Fox News boss tells reporters to lie about climate change evidence

Read Time:2 Minute, 32 Second

For the second time in less than a week, the Fox News Washington managing editor has been caught trying to “slant” the news.

In an e-mail obtained by liberal watchdog group Media Matters, Bill Sammon told his staff to downplay the importance of climate science that showed the world was getting warmer.

“Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data… we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question,” Sammon wrote.

Sammon issued the instructions less than 15 minutes after Fox News correspondent Wendell Goler noted that the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization announced that 2000-2009 was “on track to be the warmest [decade] on record.”

“2000 to 2009 [is] expected to turn out to be the warmest decade on record,” Goler reported during the 2009 Copenhagen climate change summit. “2009 itself was about the fifth warmest year. There was extreme drought in Africa, extreme heat in India and northern China.”

“But it’s the decade trend that has scientists concerned because 2000 to 2009 [is] warmer than the 1990s, warmer than the 1980s,” he said.

Only last week, Media Matters published another e-mail where Sammon asked his news department to refer to the health care reform public option as the “government run option.”

Sammon sent the request after Republican pollster Frank Luntz said that polls showed the “government option” was opposed by the public.

According to the report at Media Matters, in August of 2009 after Fox News’ Sean Hannity used the term “public option,” Luntz encouraged him to say “government option” instead.

“If you call it a ‘public option,’ the American people are split,” Luntz said. “If you call it the ‘government option,’ the public is overwhelmingly against it.”

In October, sources told Media Matters that since joining Fox News, Sammon’s pressure to “distort” and “slant news” had made some in the newsroom uncomfortable.

“Since Bill Sammon assumed the role of Washington managing editor and vice president of news at the beginning of the Obama Administration, pressure from Fox management to produce stories that lean toward a conservative agenda, and distort news in some cases, has found its way into coverage,” the sources said.

The text of Sammon’s email follows:

####

From: Sammon, Bill
To: 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 036 -FOX.WHU; 054 -FNSunday; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers; 069 -Politics; 005 -Washington
Cc: Clemente, Michael; Stack, John; Wallace, Jay; Smith, Sean
Sent: Tue Dec 08 12:49:51 2009
Subject: Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data…

…we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.

####

This video is from Fox News’ Happening Now, broadcast Dec. 8, 2009.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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Ian
11 years ago

I don’t find that this email is slanting the news. There is REAL scientific debate about the validity of many of these claims and he is right to say that journalists should weigh their words before claiming things are facts instead of debatable research. If anything, this article is slanted against Fox News.

12 years ago

We love your site Mike! We re-posted this article at
http://www.media-watchdog.com .. Keep on bringing it!

Jess
13 years ago

Oh, I’m surprised, shocked even, that Faux noose is giving out bad information. Goes to show, those surveys showing that the people that watch Fox are terribly uninformed is true.

13 years ago

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Holte Ender, Michael Scott. Michael Scott said: RT @madmike1 Fox News boss tells reporters to lie about climate change evidence http://bit.ly/fbE73X […]

13 years ago

I’ve actually locked FOX off of my TV, so it never ever shows. Most of the articles/programs aren’t really relevant down here in NZ, but their whole “in your face” attitude just pisses me off. I don’t watch TV to get shouted at.

Good ridance.

13 years ago

The trouble with Fox News is, they are the news and that’s the way they like it.

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