FOX NEWS SINKS TO NEW LOW IN 2012?

Mark Howard at Alternet.org put together a list of the "unbelievably awful" journalistic misrepresentations and falsehoods that Fox News put together in 2012.

At the top of the list is Fox News' efforts to lure General Petraeus into the Republican presidential line up to "shake things up" a bit. As Alternet.org points out, what Fox News did is an intrusion into the political process that debases journalism "by breaching all standards of ethical conduct." Worse, "it debases democracy" by "exploiting its power and wealth to manipulate political outcomes."

While you can go to the link, which has full commentary, below I've listed the 12 "unbelievably awful" things Fox News did to lower the bar on journalism.

1. Recruiting General Petraeus for the GOP presidential field.

2. Fox produces its own anti-Obama video, which it posted on line and later tried to distance itself from.

3. Fox News' Liz Trotta belittles military women who are raped for being "whiners" because they should know what they're getting into working with men in battle.

4. Fox News's two-faced approach towards Latinos (the focus is on illegality).

5. Fox lies about military access to voting in Ohio.

6. Racial photoshopping to fit the narrative (the Treyvon Martin case). 

7. The skewed polls nonsense.

8. Keith Ablow's psycho babble about pretty much everything, but especially Newt Gingrich's manly marital attraction level.

9. An hour long anti-Obama commercial airs on Hannity.

10. Fox News "Democratic" contributor accuses President Obama of sympathizing with the terrorists.

11. Spinning the unemployment rate, always.

12. Fox opposes ban on assault weapons, but imposes ban on talking about it.

I'm sure you probably have your own examples and comments regarding Fox News' lack of journalistic integrity and ethical transgressions (I know I do).  And you should.

Still, Alternet.org's Mark Howard put it best when discussing the 12 points listed above:

While Fox News broadcasts flagrant distortions of reality on a daily basis, the examples above transcend the conventional dishonesty and bias that is its hallmark. These assaults on ethical journalism demonstrate how dangerous it is to permit a political enterprise to disguise itself as a news network in order to shape an extreme political agenda. It is evidence of social programming and manipulation at its worst. The sad part is that we can expect much more of this in 2013 ... 

I'll leave it at that, for now.

- Mark