Fox's Banderas gratuitously injected NY Times into report on Hezbollah leader's appearance on Al Jazeera

Summary: Julie Banderas rhetorically asked viewers to "guess which television" outlet Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had recently appeared on, and then stated: "No, not The New York Times, but Al Jazeera television, broadcasting this terrorist on TV."

On the July 20 edition of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson, Fox News host Julie Banderas rhetorically asked viewers to "guess which television" outlet Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had recently appeared on, and then stated: "No, not The New York Times, but Al Jazeera television, broadcasting this terrorist on TV." Nasrallah's appearance on the Arabic satellite TV network had, Bandaras reported, dashed "hop[es]" that "perhaps he was dead."

Media Matters for America has documented conservatives' recent verbal attacks on the Times, including claims that the paper committed treason and suggestions that Times staff members should be "executed" for publishing a June 23 article describing a Bush administration program that monitors international financial transactions for terrorist activity.

From the July 20 edition of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson:

GIBSON: His group has terrorized Israel for years under his leadership. He has tight ties to both Iran and Syria. So, how much do we really know about the head of Hezbollah? His name is Nasrallah. Here is the host of Big Story Weekend, Julie Banderas -- Julie.

BANDERAS: All right. Well, you know, just about an hour ago, we were thinking or hoping that perhaps he was dead, but now he has reared his ugly head once again on guess which television? No, not The New York Times, but Al Jazeera television, broadcasting this terrorist on TV. So, you know, as you know, this is a guy who is not camera-shy. He goes out of his way over and over to taunt Israeli leaders. And just a day after Israel claimed to have bombed that bunker where we thought he may have been hiding -- well, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, rearing his ugly head once again today. In an interview aired on Al Jazeera television, he says this: "I can confirm without exaggerating or using psychological warfare that we have not been harmed."

—R.S.K.