Fox News Channel

It’s commonplace for a news organization to be attacked for failing to cover certain major news events.  On the other hand, it is rare for a news outlet to be attacked for doing its job and reporting the news. 

According to Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Thomas Ricks, Fox News’ extensive reporting on the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi is not only a waste of time but an example of how Fox is, “the wing of the Republican Party.”  Appearing on Monday’s Happening Now, Ricks openly called out Fox News for its coverage of what he dismissed as merely a “small firefight.”  [See video below break.  MP3 audio here.] 

Schlockumentarian Michael Moore on Friday took an ironic shot at the Fox News Channel.

Appearing on HBO's Real Time, the perilously liberal propagandist said, "By watching Fox News you have de-evolved" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Hannity responds.

Bill Maher on Friday told Fox News’s Sean Hannity to commit suicide.

This occurred on HBO’s Real Time as the host discussed the Florida man who allegedly killed himself last week as a result of Barack Obama’s re-election (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Dennis Miller said Wednesday that he didn't watch the President's press conference because he "wanted to see a crowd that was less fawning."

"So I watched the Justin Bieber concert over on Nick Tunes," he told Fox News's Bill O'Reilly (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In NYT-land, the liberal cable network MSNBC has been "gaining ground" on conservative Fox News for years (without ever actually catching up). Times media reporter Brian Stelter (pictured) filed the latest enthusiastic installment in MSNBC's quest for the white whale of ratings parity with Fox News in "The Anti-Fox Gains Ground."

Meanwhile, Stelter's media news colleague David Carr gave backhanded praise to Fox News for not lulling its "conservative base with agitprop" on Election Night the way it had every other night leading up to the vote.

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Tuesday said the White House used David Petraeus’s affair to get the CIA director to give testimony about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that was in line with the administration’s position on the matter.

Appearing on Fox News's Special Report, Krauthammer said, "The sword was lowered on Election Day" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

With all the gloating the liberal media has been doing since the election, one would think the margin of victory was comparable to that of Ronald Reagan's overwhelming win over Walter Mondale in 1984. From The Atlantic to Politico and various other outlets, there have been an abundance of columns published in the past week urging, as they always do after a rout at the polls, that the GOP must evolve to the left on key issues.

The underlying themes have all been indistinguishable, almost as if they are collaborating with one another. The Republican party is in trouble, and anyone who refuses to accept the reality of this is delusional, they insist. If you can't beat the Democrats at this point, join them wails the chorus of liberal writers -- or at least impose the Fairness Doctrine to get the ball rolling.

The Simpsons took a swipe at Karl Rove and the Fox News Channel Sunday.

As Fox's hit animated series began, lead character Bart was in his classroom writing repeatedly on the blackboard "I will not concede the election till Karl Rove gives me permission" (video follows with commentary):

Greta Van Susteren on ABC's This Week Sunday took exception with a cheap shot at Fox News from Nation magazine's Katrina vanden Heuvel.

This came after vanden Heuvel said of former CIA director David Petraeus, "Don't forget that over at your network at Fox, he was your candidate for a while" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CNN's Anderson Cooper asked a question on CBS's Late Show Friday that some might consider a bit indelicate.

"How does Dick Morris still have a job?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Friday that the revelations concerning CIA Director David Petraeus's affair will now make what happened at our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, back in September "the hottest story around."

As Krauthammer noted on Fox News's Special Report, this goes in stark contrast to how the media buried this story before Tuesday's election (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in response to Barack Obama's re-election victory, said Tuesday, "I'm so glad we had that storm last week."

Fox News's Bret Baier covered Matthews' pathetic comment on Special Report Wednesday while quoting NewsBusters associate editor Noel Sheppard (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Just in time, New York Times media reporter Jeremy Peters noticed on Election Day that MSNBC has been rather slanted in its hostility toward Mitt Romney, and that it's starting to reflect badly on its sister network NBC, in "Dueling Bitterness On Cable News."

Peters used findings from the Pew Research Center as his launching point to hit both MSNBC and Fox News for partisan stridency, though MSNBC seemed to take more punches.

Unlike the liberal media who are engaging in a full-scale blackout of the scandal in Libya, Friday’s Fox & Friends engaged in a vigorous debate over the attack on our Embassy in Benghazi. 

Fox News Channel liberal contributor Geraldo Rivera engaged in a full-out shouting match with conservative-leaning co-hosts Steve Doocy and Eric Bolling.  During the back-and-forth, Geraldo’s main argument was thus: [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Clint Eastwood made quite a splash when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this summer.

Continuing his ringing endorsement of Mitt Romney on Fox News's Hannity Thursday, the actor/director said, "He is just a perfect guy for the job" (video follows with transcript):

Player, please . . . Does liberal pundit Bob Beckel care about his credibility?  Apparently not. Beckel has admitted that the pool of network anchors is "overwhelmingly Democrat," but somehow argues that "it doesn't make a difference at all."  Riiight.  

Beckel appeared on this evening's O'Reilly Factor after host Bill had documented chapter and verse that every leading network anchor with the possible exception of Scott Pelley is a confirmed liberal or Democrat.  But Beckel refused to admit the undeniable--that this affects the nature of their coverage.  "I don't think it matters.  I don't think it sends the news one way or another." This despite also admitting that if the tables were turned and virtually all the anchors were Republican, he'd be complaining about it "all the time." View the video after the jump.

On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's The Ed Show, all but official Obama campaign surrogates Ed Schultz and Richard Wolffe discussed the third and final presidential debate. Both declared the president a clear winner and insulted the intelligence of anyone who would disagree. Failing to recognize the irony of what they were doing for Obama, Schultz criticized the Romney campaign for declaring victory -- as if it defied all logic.

"Romney's camp is spinning last night as a victory for him," he said. "What about that? I mean, do they really think the American people are that stupid?" [ video below, MP3 audio available here ]

**UPDATE** At 2:30 p.m. EDT, MSNBC mentioned the damaging emails for the first time, coupling it with breaking news of an arrest in the attack on our Libyan consulate.   

Following in the footsteps of its sister broadcast network, MSNBC has continued to ignore the shocking revelation that the White House knew on September 11 that the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was under a well-coordinated terrorist attack. 

As NewsBusters’ Matthew Balan noted, NBC's Today was the only broadcast network morning show this to ignore the story altogether, with MSNBC following suit by remaining silent as well throughout the day.  In contrast, both Fox News and CNN have run numerous stories Wednesday morning.

"Anybody who runs interference for Obama on this one issue [the Benghazi attack] is deliberately misleading the American people," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Sean Hannity during his "Media Mash" appearance on the October 18 Hannity. "The record is clear here" that the Obama administration took weeks to publicly admit that the assassination of Amb. Chris Stevens and three others at the Benghazi consulate was a terrorist attack.

Hannity and Bozell also discussed how the media "never vetted" Obama in 2008 and are failing to scrutinize his economic record as president now (watch the segment in the video embedded below the page break):

In a bit of light-hearted segment on Thursday’s O’Reilly Factor, FNC’s Megyn Kelly described a recent run-in she had with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. 

Kelly described her encounter the following way:

When he saw me in the airport, he had no idea who I was. So I said it is Megyn Kelly with Fox News. And then he said, oh I didn't recognize you with your stringy hair.  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.] 

Fox News's Bret Baier quoted NewsBusters associate editor Noel Sheppard on Thursday's Special Report.

In a "Grapevine" segment about Newsweek's announcement that it will be printing its last magazine on December 31, Baier read from the note Newsweek publicists sent Scott Whitlock at NewsBusters from editor Tina Brown in July claiming that this wasn't going to happen (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Pollster Frank Luntz got more than he bargained for on Tuesday.

In a focus group on Fox's Hannity program after the debate, one of the participants who voted for Obama in 2008 said of the President, "He’s been bullsh--ting the public with the media behind him" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):

Conceivably the biggest moment in Tuesday's presidential debate was when moderator Candy Crowley injected herself into the discussion siding with Barack Obama on remarks he claimed he made in the Rose Garden following the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Long-time Democrat campaign strategist Joe Trippi said on Fox News shortly after the debate's conclusion that this looked like "the ref just threw the flag" (video follows with transcript and commentary):