Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Fisher Communications: Fox Noise of the Northwest

Scott Moore at Blogtown PDX, the blog of The Portland Mercury, notices a horrific example of contaminated journalism:
On last night’s late news, KATU (whose building I can see through my window right now) aired the most horrifyingly asinine segment I’ve ever seen on a television news show.

Called “Hummer Vs. Hybrid,” the piece profiled Art Spinella of Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research, who put out a report last year claiming that Hummers (as in the paramilitary SUVs) are better for the environment than hybrid cars. Spinella, who, BTW, makes a living doing market research for automobile companies, allegedly looked at the full cycle of development for both vehicles, including manufacturing, research & development, how far employees had to drive to get to the factory (!), etc. Only problem: CNW won’t divulge its research methodology, so it’s not peer-reviewed, or even verifiable.
KATU is owned, of course, by Fisher Communications, the same outfit that owns KVI (and KOMO, which airs an uncritical report on Tim Eyman every now and then). I certainly remember KATU being the worst of the Portland television stations during the recount in 2004-2005.

I distinctly remember they were the only Portland station gullible enough to promote the GOP "felon voters" meme, going so far as to ambush a couple of three hapless souls in Clark County who the GOP claimed were not entitled to vote. KATU really had to go out of their way to be asinine with that one. But Hummers as environmentally friendly? Even Fox Noise wouldn't try to sell that.

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