Monday, June 16, 2008

Unfair and Imbalanced

Thanks to Tom Hanson at Open Education:

Federal Judge Rules Fox News “Gullible” and “Unprofessional”

The Fox News Network continuously attempts to portray itself as the ‘fair and balanced’ news outlet. That slogan is so ingrained, the network has at times sought to even derail others from using the phrase.

However, the “fair and balanced” network took a major hit last week after a judge ruled on an incident that took place in April of 2007.

It must be stated, first and foremost, that Fox’s legal team was somehow able to convince a district judge to dismiss a $75,000 slander lawsuit brought against the network by a Lewiston, Maine school superintendent.

But in the process of dismissing the suit, U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby found the Fox News network to be unprofessional in reporting false and “outrageous quotations” without confirming the accuracy of such quotes. Hornby also called the network “gullible” for reporting portions of a fake story that was “so absurd” it “should have caused them to question the accuracy” of what they were reporting on the air...

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