The timing on this is very important. According to Sherrod, she was called while she was driving and told she had to resign right away. They couldn’t take the time to review the unedited tape of what she said. They couldn’t discuss this when she got off the road or the next day. They had to have the resignation immediately– pull to the side of the road and text it in ASAP.

    Fox was the reason.– Glenn Beck was about to go onto the air with the story and they (USDA or the Obama Administration depending on who your villian is) needed to be able to say “she has already resigned” before he began talking.

    But if you’re throwing due process/common sense out the window due to your desire to pre-empt the story, you don’t get to blame the media for your behavior.

    No, I don’t think that Kurtz has thought this through correctly, or that this was his motivation. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and what he wrote puts the blame where it belongs.

  53. 53.

    dww44

    July 22, 2010 at 11:32 am

    @demo woman:

    It is particularly ironic that this is the Network which calls itself fair and balanced.

    News organizations are not suppose to be the opposition but thanks for the reminder that in fact they are.

    One of the other benefits of Sherrodgate, thanks to the RM show and others, is that I now I have some great video to share with a very conservative relative who told me the other day in an email that I was not nearly as informed as I should be because I don’t watch Fox News. They all know, that on principle, my TV remote NEVER even hovers on Fox News. I am not contributing to their ratings.

  54. 54.

    dww44

    July 22, 2010 at 11:35 am

    @Tim I:

    This !

  55. 55.

    plasticgoat

    July 22, 2010 at 11:38 am

    WaPo is actually deleting comments that rag on Howie! Too hot in the kitchen for the Fox apologists?

  56. 56.

    Richard S

    July 22, 2010 at 11:46 am

    In case anyone has been napping for the last decade the NYT and WaPo have been locked in a race to outdo the NY Post. The Obama administration is full of cowards who are trying to outdo each other in protecting their weak kneed boss.

  57. 57.

    grandpajohn

    July 22, 2010 at 11:57 am

    for all the talk about compromise and making hard choices we all now the truth and the only solution for defeating a media that has no integrity or honor or ethics is simple but must be done on a massive scale;
    stop buying their papers and magazines , stop reading them, stop watching their slanted news programs , stop listening to their biased lies. drive them into bankruptcy, lower their ratings until their programs are canceled. That is the hard choice that has to be made, ridicule on blogs will have no effect on the lying assholes, its the money that drives it

  58. 58.

    grandpajohn

    July 22, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    Know the truth not now the truth

  59. 59.

    YellowJournalism

    July 22, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    @Woodrow L. Goode, IV: And I don’t undestand how they can’t see that she was harmed by Brietbart and Fox News, as well as the MSM. Her reputation, her livelihood, and her safety were all put at risk by a smear campaign and shitty reporting.

  60. 60.

    Elie

    July 22, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    @matoko_chan:

    I still think that she should sue the MF Breitbart AND FOX for defamation — which I think involves wilfull misrepresentation…

  61. 61.

    Elie

    July 22, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    @Woodrow L. Goode, IV:

    And you are partially correct. Yes, Fox did not fire her, but they caused her, through the wilful misuse of incorrect information from Breitbart, to be at risk and to also, let us not forget, have her reputation besmirched by lies. They did besmirch her reputation by promulgating incorrect information that they did not make the effort to check and would have to prove they did not know it was incorrect. Breitbart, of course, knew it was lies and he manipulated this with reckless disregard for damaging her reputation and causing her to lose her job. I think that the courts will have to sort out who caused what, but I am thinking that Fox’s legal department, and Breitbart need to be getting their prep together…

  62. 62.

    cfaller96

    July 22, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    @Elie:

    Yes, Fox did not fire her, but they caused her, through the willful misuse of incorrect information from Breitbart, to be at risk and to also, let us not forget, have her reputation besmirched by lies. They did besmirch her reputation by promulgating incorrect information that they did not make the effort to check and would have to prove they did not know it was incorrect.

    I understand and agree, but I don’t understand why Fox & Breitbart’s indirect role in Sherrod’s firing deserves more attention and shame than the Obama Administration’s direct role. IMO, good governance should always take priority over beating up media whores.

    The media’s behavior here was to be expected by those who have been paying attention the last 15 years. So why shouldn’t competence in governance require a full understanding and acceptance of this? Why shouldn’t the Administration’s implicit ignorance/surprise at media behavior be a bigger deal, as it relates to general competence and governance?

  63. 63.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 22, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    @Tim I: I have watched his program on CNN, many moons ago and it is the most boring program ever. Wonder what his viewership is like. I wonder. These people are irritating (Kurtz, Hamsher etc) but are they worth losing our sleep over? How much influence do they really have?

  64. 64.

    Elie

    July 22, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @cfaller96:

    Well, you have a different agenda — to be sure that we blame the Obama administration — ok. Done. They acted to terminate her employment based on the wilfully incorrect data supplied by Breitbart and not checked by Fox.
    The proximate cause of this was incorrect — purposely and maliciously incorrect data from Breitbart.

    As I said, let the courts figure out all the causal links. My thinking says that none of the firing happens without the bad information and the will to mislead.

    You can think what you want…

  65. 65.

    Craig

    July 22, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    I’m not sure why its so hard to acknowledge a news network’s actual role in the fallout of a story, on a case-by-case basis. Are the narratives that some people believe about Fox really so fragile that one counter-example ruins it? Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

    Kurtz isn’t giving Fox some kind of retroactive blanket absolution for anything it has ever reported on. Its actually a fleeting breath of fresh air from the normally predictable political media wars that someone who isn’t a Fox fan can say, ‘You know, Fox still sucks, but their Evil Unethical Manipulation Machine really didn’t create Sherrod’s job loss. Despite other people’s inaccurate insistence that it did.’

    Go ahead. Read that paraphrase out loud.

    Then notice that the world is still turning after all.

  66. 66.

    batgirl

    July 22, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    @Woodrow L. Goode, IV: There are two different issues here that seem to continually get conflated. Two groups didn’t do due diligence. Each group blaming the other is besides the point. Vilsack is responsible for the firing of Sherrod, period. The news organizations, particularly FOX, are responsible for running with an edited tape from a known liar without verifying it. That is a failure of news reporting, period.

    Kurtz refusing to call on FOX for the shameful way they reported this story is par for the course but also shameful.

  67. 67.

    Woodrow L. Goode, IV

    July 22, 2010 at 5:19 pm

    @Elie: I love it when people who aren’t lawyers use legal language. Let me help you:

    “Willful” means that you said/did it knowing it wasn’t true. Breitbart’s source was “willful”; they couldn’t possibly have made those edits accidentally.

    Breitbart is arguably “negligent”– failed to observe the precautions one would normally expect someone in his position to do. He’d come back with the traditional defense given by media–“we didn’t have access to review the original material, we’re in a timely business, we went with it believing what we had was substantially correct and we could issue a correction if it turned out to be wrong.”

    Courts have historically been lenient with news organizations, because requiring a free press to do excessive fact-checking is an onerous duty that isn’t always possible.

    A court might rule Breitbart isn’t a news organization and doesn’t get the leeway, but I wouldn’t bet on that. Probably they would require him to explain how and where he got it and what be did to vet it– making him look bad– and then figure that was enough.

    Fox can be sued for negligence, but they’d claim they believed Breitbart had performed standard due diligence before he ran it– that maybe it was bad judgment to trust him, but they couldn’t have known.

    And Fox is very careful about using words like “appeared” and “according to” and “If this is true”– giving themselves the correct legal protection. They’d almost certain walk. In looking at the highlights, it was the first thing I spotted.

    If you don’t trust me, go read what Glenn Greenwald has to say. The only real difference is that he thinks it should be pursued Breitbart because you might win and you’d certainly make Breitbart miserable.

  68. 68.

    Woodrow L. Goode, IV

    July 22, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    @YellowJournalism: Look, I’m not defending Kurtz’s work. I’m pointing out that his narrow, niggling point– the people who fired Sherrod were working for the government– is accurate.

    One can’t even say “Faux News railroaded her”, because .she was fired before they got to turn the Mighty Wurlitzer on.

    If I tell the High Sheriffs “I’ve been told that John Cole beats and mistreats his dogs”– and they come bust him and take the animals away– I’ve certainly polluted my karma. But they’re not supposed to go off one thirty-second cocked just because I said something.

    I’m sure Kurtz would have come up with some other reason to support Fox if the Obama folks hadn’t gotten her before the stories aired. But being that they didn’t let him, one can’t go there.

  69. 69.

    Woodrow L. Goode, IV

    July 22, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    @batgirl: I agree with everything you said. There are two different outrages against justice (actually four, if you count Breitbart and his source and assume they are separate), and each needs a different retribution for different reasons.

    Is Howard Kurtz going to separate them properly and mete them out accordingly? Of course not.

    But if we’re going to hold ourselves up as better than these folks, we need to critique them properly. As you did.

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