Fox News quickly retracted the article, saying in an editor’s note on its Web site that the article ‘was written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast.” It said, ‘We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice…” (New York Times )
The well-respected senior Fox correspondent who wrote the story has been ‘reprimanded’ but continues to report from the campaign trail. Fox has declined to say what action, if any, was taken against those who reviewed the article for posting. The New York Times places this incident in the context of “a time when journalistic errors and lapses both big and small have called into question the credibility of a number of major news organizations”, citing the CBS News embarrassment about the Bush National Guard documents. No mention is made of the Times’ own besmirched record in covering the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq and its role in the totally uncritical media coverage of candidate Bush in the 2000 campaign.
