Opinion

Fox News hits the fan

When all else fails, fabricate your ass off

By Marshall Dury

Posted on Oct. 07, 2004, at 12:00 a.m.

I’ve tried to give Fox News the benefit of the doubt when I could. I really thought that there should be a conservative news outlet, if only to balance out the left. I certainly don’t watch it, but I think it’s necessary.

But the waters of journalistic integrity, however, have been tainted, as is the case with the profession nowadays. Fox News issued an apology to the Kerry campaign on Friday for posting a Web site article that had phony quotes attributed to Sen. John Kerry. What, is Mike Barnicle writing for Fox News now? We just make things up and hope no one notices our private jokes.

You certainly could compare this to CBS’s recent flub. The news outlet questioned President George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard and based its report on “what several experts have dismissed as fake,” according to the Associated Press.

There is, however, a distinct difference. CBS is guilty of bad reporting, no “buts” about it. Fox News is guilty of having a reporter make something up, on the spot, for what I’m assuming is the reporter’s personal political agenda.

Just so things are a little more tangible, Fox News reporter Carl Cameron fabricated the following quotes, which were attributed to Kerry:

* “Didn’t my nails and cuticles look great? What a debate!” [This quote in reference to Thursday's debate]

* “I’m a heterosexual – President Bush is a cowboy.”

* “It’s about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures.”

Here’s the real kicker: The reporter was only reprimanded. What? He made up quotes at the end of September with the presidential election roughly a month away. Not that it would be OK if it were during another month or not centered around a political candidate for president, but what the hell is going on?

Fox News went on in their statement to the media saying that Cameron “made a stupid mistake, which he regrets.” Lies. He only regrets getting caught. And why is it that we are not hearing from Cameron himself? I think an apology from the ass clown who did this is in order.

I’ll admit that it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this issue. We could go into fact checking, who edited the story, why someone didn’t ask, “Hmm, that’s weird, I wonder if Kerry really did refer to himself as a heterosexual.” But we can’t do that.

No irreparable damage has been done to Kerry’s character, but the clear, pristine waters of objectivity have been tainted with the dark, bitter, vile waters of made-up information and fictitious quotes.

I would go as far as to say that the fact he decided to make up quotes is the worst part. Quotes are supposed to validate the ideas and strengthen a story. Instead, Cameron just scratched his head, had a sip of coffee and began writing. The process was most likely repeated several times until he had something he could laugh about at home.

Maybe I’m being too hard on our dear friend Cameron. Maybe I need to give him some leeway. Maybe he just did it as a joke and forgot to take the quotes out, as he had planned to earlier in the day. Or maybe this guy should learn his ass from his elbow in reporting.

Work ethic, people. Nurses don’t come in after a major surgery and say, “You know what, I thought it’d be funnier if I gave you saline solution instead of morphine for the pain, just because I kind of didn’t like you when I was wheeling you around before the operation.” You don’t take personal vendettas or political ideologies into a workplace that focuses on objectivity.

Marshall Dury is a senior English major and is discouraged by the lack of professionalism in the world.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 7th, 2004, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.