Whether it's Bill O'Reilly spinning yarns about his "No Spin Zone," or feeble Fox Democrats like Susan Estrich lamely presenting an opposing viewpoint, Fox playfully perpetuates its fair and balanced myth. The selectively worded "Fox Facts" are often anything but. One Fox Fact plastered across the screen as President Bush spoke in Buffalo, N.Y., last Tuesday: "Bush: Free Nations are Nations Where People Find Hope." Another Fox Fact on the same day came from the lips of Donald Rumsfeld as he gave a press briefing about violence in Fallujah. "Rumsfeld: Enemies of Freedom are Taking a Final Stand." In comparison, CNN's banner under Rumsfeld at the podium during the same briefing read, in relatively humdrum fashion: "Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary."

On Thursday, as other TV news outlets scrambled to air images of U.S. soldiers' flag-draped caskets home from Iraq, published online by an industrious First Amendment activist who FOIA'd the Air Force, Fox decided against running the poignant images. Fox's allegiance in this case was to the Pentagon, not the freedom of information. And of course, Ailes embarrassed Fox when Bob Woodward revealed in his book "Bush at War" that Ailes sent the president a memo after 9/11 containing political advice. There's a reason Fox News is the default channel on White House televisions, and it ain't because of fair and balanced coverage.

But, to its credit, Fox often combines its attitude with good old-fashioned breaking news work -- the kind that made CNN its name during Gulf War I. Last Saturday, a channel-surf of Fox and CNN yielded something telling. The Hamas leader had been assassinated, and the body of missing student Dru Sjodin was found. Over on CNN, a Paula Zahn magazine show featured a documentary about the life of Christopher Reeve. The news-junkie in me yelled at the screen -- and I turned to Fox News. Fox nimbly switched from one story to another, giving expert analysis and live video from both locations. An agenda was also quite apparent. On the Hamas story, there was talk of "wiping a terrorist leader from the face of the Earth." As for the case of the missing girl, the Fox anchor seemed most concerned about whether the feds were getting involved so the suspect could be eligible for the death penalty. Once he got word that the feds were on the scene, he practically sighed in relief. His subtext: Don't worry, people, this guy at least has a chance of getting fried -- something we at Fox wholeheartedly endorse.

It's impossible to understand Fox's rise to ratings glory outside of the context of CNN's crash and burn. After the first Persian Gulf War, when the Boys of Baghdad thrilled America with their gutsy war reporting, CNN's ratings -- and reputation -- soared. But Collins shows that CNN's troubles began when the bombing stopped. After the made-for-TV war, news became less exciting. Ted Turner's slogan early on was "news is the star," Collins writes. But not all the news is fit to be the star, it turns out, when you're out for ratings. Collins describes CNN adrift after the mid-1990s. The deeply controversial 1998 Tailwind report about the U.S. government allegedly authorizing a chemical attack on American defectors in Laos during the Vietnam War -- which CNN retracted -- was a tremendous embarrassment. The incident so disturbed Turner that he said at the time: "If committing suicide would help, I've even given that some consideration." Tailwind also fed conservative anger that the Communist News Network had taken another hit out on the U.S. government. Ted Turner's CNN became one more target for conservative conspiracy theorists looking for a liberal cabal in their remote controls.

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