Today's WORD on Journalism: Cry of Newt

Friday, April 13, 2012

Cry of Newt

Poppa Rupert Always Liked Mitt Best

“In what some might consider an act of GOP political suicide, Newt Gingrich slammed Fox News earlier this week, saying that the cable news channel has favored Mitt Romney throughout the 2012 Republican race—and that CNN has been the more ‘fair-and-balanced’ network this cycle.

“‘I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,’ Gingrich said during a meeting with tea party leaders in Delaware on Wednesday. . . . ‘In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.’

“The former House Speaker blasted the Roger Ailes-led network, blaming Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of Fox News-owner News Corp., for the bias.

“‘I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’ Gingrich said. ‘And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.’”

—Dylan Stableford, writer,
“Newt Gingrich: ‘CNN is less biased than Fox,’”

Yahoo! News, April 13, 2012

• Editorial Comment: Do we see a CNN pundit chair in Newt’s future? With a pacifier.

• RERUN: Nut Case Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from writer Kurt Vonnegut, on who runs for president? Click here.

• JCOM Teaching Excellence: Congrats to the History Department, which edged out Journalism & Communication for USU’s 2012 department teaching excellence award. But that doesn't take anything away from the accomplishments of our students and faculty. Junior Emily Landeen produced this video of student feedback on the department.

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