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TV Tea Party War

Wow - whatta story, and I don't mean the tea parties: I do mean coverage of the tea parties.

Fox News has now officially moved away from flogging the tea party story to flogging its competitors who flogged THEM. Yes, it's confusing, but this is war - over ratings, money, stature, mindshare.

Yesterday, representatives for CNN and Fox were furiously dialing around to various members of the TV press to point out just how irresponsible the other's coverage was. Fox used that Susan Roesgen interview in Chicago for exhibit A; she actually blamed Fox on the air for something, unclear what that was (See below.) Fox supporter Drudge later got in the act, posting that Anderson Cooper "teabagging" post.

Here's Shep Smith, upon hearing of the now famous (or infamous, depending on your choice off networks) Roesgen outburst, as reported on TVNewser: "I've just learned it's Anti-CNN day. I know, right? I had no freakin' clue....Just a minute ago, that Susan Roesgen, from that CNN, that people used to watch a long time ago...Anti-CNN? Who's anti-CNN, settle down Susan! Come on girl...Poor Susan Roesgen, nobody hates you, everybody ... we love the CNN. Relax everybody. Don't get your hate on."

And MSNBC? It was left last night to its resident Fox basher/hater/reviler, Keith Olbermann, to lay out a separate case, where he effectively accuses Bill O'Reilly of doing something that I'd rather not get into here; that's a network first anywhere, I believe.

Now, this! Megyn Kelly just got off the air with Brent Bozell, Media Research Center guy, who was created in the alternate universe to Keith Olbermann. "All the sex jokes about teabagging" on MSNBC and CNN, he sputtered, promising viewers he wouldn't explain what the term meant. "But they had them by the dozens. That's how insulting they [MSNBC and CNN] were to people who believed they were being taxed too much...How DARE they criticize Fox when they were so clearly promoting their own agenda."

Ummm, what agenda was that?

Boy, this is just wacky.





Posted by Verne Gay on April 16, 2009 -- 10:17 AM

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I put Anderson in the tea bag, after all, he was the one who started all this hilarious brouhaha.