R-i-i-p-p-p: Pinkerton Makes Like Mika Over Lohan Story

Jim Pinkerton found a graphic way to express his displeasure over Fox News Watch's decision to devote a segment to Lindsay Lohan's latest run-in with the law. With a nod to MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski, who as I chronicled here had torn up a Paris Hilton story in protest, Pinkerton ripped a page or two on tonight's show.

FOX NEWS WATCH PANELIST JIM PINKERTON: This speaks to formula, right?. We all know that Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Ritchie are fighting to get the Anna Nicole Smith slot for this year.

FOX NEWS WATCH HOST ERIC BURNS: Nicole Ritchie, who has just been sentenced herself.

PINKERTON: Exactly. I'm going to honor another formula [as he ceremoniously tears the story in two]. That would be Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC and Jack Cafferty on CNN, who refused to read their copy. It might have been a show, it might have been an act for the cameras, but I'm going to do the same thing and see what happens. Because I don't think this is really worth covering on our segment.

View video here.

Burns tried to defend the decision.

BURNS: When stories like this are covered, it is shown that ratings tend to go up. People want to watch this kind of story, as Jane [Hall] said, they want to know about this kind of story. This is a democracy governmentally. Why shouldn't it be a democracy in terms of what television news presents? If people want this, why not give them this in addition to other stories?

Fine. Just don't call it "Fox News Channel," the "CBS Evening News," etc. How about: "The Human Train Wreck Network"?

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net