TVSpy
In a behind-the-scenes video from the 9/12 protests in Washington, D.C., a producer for Fox News, identified as Heidi Noonan, can be seen rallying the crowd behind reporter Griff Jenkins.
The 9/12 rally has become a point of contention between the major news networks. Fox News has grouped the protests in with ACORN scandal and tea party events: stories aggressively covered by Fox News, but “missed” by all the other networks. On Friday, Fox News took out full page ads in the The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, asking, “How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN Miss This Story?”
All five networks told TVNewser that they covered the protests extensively, and CNN responded with an ad which said, “Fox News, Distorting not Reporting.” Back in April, many criticized Fox News for “blurring the line between journalism and advocacy” with their tea party coverage.
In the video, a sign reads, “I’m a Foxaholic,” and at one point Jenkins holds his microphone to the crowd so they can make some noise. It ends with the crowd chanting, “Fox News Rocks!”
Fox News’ Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton told The Huffington Post that “the employee is a young, relatively inexperienced associate producer who realizes she made a mistake and has been disciplined.”
Fox News further irked its critics with its crowd count figures. On Sept. 14th, Glenn Beck said 500,000 was a “really conservative” estimate. Later that day, Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin both referred to a crowd closer to 2 million. A Washington D.C. fire department official gave one reporter his unofficial estimate: somewhere between 60,000 and 75,000 protesters.