Another Fox News Freudian Graphic Slip

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:06 pm

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Fox News has become infamous for their habit of distorting and editing video to make their ideological point, but we should not forget to mention the Fox News graphics department, who today managed to make the Freudian slip of labeling Sen. Joe Lieberman as the Republican from Connecticut. This is the same department that once labeled Max Baucus a Republican and Mark Sanford a Democrat.

Here is the latest FNC graphic “mistake” courtesy of Media Matters:

Here is “Republican” Max Baucus from September:

Who could forget the classic Mark Sanford “Democrat” from earlier this year?

Every graphics department makes mistakes once in a while, but the mistakes on Fox News seem to happen at very convenient times during critical points in their coverage of a story. I am not saying that Fox News intentionally posts graphics to mislead their viewers, but these errors occur too often to be mere coincidence.

In the current case Liebermann could be facing a tough reelection battle back home, so it would be nice little favor to a senator who has essentially become a Republican to remind the folks at home just how helpful good old Joe has become to the GOP cause. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but FNC either has the worst graphics department on the planet, or there is something else at work here.

On television pictures can matter more than words, and the network’s past behavior has made it clear that they are not beneath breaking the rules of journalism to get their ideological message out, so I don’t think it would surprise many people if these well timed mistakes weren’t as accidental as FNC likes to make them seem.

Who could forget the classic Mark Sanford “Democrat” from earlier this year?

Every graphics department makes mistakes once in a while, but the mistakes on Fox News seem to happen at very convenient times during critical points in their coverage of a story. I am not saying that Fox News intentionally posts graphics to mislead their viewers, but these errors occur too often to be mere coincidence.

In the current case Liebermann could be facing a tough reelection battle back home, so it would be nice little favor to a senator who has essentially become a Republican to remind the folks at home just how helpful good old Joe has become to the GOP cause. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but FNC either has the worst graphics department on the planet, or there is something else at work here.

On television pictures can matter more than words, and the network’s past behavior has made it clear that they are not beneath breaking the rules of journalism to get their ideological message out, so I don’t think it would surprise many people if these well timed mistakes weren’t as accidental as FNC likes to make them seem.

Jason Easley

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