The Washington Post has a great scoop, detailing information found in some of the documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. While the meat of the documents are about an attempted assassination against President Obama and General Petraeus, they also talk about Al Qaeda’s U.S. media strategy.
One of Al Qaeda’s media advisers discussed the possibility of releasing a bin Laden video, and which U.S. TV outlets it should be sent to. The answer: pretty much all of them except Fox News, which “lacks objectivity” and “falls into the professional abyss.”
As columnist David Ignatius wrote, “What an unintended boost for Fox, which can now boast that it is al-Qaeda’s least favorite network.”
Bin Laden and his aides hoped for big terrorist operations to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. They also had elaborate media plans. Adam Gadahn, a U.S.-born media adviser, even discussed in a message to his boss what would be the best television outlets for a bin Laden anniversary video.
“It should be sent for example to ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and maybe PBS and VOA. As for Fox News let her die in her anger,” Gadahn wrote. At another point, he said of the networks: “From a professional point of view, they are all on one level — except (Fox News) channel, which falls into the abyss as you know, and lacks objectivity, too.”
What an unintended boost for Fox, which can now boast that it is al-Qaeda’s least favorite network.