Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:27 pm
Fox News struck again today. The network’s on screen graphic while Republican Gov. Mark Sanford confessed his affair labeled him as a Democrat. Later, FNC corrected their mistake, but this isn’t the first time that they have done this. They also labeled disgraced former Republican Rep. Mark Foley as a Democrat.
Here is the FNC graphic courtesy of Media Matters:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Here is the Mark Foley graphic:
Loyal FNC viewers will call this a coincidental mistake, where us those of us of a more liberal persuasion will view this as Fox being Fox. This was a breaking news story, but the network had given Sanford a ton of media coverage over his opposition to the Obama’s economic stimulus bill. It isn’t like Sanford was some political nobody who they had never covered before.
Was it an honest mistake? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. If it was an honest mistake than FNC needs to get some better people working the graphics, but the network does have a history of distancing themselves from scandal riddled Republicans, so anything is possible, but FNC was really fair and balanced, this would not even be questionable.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association