Irony alert: Fox News accuses rival of blurring the line ‘between news and commentary’

This might be one of the greatest Fox News items of all time. 

Last night, Karl Rove appeared on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” to discuss President Bush’s interview with NBC and accusations that the network distorted Bush’s comments.  Rove and guest host Laura Ingraham quickly attacked NBC’s ethics: INGRAHAM: Yes, well, Karl, this follows on, you know, on primary nights, big nights, when you’re with Brit and everybody here.  Over at NBC, they have a couple of their, you know, commentator types Matthews and the like, sitting next to Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams.  I mean, there is no line between news and commentary.  It’s all blurred.  Rove added that the “journalistic standards of MSNBC, which are really no standards at all,” are now “creep[ing] into NBC.” 

Now, on the substance, we’ve already talked about how foolish the charges against NBC are.  The report did not distort Bush’s comments, and this manufactured outrage is pretty weak tea. 

But more importantly, it’s genuinely comical to hear Fox News personalities accuse anyone of blurring the line “between news and commentary.”  That is, after all, the reason Fox News exists. 

I mean, really.  Consider the context on this one — Laura Ingraham (prominent Republican media personality) was talking to Karl Rove (prominent Republican consultant-turned-media-personality-turned-McCain-advisor) about another network maintaining weak journalistic standards on objectivity and neutrality.  Not only were they wrong about the NBC report, but neither Ingraham nor Rove are journalists, neither are objective, neither are neutral, and neither have professional standards. 

Indeed, adding to the rich irony, Rove was appearing on camera as some kind of media professional — criticizing NBC’s integrity — while failing to disclose his ties to the Republican presidential campaign. 



If you missed it, Amanda Terkel and Matt Corley, two estimable members of the ThinkProgress team, had a great piece in Salon today highlighting Rove’s conflict-of-interest problem. 

It has now been more than three months since Karl Rove first appeared on television as a Fox News political analyst on Feb 5.  In no fewer than 57 appearances, he has increasingly been welcomed into the Fox News fraternity, even joking that the “Hannity & Colmes” show should be renamed the “Colmes & Rove” show.  After departing from a Bush administration in political tatters last August, he has reemerged to hold forth at length on the 2008 presidential race.  And he may have plenty of seasoned political wisdom to offer Fox’s audience.  Rove, however, is playing a strategic role that he and the network refuse to reveal to viewers.  Fox News hosts routinely introduce Rove as a “former senior advisor to President Bush,” “the architect,” a “political wizard” and a “famed political consultant.”  But never has he been introduced as he should be — as an informal advisor and maxed-out donor to John McCain’s presidential campaign.  To political news junkies, a disclosure of Rove’s relationship to the McCain campaign may seem unnecessary.  But whether the public simply assumes that Rove supports McCain isn’t the point.  The “most influential pundit” in America, as Fox likes to trumpet, should have to play by the same rules as other high-profile political analysts.  For example, Paul Begala and James Carville are regularly identified as supporters of Hillary Clinton when they appear on CNN.  But Rove has been able to act as an independent observer while criticizing Clinton and Barack Obama, McCain’s likely general election opponent.  There is nothing shocking about Rove’s attacking Democrats, of course.  And his operating with a duplicitous air of independence probably isn’t going to make or break Fox’s claim to “fair and balanced” coverage.  But will the greater public catch on? 

Amanda and Matt present a compelling case, noting Rove’s financial support for McCain, Rove’s work “informally advising” the campaign, the Rove-McCain meetings, and McCain apparently taking Rove’s advice.  Rove has become, as Frank Rich noted, a “thinly veiled McCain surrogate.” 

Tell us again, Fox News, about the importance of ethics, standards, and the problems associated with blurring the line between news and commentary.