"The employee is a young, relatively inexperienced associate producer who realizes she made a mistake and has been disciplined,"
Howard Kurtz On Obama's Media Blitz and the Fox News Snub - washingtonpost.com
Here is the memo..
From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:25 PM
To: 005 -Washington
Subject: standards
For those of us who have only been at Fox for a relatively short period of time, itÂ’s useful to remind ourselves that, as
journalists, we must always be careful to cover the story without
becoming part of the story. At news events, weÂ’re supposed to function as dispassionate observers,
not active participants. We are there to chronicle the news, not create it.
That means we ask questions in a
fair, impartial manner. When approaching interviewees, we identify ourselves, by both name and news organization, up front. We seek out a variety of voices and views. We take note of the scene in order to bring color and context to our viewers.
We do not cheerlead for one cause or another. We do not rile up a crowd. If a crowd happens to be boisterous when we show it on TV, so be it. If it happens to be quiet, that’s fine, too. It’s not our job to affect the crowd’s behavior one way or the other. Again, we’re journalists, not participants — and certainly not performers.
Indeed, any effort to affect the crowd’s behavior only serves to undermine our legitimate journalistic role as detached eyewitnesses. Remember, our viewers are counting on us to be honest brokers when it comes to reporting — not altering –the important events of the day. That is nothing less than a sacred trust. We must always take pains to preserve that trust.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please stop by.
Did they say sorry? Of course not. Did they admit they were wrong, hell yeah. Actually its hilarious...them saying they are not cheerleaders....
They were the reason this stupid 70k person thing happened!