"Al Jazeera clearly has a point of view, but so does Fox." This deathless bit of Fox News-bashing disguised as media criticism, by Poynter Institute ethics program director Kelly McBride, popped up again today, courtesy of the Bangor Daily News. (McBride had originally been quoted in March in a Gail Shister piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Comparing Fox News to Al-Jazeera is ridiculous on its face (the headline on the Arab news channel's website today: "Why is the U.S. determined to create mayhem?" On FoxNews.com: "Massive Immigration Protests.") Yes, it's obvious to anyone with a brain larger than the average parakeet's that Al-Jazeera is a polemic wrapped in a burning American flag wrapped in a call for jihad. But it's also just as obvious that media critics with an anti-FNC agenda won't let that get in the way of trying to smear Fox News with some of Al-Jazeera's poison by casually calling them alike. Last time I checked, the FNC motto "fair and balanced" didn't have anything in common with Al-Jazeera's de facto motto: "Death to America."
Home »
» Jealousy, thy name is Mainstream Media
