Hmmm...the last time I checked, being found GUILTY of four out of five counts of perjury and/or obstruction of justice is, by it's very essence, the opposite of being found "NOT GUILTY". Then again, there are always two sides to every story, so even though most news channels reported that Scooter Libby was found guilty, it's perfectly normal for Fox News to report the opposite...oh wait, did I say 'normal'? I meant to say completely irresponsible, unprofessional, and simply despicable.By the way...is there irony to be found in the fact that Fox News lied about whether someone was found guilty or not guilty of lying? So many lies...my head hurts.
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And the other side of the story is that technically the headline is true. The one count that he was found not guilty of was making false statements to the FBI. Granted, he was found guilty of the other count of lying to the FBI but while FOX NEWS wrote a headline that indicated something to people who may not have followed the trial closely, it is true. Many Americans still think he was found guilty of leaking Plame's name when in fact he wasn't even on trial for that.
As quoted from the NYT on 3/6/07--
"The jury rejected Mr. Libby’s claims of memory lapses as it convicted him of four felony counts: obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and committing perjury twice before the grand jury. The 11-member jury acquitted Mr. Libby on an additional count of making false statements to the F.B.I."
I think you just proved my point.
Your explanation of the details is accurate, which makes Fox News posting the short phrase "Scooter Libby Found Not Guilty of Lying To FBI Investigators" extremely misleading (and clearly purposeful so, as they've done this so many times in the past). Considering Libby was both found guilty of the one count of lying to the FBI and found not guilty of the other count (to the TIME reporter) AND was also found guilty of three other counts relating to those lies, then it's simply misleading and irresponsible to have a cursory viewer flip the channel and see that Libby was "found not guilty of lying to FBI investigators".
Just because something is technically true doesn't mean it's accurate, and it certainly doesn't represent responsible journalism. It's basically about representing a story accurately and truthfully vs. fudging the details and cherry picking information to aggressively slant the way the story comes across...Fox News has become experts in the latter technique.
But programs assume people do not flip through them. So a cursory view is not what they are writing the byline for. All that was shown was a screen shot. It is quite posisble that as the verdict on each count was read, the byline changed. Only thing is what is shown is not the entire video. If Huffington posts the entire video of the reading of the verdict it could be more revealing. Isn't it quite possible that the source of this screen shot neglected to post the other relevant ones? If this is the case, I believe that the misleading, inaccurate posting actually began with your sources reporting. Just saying......
That's a very valid point, and I'd definitely like to see the video broadcast to see what came before and after that headline.
I still maintain, though, that even in it's singularity, putting the headline "Scooter Libby Found Not Guilty of Lying to FBI Investigators" is excessively misleading. To express the one count in which Libby was acquitted, other news sources posted headings like "Libby Acquitted on One Count of Lying to FBI" or "Libby Found Not Guilty of Charge That He Lied about TIME Magazine Conversation", which expresses a clear, detailed reference to that ONE count and doesn't ambiguously imply that Libby was found not guilty of ALL his lie-related charges with the FBI investigators.
And again, I'd be more willing to give Fox News the benefit of the doubt but, much like the Bush Administration, they've squandered most of their credibility with numerous past offenses.
Technically it is not a lie, because Brit Hume has his fingers crossed under the desk.
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