Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Fox News Is Now Officially A Comedy Channel

Watch out Comedy Central, lookout late night TV, there is a new player in the laughs department of cable television. The new guy is none other than Fox News and they made a big splash last night covering, of all things, the media and in particular NBC. Their claim (swallow coffee and put down the cup first) is that the Peacock Network blurs the line between news and commentary. And who else would make that assertion on Fox but arch-conservative Laura Ingraham (with an assist from none other than Karl Rove).

From ThinkProgress:

Last night, Karl Rove appeared on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” to discuss President Bush’s interview with NBC and accusations that the network distorted Bush’s comments. Rove and guest host Laura Ingraham quickly attacked NBC’s ethics:

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, Karl, this follows on, you know, on primary nights, big nights, when you’re with Brit and everybody here. Over at NBC, they have a couple of their, you know, commentator types Matthews and the like, sitting next to Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. I mean, there is no line between news and commentary. It’s all blurred.

Rove added that the “journalistic standards of MSNBC, which are really no standards at all,” are now “creep[ing] into NBC.”

Now while I would usually introduce the pot to the tea kettle here, that wouldn't be fair, unless the pot can hold cubic tons and the tea kettle is one of those itsy bitsy designer models meant for a single cup. The two of them went on and on about NBC, seemingly ignoring the rampant hypocrisy that one of them works for McCain and won't mention it on air. This isn't even commentary on the news, its pure comedy, what else could it be (besides a disgrace to the institution of the fourth estate)?