Media Matters investigative reporter and senior editor Joe Strupp recently reported on criticism that Fox News Watch, the network's media watchdog program, has veered away from being a program that critiques media issues on all networks, including its own. Strupp quoted former Fox News Watch host Eric Burns (no relation to Media Matters President Eric Burns) saying: “The show was getting to be more and more of a struggle to do fairly. There was a progression of interference to try to make the show more right-wing. I fought very hard against it.”
The trend continued on Saturday's broadcast, where Fox News Watch again avoided critiquing any of Fox News' growing ethics problems. Here's the show's opening summary of its segments:
The show -- shocker -- did find enough time to critique MSNBC and hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, of whom a Fox News voice-over said: “Nobody really likes him.”
It's been noted before, but there's a special irony in having Jon Scott host a media analysis show: Last year, Scott was caught lifting text from a GOP press release and passing it off as his own research. For Fox, that apparently qualifies you to critique other media outlets on ethics.
Fox News Watch's jab at Olbermann: