Former NYT editor blasts media for standing by as Fox News offends journalistic standards
How powerful has Fox News become in America? Strong enough, says Howell Raines, the former executive editor of the New York Times, that the channel’s “lies” and “disinformation” are turning Americans against health-care reform; powerful enough that journalists in competing media are running scared, worried that speaking out against the network might limit their career prospects. “[Fox News CEO Roger] Ailes and his video ferrets have intimidated center-right and center-left journalists into suppressing conclusions—whether on health-care reform or other issues—they once would have stated as demonstrably proven by their reporting,” charges Raines in Sunday’s Washington Post. “I try not to believe that this kid-gloves handling amounts to self-censorship, but it’s hard to ignore the evidence. News Corp., with 64,000 employees worldwide, receives the tender treatment accorded a future employer.”