As I and a lot of the blogosphere has posted, FoxNews mislabelled Rep. Foley as a Democrat, several times, and then just silently removed the references rather than publically admitting their mistake. Seeing as FoxNews gets high ratings, and the viewers of the channel believe strongly in its infallibility, it's important that FoxNews publically admit their mistake.
To that length, my friend and fellow blogger Richard Harlos wrote the following letter. I encourage all of my friends to send it as well.
Unfortunately, FoxNews still does not have an ombudsman, but you can send the letter to comments@foxnews.com and newswatch@foxnews.com. Also, good to send to oreilly@foxnews.com and hannity@foxnews.com as well.
To Whom It May Concern:I am seeking some contact information to use for the purpose of submitting an error and asking for a public correction of said error.
The error was in Fox broadcasting that Foley is a Democrat when, in fact, he is a Republican.
You may be aware that the AP made the same mistake but was conscientious enough to publicly correct themselves within about 3 hours of the mistake.
In contrast, FoxNews seems simply to have omitted the erroneous information banner on subsequent broadcasts.
I think an error of this magnitude demands more than a silent correction and as a viewer, I'm writing to ask for FoxNews to make such a public correction at its earliest opportunity.
This is an important issue to me, speaking to the credibility and integrity of FoxNews as a broadcasting organization. It is important enough to me that if some reply and public correction is not forthcoming, I almost certainly will appeal to other public forums in order to gather public support for such a correction.
We, the people, want our reporting factual. And when understandably fallible human beings make occasional errors, we, the people, expect the organization responsible for the mistake to make its acknowledgements and corrections as publicly available as its mistakes.
Anything less seems disingenuous and absent any reason to think otherwise, will be responded to appropriately.
Details about when the errors occurred may be found at http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3570
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. I look forward to FoxNews' response to this mistake, and to your timely reply to me about how you intend to make this public correction.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
-- YOUR NAME HERE --
ps: I blog, and my friends do as well, and we're not going to let this issue rest. Thank you.
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