Terry Jones, the Florida minister who drew international attention with his threatened burning of the Quran, says Fox News Channel was one of the few news outlets that was “sympathetic” to his cause.

“Generally, I find Fox a little bit more sympathetic or open to the message that we were trying to give,” Jones said by phone. “I felt they were generally more fair.”

Jones, who had planned to burn a Quran at his Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. on Sept. 11, said most media outlets did not cover him fairly. But he said Fox News Channel understood his position.

“Others tried to focus on me as a dumb hick who just wanted media attention,” Jones said, adding “With Fox, you felt you could say your part. There was an understanding there. I felt more able to say my piece, unlimited, for Fox more than the others. I felt that other news outlets were more in denial of the potential problems [of Islam] - they wanted to sweep it under the carpet.”

Jones cited Fox News reports on his actions, but said he was not interviewed one-on-one by Fox News Channel.

Some examples of Fox News Channel's coverage include it's posting of an opinion piece by author Phyllis Chesler on Sept. 10 that supported Jones' right to burn the Quran:

I do not think that Minister Jones' decision was “wise” earlier this week but it was clearly his right to burn the Koran. Many Americans who are now in the Obama administration once proudly burned the American flag on American soil. Rightly or wrongly, our laws protected them.

What do you think is more dangerous: A Florida minister who has had enough of “Offendophobia,” the fear that Muslims will riot, bomb, blow us all up when they are “offended” and who wants to bell the cat, so to speak-- or an Islamic state like Iran with nuclear power?

Pamela Geller, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, was on a Fox News panel on Sept. 8 where she defended Jones' right to burn the Quran, even if she did not agree with it:

The antidote to free speech is certainly more free speech ... this is protected speech just like bible burning ... it is under the auspices of free speech.

Fox News also had appearances from two guests on Sept. 7 and 8 who sought to compare Jones' actions to the building of the controversial Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan.

On the September 7 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox news contributor and Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes criticized plans to burn the Quran, and claimed that “Islamophobia” was “not sweeping America.” But Barnes further claimed:

But look, this is similar in one way to the Ground Zero mosque, the mosque that is planned to be built on the fringe of Ground Zero. And that is, it is what Sarah Palin called an unnecessary provocation. And this is a provocation, and that's what General Petraeus is worried about.

Later, During the September 8 edition of The Glenn Beck Program, guest host Dave Glover said that the debate over whether it was appropriate to burn copies of the Quran was “about wise choices” and that “this burning of the Quran issue is very similar to the building of the mosque on ground zero.”

On the September 9 broadcast of Hannity, host Sean Hannity and his guest Brigitte Gabriel both said they “disagree[d]” with Jones' planned actions, but went on to accuse President Obama of a “double standard” for defending the planned Park51 Islamic community center, “but not defend the pastor's right” to burn the Quran.

Jones said several Fox affiliates in Florida also gave him better coverage: “I did a lot with Fox, I think I did more with Fox than anyone else and with local Fox stations here in Orlando and Jacksonville. With them, we had something of an audience with more of an open ear.”

In an interview with Orlando's Fox affiliate on Sept. 7, the station gave him more than five minutes to explain his views, in which he said:

We feel it's maybe the right time for America to stand up. How long are we going to bow down? How long are we going to be controlled, by the terrorists, by radical Islam? We feel it's time for the church to stand up.

A Sept. 16 report by the Fox affiliate in Jacksonville referred to Jones' actions as his “ordeal.”

Asked by Media Matters which other news outlets were sympathetic, Jones said, “I felt The Wall Street Journal was pretty good, even though they made the mistake of calling us a mega-church.”

Jones admits he did not regularly watch Fox News in the past, but believes the network's coverage of his story will make him more wiling to watch in the future. “I would feel that I would get information that is more accurate. I think my views are somewhat more conservative. I would think Fox was a little bit more open and saw more the danger of Islam than others.”

The minster contends his message was misrepresented by most media outlets. He said he is not against Islam or the building of the controversial Islamic Center in lower Manhattan, even though he had sought to meet with the Imam in charge there.

“I was never attacking the Muslims, not banning the Quran or against building a mosque,” he claims. “It was that radical Islam is much larger and more dangerous than we are told.”

Numerous media reports clearly reveal Jones opposed the Islamic center and Islam, such as a Business Week article on Sept. 11 about Jones' efforts to meet with the Imam behind the proposed center.

Jones adds that his new found media fame will be put to use as he seeks to spread his message with rallies and meetings, such as one planned for Oct. 10 in Tampa, Fla. He says he has a “divine intervention” to continue.

“This is some kind of an open door to go ahead and get this message out about Islam,” he says. “We plan on going ahead more. We have planned to hold some meetings and rallies around the country with people and churches to provide our message.”