I care. If Fox commentators weren't so bent on saying how "fair and balanced they are," and spend so much time blasting the other networks, it would be irrelevant. People do make mistakes, and that's understandable.
O'Reilly always calls his show the "no-spin zone." Fox's promos remind us during most commercial breaks that they're fair. And Fox supporters, like my former Navy pal, boast about how Fox is the only network that covers certain stories.
That means Fox and its fans promote the channel as something better and more accurate than other news media. Therefore, there's an expectation that Fox never air anything that's false or misleading.
Beck downplays the number of people at a "liberal" event, and within weeks, Fox inflates the number of people at a "conservative" event.
It raises legitimate questions of credibility. It raises legitimate concerns about whether someone at Fox - a producer, an anchor, a control room technician? - is methodically selecting video to distort the story being told.
This won't make me stop watching O'Reilly, but it does make FNC, which many people have adopted as the holy grail of television news, appear to be a hypocrite.

Maybe FOX would like people to think the ideologies and people that they are pushing are more popular than they actually are. Ya know, some people believe everything they hear and see on Fox is the gospel. How many so called "production errors" does it take before even Fox's most ardent supporters tune out?

The Jon Stewart show has better producers than Fox because they find the right video every time!

Which is the very reason why errant reporting - whether a simple technical mistake or ideology-driven spin - on a channel that trumpets itself as the fairest news of all is reckless and potentially dangerous.

Not sure you are fussing about. Whether it be through it's anchors, it's guests or it's presentation/production, it is a FACT that Fox news presents both sides of issues more than any other network. Is it 100% gospel accurate 100% of the time? I doubt it. But it is more balanced than any other network, period. That's not even arguable and the reason for it's ratings. FOX habitually puts things in good perspective for the viewer. Like last night when O'Reilly pointed out that the AP had 11 people digging deep to fact check Palin's book but neither Obama's nor Biden's book had even one AP person check there's (Good God, I could only imagine...). This is important information.

Don't mix up production errors or a slanted viewpoint with the issue of providing BOTH a liberal and conservative opinion on over 75% of their programming. Even Hannity always has liberal "counterpoint" guests on. This is what people want! They don't have time to watch 3 networks and read blogs and newspapers to sift through all the crap. They want to go to one place to hear both views and then judge for themselves.

You can't separate the two. Perception is a powerful force. If I perceive that Fox, whether through negligence or malice, has become prone to slanting a story favorable to a conservative point of view by airing the wrong video, I will not trust Fox to give me accurate reporting.
Of course, I don't expect everyone to see it that way. Fox loyalists (apologists?) will spin controversies such as this as insignificant or will try to point out how often the other networks screw up, as if that somehow makes Fox's error excusable.
Maybe it doesn't matter to people who watch ONLY Fox.
This might surprise you, but a large number of people who aren't Fox loyalists believe it slants as far to the right as you believe other media slants to the left. As with most things, the truth is somewhere between the extremes.
Across the board, Fox does a better job in offering different perspectives. That is true.
But to the masses who aren't on the "You won't see this on CNN" mailing list, errors like these can reinforce the notion that Fox is just as biased as other news media; they just do a better job of denying it.

Oh, wait, I left out one point. You've been out there polling America's news watchers? Where did you get the information that "they want to go one place"?
Most people I know watch some combination of CNN, Fox and their local channels.
"They don't have time to read blogs." You're joking, right?

I can buy that there was a production error.... but it's happened twice in 2 weeks.

The stock footage usually gets rolled by all the networks, but the problem for FOX this past time - is that the on-air person didn't know. That means that the copy didn't match or the production people were rushing.

Someone should be fired, the same way that CBS fired its staffers over the 60 minutes production and research flap.

That might make independents a little less suspicious of FOX.

Just went and saw "Blindside" today at the movies.

WOW! Outstanding. Blew me away....go see it!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Including those I argue with here on MI.

I have heard some really good things about this film and if I heard it right during the Colts/Ravens game the young man that is the subject of the film now plays with the Ravens. I am going to try to get out and see this one in the near future.

Hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving. I know I ate far more then I should have (same thing every year) Once of the great tings about places like this is that we have a chance to debate our points with those who may take a different stance. A little disagreement now and again is good for the soul.

RE: The Underwear Bomber

- Pretty scary how close he was to detonating it blowing up 300 people. He was just 10 minutes too impatient trying to set it off before the gel bonded with the powder. Thank God!

- Pretty scary this guy slipped through when his own father warned authorities about his ties to Al Queda.

- Pretty scary this guy claims there are dozens more running around just like him with the same mission.

It seems the enemy views us and President Obama as "WEAK." I expect we will see much more of this for the next couple years.