Newsweek: “Fox News Un-American;” Calls For Journalist Boycott

With Fox News and the White House at each other’s throats, it’s tough to get a word in edgewise. Fox, with its typically boisterous hosts and collected anchors, seems to be guiding the conversation, while much of the administration’s talking points are being viewed as whiny. But it’s the result of an echo chamber, according to Jacob Weisberg in Newsweek.

The network’s coverage of the White House’s remarks proves their leanings, he writes, in “a textbook example of a biased journalism.” In his view:

Any news organization that took its responsibilities seriously would take pains to cover presidential criticism fairly. It would regard doing so as itself a test of integrity. At Fox, by contrast, complaints of unfairness prompt only hoots of derision and demands for “evidence” that, when presented, is brushed off and ignored.

Weisberg continues to call the debate “phony,” because “five minutes’ random viewing of the channel at any hour of the day demonstrates its all-pervasive slant.” He cites the usual cast of characters including Glenn Beck and Karl Rove, and insists that sloppy swine flu coverage leaves Fox “to become the first network to actively try to kill its viewers.”

What’s to love about the American press is its independence, Weisberg claims — “that it serves the public interest rather than those of parties, persuasions, or pressure groups.” His solution? A boycott of Fox News:

Respectable journalists—I’m talking to you, Mara Liasson—should stop appearing on its programs. A boycott would make Ailes too happy, so let’s try just ignoring Fox, shall we? And no, I don’t want to come on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss it.