Here's a mortifying incident - the other day I was blogging about Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers and his entertaining lawsuit against God. I noted that Chambers is a Democrat.
Belated hat tip to Where Are My Keys (see link @ right) who blogged the story before me and also noted Rep Chamber's Democrat affiliation. We both got our information from the same impeccable source, Fox News. And it was only in the comments section a day or so in on WAMK that a guy pointed out that Chambers is NOT a Democrat. In fact, the Nebraska state senate is unicameral, and ALL its members are independent.
So Fox has a problem here. It's not like this story was such breaking news that it had to rush it to publication. They went to a press conference, and then wrote the story from releases handed out by the Senator's aides. By the way, I doubt he has aides. Guy only makes 12k a year. I found this out through a little research on the Nevada State Senate Website.
I found it out.
I write for an audience of maybe five people.
Fox News, failing to find a party affiliation next to the Senator's name, apparently decided that a guy who sues God MUST be a Democrat. And that's the extent of the fact checking that they did. Traditionally, reporters verify things. Even Fox usually gets one source for something, though that source is often the very dubious Matt Drudge. But in this case, there was no source. They didn't look it up, they didn't call, they didn't even ask Ernie Chambers. And he was in the room.
The last paragraph gives Fox News the benefit of the doubt, assuming they're the worst kind of lazy and not attempting to smear the Democrats as God-litigators. Or congressional-page-seducers, as they did when the Mark Foley scandal broke. When that happened, they amended a (d) to Foley's name in the bottom-third graphic. Six times.
It's hard to write this stuff off as laziness because Fox News is, if anything, the most political of all the news channels. Party affiliation is important to those people.
Oh screw it, I'm takin' the gloves off. Fox is lying to you! They will do anything to advance a partisan agenda, as long as they get away with it. Those who decry media bias should note that their favorite news source is leaning so far in one direction that on panel shows, they have to nail down the water pitchers.
When writing a post on how unaccurate FOXNews is, it's best to not make basic factual mistakes yourself..
ReplyDeleteTo wit: "I found this out through a little research on the Nevada State Senate Website."
Umm, where did you find that info on the Nebraska Senator?
Also, the State of Nebraska is a unicameral legislature, meaning there is only one legislative body. In this case, it is called the Senate. In other States, there are two legislative bodies, generally called the "House" and the "Senate". Being unicameral does not necessarily mean that all members are Independent. As Nebraska is a solid "Red" State, I'm guessing that the majority of the folks in office there hail from the Republican side of the aisle. The State of Nebraska (for some reason) choose not to publish the Party affiliation of their memebers. Your wording make it sound that because Nebraska (or is Nevada?) is unicameral, all members are Independent:
"In fact, the Nebraska state senate is unicameral, and ALL its members are independent."
Not being snarky here, just trying to hold you to the same standards yuo apply..
I have to confess, I did not look too deeplin into the meaning of "unicamaral." Since no Senators were identified by name, I made an assumption and went ahead and posted.
ReplyDeleteWhich is perhaps why I don't work for a News organization.
To put it another way, you should hold Fox to a higher standard of reportage than you should a typical blogger. Or, we should get together and find a way for me to make as much money as a Fox staffer.
Which kinda brings us back to the original issue. While the State doesn't identify the Senators by Party affiliation (I can't for a second believe that everyone in NE is an Independent, can you?), one must look at their voting record to determine if they are an "R", "D", or an "I". Which do you think Mr. Chambers is?
ReplyDeleteI'll give you a "pass" on that whole fiasco, but what is your excuse for the "Nevada"?
:)
Nevada... hmmm... well, the world would be a better place if EVERYONE was from Nevada.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm fine with you accepting an educated guess as real reporting, but understand it's the kind of thing that leads to media bias. Which I thought you were against. But hey, more power to ya.