Jon Stewart recently made a historic appearance on FOX News Sunday, hosted by Chris Wallace. Stewart had previously been invited to the show by Wallace, who had appeared on The Daily Show multiple times. During the episode, the two discussed a series of emails leaked to Media Matters for America from FOX News executive Bill Sammons. The emails revealed that FOX News had deliberately slanted their coverage of the news. Shockingly, the sequence was completely omitted from the version of the programme aired to FOX viewers.
This incident highlights the lack of fairness and balance in FOX News’ reporting. A full transcript of the episode can be found below, thanks to the diligent work of Media Matters for America.
Transcript of exchange (THOSE ITEMS AWKWARDLY LEFT OUT ARE IN ALL CAPS AND BOLD):
STEWART: You can’t understand because of the world you live in that there is not a designed ideological agenda on my part to affect partisan change because that’s the soup you swim in. And I appreciate that. And I understand that. It reminds me of, you know — you know, in ideological regimes, they can’t understand that there is free media other places. Because they receive marching orders. AND IF YOU WANT ME TO GO THROUGH BILL SAMMON’S EMAILS AND –
WALLACE: DO YOU THINK I’VE EVER – How do you explain me?
STEWART: OH I THINK YOU DO A NICE JOB. AND I’VE TOLD YOU THAT ON THE SHOW. I THINK YOU’RE ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING –
WALLACE: Do you think I get marching orders?
STEWART: I think that you are here in some respects to bring a credibility and an integrity to an organization that might not otherwise have it, without your presence. So, you are here as a counterweight to Hannity, let’s say, or you are here as a counterweight to Glenn Beck, because otherwise, it’s just pure talk radio and it doesn’t establish the type of political player it wants to be.
The Daily Show recently aired an edited version of a pre-taped interview with host Jon Stewart. While the full interview was 24 minutes, the aired version was only 15 minutes. This raises questions about the decision to excise a five-second reference to Bill Sammon, a FOX News executive and the boss of the DC bureau where Fox News Sunday is produced. This omission appears to fit a pattern of the network avoiding questions about the controversial Sammon, while publicly touting the credentials of the news bureau he manages.
