"Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie Shoot Down Fox News' Jesse Watters At Oscars" (with video)

HuffPo with video (05:29):

Bill O'Reilly sent his notorious ambusher/producer Jesse Watters to the Oscars on Sunday, and Watters, rather predictably, was met with a hostile reception from some of the celebrities on the red carpet.

Angelina Jolie (an object of O'Reilly's concern), on being asked to opine about the state of the union, cooly shot Waters down, saying, "that's a longer discussion than the red carpet."

George Clooney had a fairly cordial discussion with Watters, but snapped at him when he asked if "Obama" was doing a good job.

"Yes, he is," he said. "He's the president of the United States. He's not Obama, he's the President of the United States."

The biggest rejection, though, happened offscreen, as Watters recounted to O'Reilly on Monday. When he approached Cameron Diaz, she saw his Fox News mic and said, "'Oh no, I don't do Fox News.'" Ouch!

(h/t TVNewser)

Howie P.S.: This concludes our coverage of the 2012 Oscars.

"Exclusive: Occupy Wall Street Activist Slams Fox News Producer In Un-Aired Interview" (with video)

The New York Observer with video (02:52):

The speaker giving Fox News the buisness is Jesse LaGreca, a vocal member of the Occupy Wall Street protests. This video comes courtesy of Kyle Christopher from OccupyWallSt.org‘s media team.

Now, no news organization is under obligation to air every interview they’ve filmed, especially when it makes them look bad. But you’d think that a “Fair and Balanced” network (that tells an interviewee that they are here to give them fair coverage to get any message they’d like to get out) would try to include at least a couple of opposing viewpoints to Mr. Shulz’s smarmy jokes or O’Reilly’s “infiltration” of the camp.

The ball is in your court, Fox.

SNL Bashes Fox & Friends: ‘Coffee, Smiles, Fear And Terror’ (with video)

MEDIAite, with video (04:38):

SNL’s Fox & Friends had a lot of intelligent commentary on the government near-shutdown this weekend. To begin, they noted (in)correctly that it was the first time in our nation’s history that a budget showdown had almost resulted in the shuttering of the federal government. To be fair, there were some government programs they weren’t too broken up about getting rid of, Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative among them. Vanessa Bayer’s Gretchen Carlson noted that if American kids get too skinny, all the film and television roles for chubby kids will go to the Mexicans. ¡Qué lástima!

For additional commentary, Helen Mirren as Sandy, President of the Eagle Coalition Fireworks Emporium, weighed in from Yuma, Arizona, on the “border war.” Sandy dropped the bombshell on us that all those border warriers south of the border are reportedly poaching pregnant American women to increase the number of Mexican citizens.

Howie P.S.: Helen Mirren is priceless.

What is Wrong With This Picture?

SNL Mocks FAUX News (video)

SNL (NBC), video (04:28):

Greta Van Susteren hosts a roundtable that truly embodies balanced political views.

"Jon Stewart Changes Fox News 9/11 Responders Bill Opinion" (video)

The Young Turks, video (08:47):

Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) explains how Jon Stewart of The Daily Show changed Fox News coverage of a bill to help 9/11 first responders.

FAUX Makes Into the Front Row @WH Press Briefing Room

March 2009 Seating Chart for White House Press Corp

Steve Benen:

To be sure, this isn't exactly important news, and squabbling over seating assignments seems pretty silly for adults. But if there's a disappointment here, it's that Fox News is being treated as a legitimate, professional journalistic enterprise, and it shouldn't be. It will join a front-row with credible media powerhouses -- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Reuters, and AP -- producing a rather powerful "one of these things is not like the other" moment.

Fox News is a propaganda outlet, a detail everyone seems to know, but which is apparently impolite to say out loud. The network's proponents will likely argue a front-row seat is warranted because Fox News has a lot of viewers. Perhaps. But Milli Vanilli sold a lot of records, and success didn't make them legitimate recording artists.
MORE...

Howie P.S.: "Important news," or not? In other Beltway news, Taegan Goddard asks whether the U.S. Senate really is "The World's Greatest Deliberative Body?" as he quotes from a New Yorker piece by George Packer that "sketched a portrait of the contemporary senator who is too busy to think." Meanwhile, I continue my obsession with Paris while John Aravosis continues his annual house-sitting summer vacation there.

"Howard Dean Fires Back At Fox News’ Response To Racism Accusation" (with audio)

MEDIAite with audio from The Young Turks (04:46):

Former Governor Howard Dean drew a characteristic rebuke from Fox News’ Michael Clemente when he accused the network of “absolutely racist” coverage of the Shirley Sherrod story. Clemente called Dean a “failed candidate” who “blame(s) Fox for almost anything.”

Speaking to Dylan Ratigan fill-in and Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, Dean stood by his comments, and dismissed Clemente’s criticism, while Cenk noted the long roster of “failed candidates” who populate Fox’s air. (h/t Aaron Wysocki)

I also thought it was interesting that a network with Sarah Palin as a contributor would describe an opponent as a “failed candidate,” especially when you consider that Dean was the architect of the 50 state strategy that helped to defeat Palin’s vice-presidential bid. Also, Dean did finish his full term as governor. Actually, he finished five full terms.

I don’t think the fact that Shirley Sherrod resigned before Fox News ever aired the story factors into Dean’s criticism, which was of the way Fox personalities like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity covered the story. As Steve Krakauer pointed out, CNN reported on the edited tape Monday night, too, but none with the gusto of Fox’s opinion shows.

Dean’s argument doesn’t rest on the Shirley Sherrod story alone, either. Whether or not you agree with Dean that there’s a pattern of racism, it is upon this foundation that Dean’s argument rests, and not simply whether Fox had a hand in Sherrod’s resignation.

Updated with video: "Howard Dean Calls Fox News 'Absolutely Racist' For Handling Of Shirley Sherrod Controversy"

UPDATE: As promised, scroll down for video (07:19).

HuffPo:

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean took direct aim at Fox News for it's involvement in the Shirley Sherrod racism flap, calling their coverage "absolutely racist."

Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, offered his candid assessment in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" in which he criticized the cable network for being complicit in the controversy.

"Fox News did something that was absolutely racist," Dean said. "They had an obligation to find out what was really in the clip. They had been pushing a theme of black racism with this phony Black Panther crap and this business and this Sotomayor and all this other stuff." MORE...

Howie P.S.: Certainly not a startling revelation, but I can't help having admiration for Howard's "direct aim." Rest assured that if I ever locate this video, it will appear here.

Maddow on FAUX on Sherrod: "Omission Accomplished" (with video)

aafagh, with video from MSNBC-Rachel Maddow, (07:35).

Howie P.S.: H/t to the amazing Darryl. For historians present and future, MediaMatters has the "Timeline of Breitbart's Sherrod smear."

Ed Schultz: "The White House Just Can't Stand Up To Fox News, Can They?" (video)

MSNBC-Ed Schultz, video (13:07).

Howie P.S.: Here's a shorter version that ED delivered last night @ NN10, video (02:03), and the story from TPM, "Ed Schultz Slams White House As Afraid Of Fox News."
Obama was interviewed on ABC: "Obama Reflects On Race After Shirley Sherrod Flap: 'We All Have Our Own Biases' (VIDEO)." The Daily Beast has "Sherrod's Brilliant Media Play:"

How an unknown government official regained control of a runaway narrative, and forced apologies from Bill O’Reilly and Barack Obama, by telling the truth.

"CNN Covers Obama-Fox News War" (with video)

Net Movement, with video (06:22):

On CNN Headline News, Joy Behar interviews NPR's Peter Sagal, The Nation's Ari Melber and Politico's Nia-Malika Henderson about the war of words between Fox News and President Obama. Excerpt:
BEHAR: Didn't Bush look really bad when he sent Helen Thomas to the back of the room? That was bad.
SAGAL: Bad to whom? I mean this may be one of these issues where the average person in America could care less... it's been going on forever...
MELBER: And Helen Thomas was asking hard questions about our foreign policy. Glenn Beck is asking stupid questions about birth certificates.So there's a difference in whether we're talking about icing out people doing real journalism, or people who are just screaming at The President and stoking -- in Glenn Beck's case, again -- racial hatred, which is wrong...

"New White House Line Against Fox: It's War" (with video)

Ari Melber (The Nation) with video from tpmtv (01:07):

The White House's battle with Fox News reached a new high on Sunday, when Communications Director Anita Dunn went on national television to blast Fox as a partisan organization that functions as an appendage to the Republican Party.

"Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," Dunn told CNN, adding, "let's not pretend [Fox is] a news organization like CNN is." Dunn also took her beef to The New York Times, saying in a Sunday interview that Fox is "undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House [and] we don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

In the most significant exchange on CNN, Dunn stressed that President Obama now personally views Fox as a partisan opponent, rather than a journalistic organization. "When he goes on Fox he understands he is not going on it as a news network at this point," she explained, "he is going on it to debate the opposition."

That's a big departure from how most of the Democratic establishment engages Fox. It's been a long time coming.

While rank and file Democrats view Fox News as an obviously hostile force, elected Democrats have long struggled over whether to engage or fight the channel. In fact, the Democratic establishment even agreed to empower Fox as an official host and moderator of a debate during the presidential primaries -- but that bit of self-handicapping was scuttled after a coalition of progressive bloggers and activists objected. By the homestretch of the presidential campaign, Obama's campaign dialed up the heat, aggressively confronting Fox with pointed barbs from senior staff, surrogates and sometimes the candidate. (And who can forget Robert Gibbs turning the tables on Sean Hannity on Fox last October?)

When campaign mode ended, however, the Obama team initially struggled with how to counter Fox from inside the White House. There was a wave of Obama-resentment for Fox to ride -- and sometimes stoke off-camera -- and presidents typically stay above the fray of media criticism.

Dunn's new pressure is part of a larger "call em out" strategy, recently telegraphed in Time magazine, to attack lies as "lies" and treat Fox as a place for rough debate with opponents -- not journalistic exchanges.

Gibbs says playing hardball will work, and he likens it to, well, hardball: "The only way to get somebody to stop crowding the plate is to throw a fastball at them. They move."

FAUX News "covers" the tea parties (video)

Think Progress, video (03:36).

Howie P.S.: Think Progress titles this video "FBN Promotes Tea Parties Minutes After Denying It Promoted Tea Parties."