Faux News???

October 10, 2006 6:43 AM

Is this graphic legit? (dailykos link)

Since the Foley mislabel had already, IIRC, been on the FP, I don't feel right taking up space there, and am seeking information on whether this mislabel of Chaffee (who is losing in polls) as a Dem is a fake?

On one hand, I believe FOX would stoop that low, but on the gut level, I feel like it's a hoax. Can anyone give any hints?

posted by symbioid to society & culture (20 comments total)

Chaffee is what some refer to as a RINO: Republican In Name Only. It's to the point where the people on NRO Corner are rooting for him to lose the election.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:49 AM on October 10, 2006

Corrected link. Yes, that did appear on Fox News. (It is, of course, incorrect.)
posted by raf at 6:49 AM on October 10, 2006

Can anyone give any hints?

as a propaganda network, they're not likely to get the brightest, most ambitious aspiring journalists to help them out with the chores

in short, their help is less competent
posted by pyramid termite at 7:53 AM on October 10, 2006

in short, their help is less competent
I disagree. Things like this are not bonehead mistakes by some minor staffer. They are deliberate. And, by "deliberate", I mean they are done under orders, not on a lark. Honest. Whatever one may think of Fox's ethics ( I know...what ethics?), they are a well-run propaganda machine. Very little makes it to air that isn't well co-ordinated and planned.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:35 AM on October 10, 2006

they are a well-run propaganda machine.

a well-run propaganda machine tells big lies ... the kind of thing they're doing here makes them look like amateur hour, even to some of their loyalists ... especially if they're doing it deliberately, because it makes them seem less trustworthy

no, they're screwing up
posted by pyramid termite at 8:46 AM on October 10, 2006

I agree, some tech is either deliberately or accidentally screwing up. Unless the commentary that went along with these spots was like "Yay Repubs in the lead," someone just fucked up the type.
posted by muddgirl at 8:49 AM on October 10, 2006

If you watch ANY news channel for a while - CNN, MSN, Fox - you'll see countless numbers of typos in the captions and the tickers, from name misspellings to mislabeled political parties to egregious grammar errors. I don't think this stuff is any different.
posted by Addlepated at 8:56 AM on October 10, 2006

And, by "deliberate", I mean they are done under orders, not on a lark. Honest.

Proof? Of any kind?
posted by smackfu at 9:17 AM on October 10, 2006

And, either way, what does it matter? The folks who watch Fox religiously are more inclined to just write down the name that precedes the (R), or has the larger %. In this case, it can only be good for the Democratic party.
posted by hoborg at 9:39 AM on October 10, 2006

I can't stand Fox, but conspiracy? Having worked in a TV newsroom for a stint, I can tell you that it don't matter how on-the-ball everyone was, mistakes creep in. And the person who types in those chyrons probably doesn't know Chaffee from chaffing and besides, he already typed in a hundred and eighty names just in the last hour. It's not like they have a fact checker for these sorts of things -- god knows we didn't. Totally, absolutely, positively without a doubt dumb mistakes.
posted by incessant at 10:26 AM on October 10, 2006

Did you know that Fox went to court to defend that that had a first amendment right to lie to the public?

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/11.html
posted by fings at 11:06 AM on October 10, 2006

>I can't stand Fox, but conspiracy?

Dont be naive, they did it last week with the most high profile rep in congress. There's even another screenshot I dont have the graphic of but Ive seen online.

Chafee is hated because he leans moderate. This is no coincidence (once is a mistake, 3 times isnt) and Im certain most fox watchers get a huge kick out of it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:09 PM on October 10, 2006

Its a freakin' typo. Grow up and take the tin foil off your heads. I suppose you think CNN purposly put that X on Cheney's face too?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:05 PM on October 10, 2006

If you watch Fox DC morning and evening news often enough, you'll know that they have editing and onscreen text snafus like this almost every single day.
posted by brownpau at 1:09 PM on October 10, 2006

It does not matter whether it was done purposefully or not, because the FCC is part of the Bush administration's cabinet, and neither the Bush administration nor the GOP gain anything by calling FOX to account for repeated factual errors, misrepresentations and distortions.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:44 PM on October 10, 2006

Did you know that Fox went to court to defend that that had a first amendment right to lie to the public?

And for once Fox was right to do so. Not that I approve of news organizations lying to the public, mind you, but allowing them to do so is a far far lesser evil than allowing the government (regardless of which branch) to decide what constitutes the "truth" and to penalize any news organization that reports something that doesn't conform to that "truth."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:00 PM on October 10, 2006

When I'm running at the gym, I'm forced to watch Fox news on the billions of TV's dangling from the ceiling and they're all closed captioned - you should see the mistakes that pop up on there. I think they've got school children taking the dictation.
posted by Bageena at 2:03 PM on October 10, 2006

For the record, Bageena, closed captioning is performed by a separate company. If memory serves, there are very few companies that do closed captioning, and none of them are affiliated with networks or production companies. A friend used to work for one, and eventually got his dream job -- captioning for Conan.
posted by incessant at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2006

>This is no coincidence (once is a mistake, 3 times isnt)

Confirmation Bias.

We need someone to watch the network for a week, note down all the graphics which say [D] or [R] and see if there are just as many misattributions which go the other way. Everything else is just idle speculation.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:02 PM on October 10, 2006

Actually, the misattribution went both ways -- Whitehouse was labeled wrong, as was Chaffee. Or do you mean that a Republican candidate ahead in the polls gets labeled a Dem and vice versa?

Dont be naive...

Don't be Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. Or Mel Gibson in general. Although if you were Mel Gibson in Chicken Run, that would be pretty awesome, because then you'd be a chicken.
posted by incessant at 9:41 PM on October 10, 2006