Premier New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman attacked the Fox News Channel on Thursday, comparing the top-rated cable news network to the pro-terrorist Al Jazeera broadcasting company.
Using a recent speech by Vice President Dick Cheney to argue that the Bush administration is too narrow-minded in its handling of postwar Iraq, Friedman complained, "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein issue messages from their caves through Al Jazeera, and Mr. Cheney issues messages from his bunker through Fox."
"Out of fairness, my newspaper feels obligated [to cover the Cheney speech]," the top Times columnist wrote. "But I wish we would have said to the V.P.: If you're going to give a major speech on Iraq to an audience that's limited to your own supporters and not allow any questions, that's not news."
Friedman's suggestion that Fox News is the White House's Al Jazeera network is particularly odd, since Fox broke the story that nearly cost President Bush the 2000 election - the notorious 1976 DUI episode.
Fox's owner, NewsCorp Chairman Rupert Murdoch, supported Al Gore in the 2000 election and contributed $50,000 to the Gore campaign.
Friedman's slap at Fox's credibility comes despite the fact that earlier this year, his paper admitted to publishing stories by a journalist known to have repeatedly fabricated previous reports for the Times.
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