Posts tagged Fox
Groundhog's Day: DOJ Tracks Fox Reporter's Phone Records
Last week’s news was that the Justice Department seized two months of Associated Press phone records.
This week’s begins with a report that the DOJ surveilled Fox News’ chief Washington correspondent James Rosen, tracking his visits to the State Department in an apparent attempt to link a 2009 leak of classified information about North Korea to government adviser Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
Via the Washington Post:
When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material.
They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court affidavit. They traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security adviser suspected of sharing the classified report. They obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails.
The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press…
…Court documents in the Kim case reveal how deeply investigators explored the private communications of a working journalist — and raise the question of how often journalists have been investigated as closely as Rosen was in 2010. The case also raises new concerns among critics of government secrecy about the possible stifling effect of these investigations on a critical element of press freedom: the exchange of information between reporters and their sources.
Washington Post, A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe.
Spin?
One could, of course, do this across all sorts of media outlets.
For the educators though, an interesting media literacy exercise in how news outlets exist as brands and the messaging they hope to transmit.
Take screenshots across news organizations and decipher how word choice, positioning, heds and deks illustrate an organizational bias.
Image: Fox News Home Page, November 2. Taken and annotated by Ethan Gold. Select to embiggen.
Fox Nation with an… alternative point of view.
Update: They’ve toned it down a bit and the headline now reads, “Obama Flip Flops on Gay Marriage.”
This is Going to Get Awkward: Fox News Finds Gawker Mole
Yesterday, Gawker published an article by their newest contributor, “The Fox Mole,” a long-time employee of the network.
In it, the mole outlines his or her long list of grievances and then gives a behind the scenes account (and video) of pre-interview chatter between Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity where they talk horseback riding, primping and Donald Trump.
Today, Fox confirms to Mediaite that they know who The Fox Mole is. In a terse statement they write, “We found the person and we’re exploring legal options at this time.”
Segments Covering Trayvon Martin on Cable News, Feb 26 to March 19.
Via ThinkProgress.
The #answer and #dodge results for the Fox debate
FJP: Last night Fox News and Twitter worked together to comb hashtags and get real-time audience feedback on how candidates were answering questions. Pictured above: did a candidate answer or dodge a question.
Fox was game to experiment with us on something that hadn’t been done before — real-time measurement of audience reaction over Twitter.
Adam Sharp, manager of government and political partnerships for Twitter in Washington, in a statement to the New York Times. Fox and Twitter Join Forces for Republican Debate
The news: During Monday’s Republican primary debate, Fox News and Twitter will analyze hashtags and feeds (in particular, #answer and #dodge) in an attempt to get real-time metrics on audience views.
In turn, Fox will display trends on its Web site and commentators will use the data as they analyze the debate afterwards.
Even Big Media Companies Do It
Via TorrentFeak:
With increasing lobbying efforts from the entertainment industry against BitTorrent sites and users, we wondered whether these companies hold themselves to the same standards they demand of others. After some initial skimming we’ve discovered BitTorrent pirates at nearly every major entertainment industry company in the US, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fox Entertainment and NBC Universal. Busted.
A few days ago we wrote about a new website that exposes what people behind an IP-address have downloaded on BitTorrent. The Russian-based founders of the site developed the service so people can show their friends how public their downloading habits are, and that is exactly what we’re going to do today.
Armed with the IP-ranges of major Hollywood studios we decided to find out what they’ve been downloading. As expected, it didn’t take us long before we found BitTorrent ‘pirates’ at several leading entertainment industry companies. Yes, these are the same companies who want to disconnect people from the Internet after they’ve been caught sharing copyrighted material.
Do as I say, not as I do?
Images: Screenshots of content downloaded from Fox, Universal and Sony’s respective IP addresses.
What passes for news and debate on our mainstream networks, circa August 2011, USA.
Update: Sorry about that. Itchy trigger finger. This is actually from Louis CK’s show. Thanks to mlesblog and youngdankenstein for quickly pointing that out.
Clip can be seen here.
Egg… meet face.
Seven years ago, Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films released Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism. While it wasn’t released theatrically, MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress helped organize “house parties” around the country where people could come together to watch it.
Writing in the New York Times at the time, AO Scott noted:
The partisan nature of ”Outfoxed,” a series of expository and analytical talking-head segments interspersed with the high-octane flag-draped shouting-head segments that have become Fox’s trademark, is obvious. It is also, therefore, a little beside the point. In the American media, like it or not, the job of exposing bias is often taken up by people and organizations with a definite point of view.
This evening, Greenwald will host an event to discuss the movie and the continuing Murdoch empire. He’ll be joined by Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks; former MSNBC host), Janeane Garofalo (Actor/Comedian), Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation), James Rucker (ColorofChange.org) and Ilyse Hogue (Media Matters). Should be lively in light of the the News Corp / News of the World phone hacking scandal.
If you have questions for Greenwald or his guests, you can submit them here. And if you’d like to watch, the Webcast kicks off at 5pm PT (8pm ET).
Comics: Selected Doonesbury from July 2004.
Bribery, illegal wiretapping, interference in a murder investigation, political blackmail, and rampant disregard for both the truth and basic decency. The behavior of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. in Britain has shocked even his closest allies and cynical British journalists. The Murdoch empire is falling apart—criminal behavior and disregard for basic ethics having permeated its highest ranks. News Corp. executives’ claims of a full and thorough investigation and that there were only a few bad apples have been exposed as feeble and false. The pseudo-investigations conducted by Scotland Yard are likewise proving to be corrupt and unreliable. Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is running for cover, but it cannot escape the untoward relationship that it had with Murdoch.
Well, if you put it that way, let’s go.
Elliot Spitzer, We don’t know what to call him anymore either, Slate. Prosecute News Corp.
Spitzer argues that New Corp is liable under the the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Established in 1977, the Act holds that US companies can be prosecuted for bribery and corrupt practices in foreign countries.
Before we continue, note that News Corp headquarters are in the United States and that the company is listed in US markets.
The rampant violations of British law alleged—payments to cops to influence ongoing investigations and the hacking of phones—are sufficient predicates for the Justice Department to investigate. Indeed, the facts as they are emerging are a case study for why the FCPA was enacted. We do not want companies whose headquarters are here—as News Corp.’s is—or that are listed on our financial exchanges—as News Corp. is—polluting the waters of international commerce with illegal behavior.
QED: What Spitzer is really saying, “Prosecute the bastards.”
News Corp’s Cash Tax Rate: -46.1 percent
A negative tax rate? What does that mean?
Take it away Reuters:
Over the past four years Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.
The relevant figure is the cash paid tax rate. This is the net amount of corporate income taxes actually paid after refunds. For those four years, it was minus 46 percent, disclosure statements show.
Even on an accounting basis, which measures taxes incurred but often not actually paid for years, News Corp. had a tax rate of under 20 percent, little more than half the 35 percent statutory rate, company disclosures examined by Reuters show. News Corp. had no comment.
It pays to be the king.
Update: Reuters has withdrawn this article due to faulty reporting. Our correction is here.
Fox News Twitter Feed Hacked, Claims Obama Assassinated
Via the BBC:
The @foxnewspolitics feed stated: “BREAKING NEWS: @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much.”
More than two hours after the malicious postings appeared, they had still not been removed.
A group or individual, calling themselves The Script Kiddies appeared to claim responsibility.
For the record, per TVEyes: NY same-sex marriage vote was covered for 60+ mins by MSNBC & CNN. It was covered for 2 min by Fox News.
Brian Stelter, Media Reporter, New York Times, via Twitter.
It’s all about priorities.
H/T: Muck Rack.
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