I swear I saw an article either yesterday or today which quoted a Fox news rep. saying that it was their constitutional right to basically make things up and report on it, but I can’t for the life of me find anything about it now. Was I just dreaming this or did it, in fact, happen? And if so, why isn’t this bigger news than it is?
Here. Basically, Florida (go figure) courts declared that “news” shows are not obligated to be truthful. They can just make it up as they go along.
And they do.
Can someone remind me which country I am in? 
As a journalist I have a sudden urge to move to America. I wouldn’t have to research stories, I could just make them up. 
http://skepdic.com/essays/superbowl.html
On January 18, 1993, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) reported that “Super Bowl Sunday is also one of the worst days of the year for violence against women in the home.”
At a news conference on January 27,
(emphasis added.)
Also see http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/superbowl.asp.
Recently the AP reported that “thousands booed” at a Bush rally when he wished Clinton good luck on his bypass surgery. The only problem was that that wasn’t true. On one newspaper’s audio there were no boos. On another audio (which someone claimed was from the aforesaid Fox), there were some sounds for the first second or less that may have been boos. That still isn’t “thousands”. AP removed all the stories with that false report, including those already in Lexis-Nexis.
I remember a CNN report on a “health” program that seriously considered past-life regression “therapy” as a useful treatment for some psychological problems.
It’s stuff like this that made me realize no source can be completely trusted. Sorry if that’s a revelation to you.
I wish that journalists had a professional organization with a code duello. I’d take out a bunch of people real damn quick