Media Outlets Slam Fox For Doctored NY Times Photos

From Media Matters:

On the July 2 edition of MSNBC's Verdict, during the nightly "Beat the Press" segment, which "look[s] back at media hypocrisy, agendas, and the amusing perils of live TV," host Dan Abrams asserted that Fox News "really outdid themselves this morning" -- a reference to the July 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, which, as Media Matters for America documented, featured photos of New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered. Specifically, the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and Reddicliffe's hairline receded. Fox News gave no indication that the photos had been altered at the time...

...The controversy was not mentioned on the July 3 edition of Fox & Friends, and as of this posting, Fox News had yet to comment on, or apologize for, the doctored photos.

Watch MSNBC's Dan Abrams discuss the story:

Comments

[cimwright]

Fox News decided to respond to normal criticism with a deceptive attack piece, what goes around comes around. The following YouTube video says it perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggTacVqs5S8

[noamjunior]

Everyone here is rightly piling on Fox for their deceptive practices- but how about the NYT REFUSING TO STAND UP TO THIS. As the paper of record The TImes has a responsiboilty to expose lies in the name of journalism- and should stand up to this serious breach of journalistic ethics , regardless of their involvement as the victim

[twohearts]

noamjunior:

The NYT DID have a damn good article on this today, written by their media-movie guy, David Carr. He didn't pull any punches and told a good, complete story.

Nothing surprises me about Fox - but this article did - about how seriously and aggressively they attack all other journalists, cable channels, pundits etc...

[ihavenobias]

HuffPo blogger and host of The Young Turks Cenk Uygur had a great take on this issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR1MB8tq-v0&feature=user

[Raymondf]

Give it a break. It was all a joke people. get a life.

[protagonia]

You like dishonest things, obviously. We have lifes that include the time for this, because we figured out how. It's called being smart -

Lil' Ray, Ray.

[Gasparilla]

Ray just hates Fox being exposed for what they are. It was not a joke.

[noamjunior]

and the joke is on anyone who thinks Fox is News

[Noratruth]

just because your beloved 'Fix' News did it, that does not make it ok for them to do this. this goes directly againist any base of journalistic ethics or principles. but then again, this proves the kind of 'news' that fox presents.

[akryan]

It's comical but it wasn't a joke. If it was they woud have put devil horns on them or something ridiculous. These were subtle changes. How desperate is a channel that they have to do something like this? What kind of people are they hiring that this would even have been thought of?

[ThinkForYourself2]

The media establishments have been using this trick for ages but normally they are less obvious about it. Therefore the hypocrisy is unbelievable here because the media has always been brainwashing the public with images. It must be that the media establishments are upset that Fox made it overly obvious to a point that the public would now be in on this brainwashing trick. Here's how it works. If a media corporations intent is to make the public think less of someone, discredit or demonize them, they will post a picture that is unflattering, or with bad lighting, or maybe in the middle of talking you get the idea. It's a much less than ideal picture that any of us would toss in the trash if it was us. If the intention is to make the public view someone in a more positive light they will post or print a good picture of them. Just look at the bad pics posted about celebs and politicians or just people who are dangerous to the status quo. It's all done in order to make the public think less of them and less influential, which in turn makes them less of a threat.

Just remember the next time you see a bad pic posted about someone it's almost always done to convince you consciously and unconsciously to think less of them and their views.

[longmoo]

I haven't watched Faux News Network since they championed the Iraq war & assured us that WMD's were just laying around the desert waiting to be UPS'd home.

[noamjunior]

you are wrong- when photoshoped pics have been used by News outlets and presented as undoctored- it rightly creates major stories because the practice is deceptive -

[lthuedk 1]

The fascist holiday is over.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/unanticipated_2.html

[lthuedk 1]

Absolutely shocking.
http://www.light-to-dark.com/ruperts_brains.html

[SILVANUS]

Watch them crumble.

[Aramingo]

I don't see what the problem is here. Farts Ooze bills itself as fair and balanced. Doesn't the fact that they doctored BOTH photos illustrate just that? Really.

[JennyJay]

Don't take this so serious - - all humans with a decent, normal IQ look at Fox as . . .
"The Cartoon Network". So what's the big deal.

[ProfessorDuh]

You will take it seriously when the standards of profession journalism erode so completely that right-wing Photoshopped lies can be used in all major media send the nation to war, turn U.S. patriots into political prisoners and destroy what remains of your constitutional rights. We may already be there.

[peterdangit]

The problem is with the army of those below your IQ threshold who outnumber the rest by far. And there are also fairly smart people who are misinformed by them, i.e. smart but not knowledgeable, there's a difference. Not everybody has the time to read 10 difference news sources. I know, not too "smart."

[Rendon76]

How can Fox get away with this without people asking people who work at Fox, "Did you know anything about the photos?". I mean where is the pressure to put Fox News in the spotlight for this? Fox News is all over you when you mess up and they do THIS and nobody is talking about it, nobody is calling them out?

[Mauiloa]

I never really imagined that the bumblers and stumblers at Fox News could become even more childish than they have been up to now!

Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that Steve Ducey gave his kid Photoshop software for Christmas, because the expertise shown in the clever reworking of these two pictures shows a great talent that can only be attributed to Steve himself, who never fails to entertain America's least-astute TV News audience with his rapier-like wit and amazing razor-sharp intellect.

How has The Daily Show not scarfed up a gem like Ducey yet?

Oh well. They're loss.

[fair1234]

WHY DOES ANYONE WATCH FOX NEWS!!! THEY ENABLED THE PROPAGANDA FOR THIS BLOODY FORSAKEN WAR WITH NO APOLOGIES AND NOW THEY ARE HINTING AT WAR WITH IRAN TOHELP MCCAIN.

[Mij13]

Michelle Bernard on MSNBC insults my intelligence more than Fixed news. They don't even pretend to be ballanced or fair anymore, but people like Bernard are getting on the air to spread more propaganda while getting people to think she's liberal. She and Independent Women's Forum are neo-cons.

[Archie1955]

Fox is the slut of the media! Does anyone now question why it's losing viewers?

[LynndaMaree]

Abrams isn't any better, he said the pictures were made to look uglier than they already were. He was calling them ugly, so he isn't any better than Faux News. I don't think they were ugly, if they were, they were equally as ugly as Abrams.

[bostongreen]

where's the controversy? the journalists are fugly.