Snark: to annoy or irritate

"Snark" has been in English language dictionaries since at least 1906, and Lewis Carroll used the word to describe a mythological animal in his poem, The Hunting of the Snark (1874). Most recently, the word has come to characterize snappish, sarcastic, or mean-spirited comments or actions directed at those who annoy or irritate us.

At first, this blog was just going be a place to gripe, but because it's more satisfying to take action than it is to merely complain, now most of the posts/reposts suggest ways to get involved in solving problems.


Sunday, December 19, 2010

Fox News' Global Warming Policy



According to CREDO Action, the latest outrage about Fox News is:
A memo was leaked from Fox News' managing editor, Bill Sammon, instructing Fox journalists never to report on global warming without IMMEDIATELY questioning the prevailing scientific consensus.1.
We all know that Fox News is biased and not a legitimate news organization. But Fox News tries to deflect criticism by distinguishing between its "straight news" reporting and its commentary.
If Rupert Murdoch wants to maintain that Fox is a real news outlet, then he needs to react like the owner of a news outlet and fire Sammon immediately. But it can't stop there — Fox must also submit to an external review of their climate coverage and agree to correct the record based on the findings.
Anything less will demonstrate to any fair-minded observer that even Fox's "straight news" is actually just propaganda.
Fox News is the most watched cable news network. It would cost the Republican party and their polluting supporters hundreds of millions of dollars to match the market saturation of this message and others like it with paid political advertising. But because Fox is treated like a news outlet, all it takes is a single email from one rightwing executive to the network's producers, and our airwaves are blanketed with this propaganda.
The memo establishing Fox's climate reporting policy was written on December 8, 2009, shortly after Fox White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that 2000-2009 would be the warmest decade on record, and that the scientific community remained united behind their belief in human-induced climate change.
Just 15 minutes later, Fox News Managing Editor Bill Sammon made clear that that kind of truth-based reporting had no place at Fox News, telling reporters to "...refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question..."2
It's long been clear that Fox News is the anchor of the rightwing message machine. But now, Fox isn't just lining up on one side of a partisan debate, they are taking a stand against the planet. And Sammon's memo shows that climate change denial isn't just the bias of particular reporters, it's company policy.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Weeks earlier, Sammon sent another memo to Fox News' reporters ordering them to refer to the public health insurance option as the "government option" — a phrase suggested by noted GOP strategist Frank Luntz because it would create opposition to the plan.3
According to watchdog group Media Matters, "Sammon instructed staff to refer on air to 'government-run health insurance,' the 'government option,' 'the public option, which is the government-run plan,' or — when 'necessary' — 'the so-called public option."'4 We have an opportunity to hold Fox News accountable and expose them for what they are.
Thank you for fighting Fox.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
2. "Fox editor urged climate skepticism," Politico.com, 12-15-10
4. "LEAKED EMAIL: Fox boss caught slanting news reporting," Media Matters for America, 12-9-2010


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