Big Shock: Fox News Petraeus coverage slanted to the right

Fox News' Petraeus coverage commentary not fair, not balanced Summary: During Fox News' coverage of congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET on September 10, the channel presented commentary from only one Democrat or progressive: Rep. Bob Wexler (D-FL), who appeared opposite Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN). The other seven people appearing on Fox to provide commentary consisted of two conservative pundits (columnist Ann Coulter and former Sen. Rick Santorum [R-PA]), two former public officials who praised Petraeus (former Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor and former CIA agent Mike Baker), Iraq war veteran Marco Martinez (who wrote a September 7 USA Today op-ed critical of Democrats who purportedly "view success in Iraq as an electoral problem"), Fox News defense analyst retired Gen. Bob Scales, and Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei. In the 4 p.m. ET hour, Neil Cavuto, host of Your World with Neil Cavuto, said he would bring in Democratic strategist Julian Epstein to offer commentary, but then said that technical difficulties prevented Epstein from appearing. Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum, Shepard Smith, Cavuto, and John Gibson, Fox News national correspondent Catherine Herridge, and Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin also appeared during the coverage of the testimony. During the 5 p.m. ET hour, Gibson broke away from Iraq coverage for four-and-a-half minutes to discuss the missing child Madeleine McCann with Sunday Times correspondent Sarah Baxter and former Los Angeles Police Department detective and Fox News contributor Mark Fuhrman. A summary of those discussing the Petraeus testimony on Fox News while the testimony was being aired on the afternoon of September 10 follows: Persons discussing Petraeus' testimony on Fox News (9/10, 12:30-6 p.m. ET) Liberals/ Progressives Republicans / conservatives/ pro-Petraeus guests Fox News anchors & reporters Other journalists Defense analysts Rep. Bob Wexler former Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) Columnist Ann Coulter Iraq war veteran Marco Martinez former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) former CIA agent Mike Baker Martha MacCallum Catherine Herridge Jennifer Griffin Shepard Smith Neil Cavuto John Gibson Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei Retired Gen. Bob Scales As the blog News Hounds noted, after Coulter and Martinez spoke on Your World, Cavuto said, "I want to bring Julian Epstein into this. He's a Democratic strategist of some renown. Ann Coulter is here as well to talk about it. I think we're not quite set up with Julian." Cavuto continued his dialogue with Coulter for more than two minutes. Coverage then returned to live video from the testimony without any image or sound from Epstein. As News Hounds also noted, during Cavuto's conversation with Coulter, Coulter said: "[T]o ... hear what's actually going on, you suddenly realize how completely treasonous the media is, and the Democrats -- they want us to lose. They hate the troops." In his USA Today op-ed, Martinez distorted remarks by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC). Martinez claimed that Clyburn said "progress with the surge might create a 'real big problem for us' in moving toward withdrawal." Martinez added: "Knowing that a politician might view success in Iraq as an electoral problem is political zealotry in the extreme. Does Clyburn's remark, though his alone, reflect a growing anxiety among Democrats that success in Iraq might complicate plans for ending the war?" In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted when other conservatives distorted Clyburn's remark, the full context of the washingtonpost.com interview in which Clyburn made the remark shows that he did not say that good news from Iraq is bad news for Democrats; rather, he said that a recommendation from Petraeus against "back[ing] away" from the current course in Iraq would impede Democrats' efforts to garner support in Congress for legislation to begin withdrawal. From the September 10 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto: COULTER: We've -- just in Anbar province alone, I believe, we've killed 100 Al Qaeda, just since the beginning of the surge. And meanwhile, our combat deaths have gone down by half since we've taken the fight to the enemy. I mean -- now that -- to act -- hear what's actually going on, you suddenly realize how completely treasonous the mainstream media is, and the Democrats -- they want us to lose. They hate the troops. They think the troops are a bunch of illiterate, toothless rapists, from what I can tell from reading the media on a daily basis. [...] MARTINEZ: I do believe that we need more troops on the ground in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And as you can see, the surge is working. And -- and it's actually been very good for us to have those 30,000 troops in Iraq. As you can see, it's -- it's created results in our favor. CAVUTO: All right, Sergeant, I want to thank you again for joining us but more for your service to the country. Thank you, sir. MARTINEZ: Thank you for having me. CAVUTO: All right, well, you might have heard one or two congressmen referring to this MoveOn.org -- that was a front -- not a front-page but a full-page ad in today's New York Times, among other major newspapers, where it essentially accused the general you're looking at right now [Petraeus] of being a liar and betraying the facts. I want to bring Julian Epstein into this. He's a Democratic strategist of some renown. Ann Coulter is here as well to talk a little bit about it. I think we're not quite set up with Julian, but, Ann, this ad and the fact that so many are quoting it and saying, "Look, don't trust the guy who is still perpetuating a bad war." How does it resonate? COULTER: It's just part of the same treason the Democrats have been promoting from the beginning. From the September 10 edition of Fox News' Big Story with John Gibson: BAKER: And, in all honesty, not to beat the drum on behalf of General Petraeus, because he himself knows the seriousness of this problem, but he's presented a very, very down-to-Earth report, and I think it's -- it's -- there's some magnificent spin going on right know to try to color it as -- as the White House version of this.