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In case you missed it, this week Roger Ailes claimed Fox News employs 24 liberal contributors and 1 conservative contributor to two separate college audiences. As Media Matters points out, this just doesn't withstand scrutiny on any level. But does Howard Kurtz take a look at these falsehoods on his "media accountability" show? No.
Ailes also described New York Times reporters as "lying scum" in a speech at Ohio University. Howie took this on in his Daily Beast column, but once again ignored the lies Ailes tells about his own news channel. In that column, Howie allows a "senior Fox News executive" to run interference for Ailes, saying he "went too far and regrets using that language." But does Howie ever push a little harder and suggest that perhaps Ailes ought to be the one making that apology? No. Instead, he tells us all why Ailes might actually have justification for being angry at the NYT:
So why did Ailes go off like that, other than his tendency to sometimes get carried away when critiquing what he sees as the left-wing media?
Ailes is still ticked off at one particular Times reporter, Russ Buettner. In an article last year, Buettner reported that Judith Regan, who had been fired by HarperCollins (which, like Fox, is owned by Rupert Murdoch), had identified the company executive who once urged her to lie. That executive, the article said, was Ailes.
This had to do with a controversy involving Bernie Kerik, the former New York police commissioner with whom Regan had had an affair, and who was close to Rudy Giuliani, then gearing up to run for president. Kerik later went to jail.
And this morning on Reliable Sources, all Howie had to say about the incredibly nasty Roger Ailes was that "when Roger Ailes goes too far, he goes overboard." Ha. Ha. Ha. So Howie, what about these things that Roger Ailes said in his Ohio speech? Are they over the top? Out in left field? Or are they what most of us would call "outright lies?" Why no mention of these?
Media Matters writes all of the primetime programming for MSNBC. All of it. That’s what a recently published book says.
MSNBC is out of the news business. Brian Williams, a sincere newsman, wouldn’t want to be caught dead over there.
I would love for the AP to go back to being a neutral news source. But it slants stories, slants headlines. It tips to the left.
The only difference between Fox talk shows and those on CNN or MSNBC is that Fox invites liberal voices to engage in dialogue.
See, for Howie Kurtz it's only the New York Times slam that matters. The rest of what Ailes said, including his lies about employing mostly liberal commentators, and MSNBC being a Media Matters echo chamber? Bah. Of no consequence.
What exactly is this man's purpose again?
