Newshounds
Wednesday May 30, 2007
I'm not going to detail one more Faux debate over Rosie O'Donnell, but this snippet exemplifies a FOX tactic so beautifully I just have to share.
With video.
As I noted this morning, Barbara Walters stated in no uncertain terms that Rosie O'Donnell's departure from The View was solely O'Donnell's decision, The View is sad to see her go and wishes she could have/would have stayed on, appreciates all she's done in her year there, and welcomes her back to visit as often as she wants. John Gibson showed clips from her announcement at the top of The Big Story today 5/29/07.
Less than eight minutes into the show, he put up a graphic that asked "...Did she get the boot?" and asked that of his guest, Laura Sanchez. Sanchez, not believing her own eyes, misinterpreted something O'Donnell said on her blog (about feeling like a foster child who never fit in) and portrayed Walters as being diplomatic rather than truthful.
Some of his viewers will no doubt come away with that very question on the tips of their tongues - some are likely to land here and insist that it is not clear.
This is FOX News in a nutshell. When they don't like the facts, they question them. This creates uncertainty where there should be none, which complements another tactic of declaring certainty where there is no such thing (George Soros funds Media Matters via secret channels, for example. There's even a chart.)
This isn't news, this is message manipulation, aka propaganda
