# "Gotcha ya!" video from the conservative noise machine seeks to make NPR look bad **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 8, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960 "2011-03-08T19:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/281 "2011-03-15T23:05:26Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Seems to me that he said that FoxNews is bad… but in this case, they’re not quite as bad. > > Or does it serve your purpose to misinterpret **Blalron** ’s statement? No, I got it right. He provided a “[just so](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story)” story that can be used as a sliding scale whenever it’s convenient. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/282 "2011-03-15T23:15:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No, I got it right. He provided a “[just so](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story)” story that can be used as a sliding scale whenever it’s convenient. No, his point was that since the story as reported by Fox fails to portray a typical target of negative commentary from Fox in a negative light, he sees no reason to suspect them of deliberate spin. Fairly valid argument, but a stronger one would be that the full tape is what it is; Fox merely points out the obvious in providing fuller context of Schiller’s comments. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/283 "2011-03-16T01:01:00Z")
Probably a move from the Palinistas to undercut the power of the Huckiviks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/284 "2011-03-16T01:22:50Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > No, his point was that since the story as reported by Fox fails to portray a typical target of negative commentary from Fox in a negative light, he sees no reason to suspect them of deliberate spin. What’s with all those negatives? The point is that they affirmative portray a typical target in a positive light. It’s a “sin” of commission, not omission, as you claim. > [@](#): > > Fairly valid argument, but a stronger one would be that the full tape is what it is; Fox merely points out the obvious in providing fuller context of Schiller’s comments. No. You could ask this question every time Fox doesn’t make an effort to exonerate a “typical target”. It’s a just so story because there is no differentiating reason in this case for them to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/285 "2011-03-16T01:34:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And how does that apply to this situation? Because it goes against their desired narrative that NPR has a "liberal bias. (for the record, it does not). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/286 "2011-03-16T01:36:30Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, I get it now. FoxNews is bad, except in those instances when it servers your purpose for them not to be bad. Thanks for straightening that out! Fox News is unreliable and heavily biased, therefore they are unlikely to invent things which do not serve their interests. You know these things, so why are you arguing about it? ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/287 "2011-03-16T01:39:15Z")
**John** , I thought your question, paraphrased, was “Why are you accepting Fox’s story as valid this time when you generally sneer at them as a biased source?” So the logic in **Blalron** ’s answer is that despite the well known Fox bias against liberal institutions, they’ve criticized an attempted hit job against one of those liberal institutions. So there’s no reason to believe their bias is at work in their reporting of this story. If, on the other hand, they’d just not “made an effort to exonerate” a hated liberal target of a hatchet job, that would just be business as usual for Fox, and **Blalron** would’ve had to analyze the full tape of the interview on his own, I guess. Don’t see what your “gotcha” is all about. Do you feel Fox is not biased, or is it that you feel _liberals_ can’t honestly evaluate Fox’ bias? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960/288 "2011-03-16T01:48:44Z")
**John** , one reason Fox may have made an effort analyze O’Keefe’s tapes this time is because they know that his credibility is pretty much worthless anymore and they weren’t comfortable about hitching onto him again without knowing what other shoe was going to drop. He burned them with the faked ACORN tapes already, and he did further damage to his credibility by becoming a felon and a would be sexual predator in the course of trying to fabricate other stories. Even Breitbart has cut himself loose from O’Keefe now, and Fox has to make some effort to cover its ass and maintain some kind of minimal credibility and deniability. They may _want_ to believe O’Keefe, but they know they can’t. Maybe they’ve learned from the humiliation of airing the phonied up ACORN videos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gotcha-ya-video-from-the-conservative-noise-machine-seeks-to-make-npr-look-bad/573960.md?page=14)