Politics

Fox News' Fear Mongering

By Anne Landman

Fox News Channel turned a brief investigation of a flashlight found on the Brooklyn Bridge into a potential terrorist attack by the Pakistani Taliban, and then later dismissed the whole affair as though it didn't happen. A pedestrian walking on the bridge had notified police about seeing a flashlight with copper wires sticking out of it lying on the bridge. The bridge is currently undergoing renovation, which could potentially explain construction equipment lying around. Police briefly shut down traffic on the bridge in both directions to investigate, and found the suspicious flashlight was just a flashlight. In the middle of their TV news coverage about the incident, though, the Fox News anchor mentioned a report that the Pakistani Taliban "wants to carry out an attack" against the U.S. "because the Times Square attack failed," and pointed out that the Brooklyn Bridge is an important New York landmark. Later that afternoon, Fox News announced that part of the basis for its alarming story -- the report that a Pakistani Taliban agent was getting ready to strike from inside the U.S -- was false.

Full post as published by PR Watch on October 18, 2010 (boomark / email).