FOX NEWS MIXES BLACK CONGRESSMEN; APOLOGIZES FOR GAFFE

FOX NEWS MIXES BLACK CONGRESSMEN; APOLOGIZES FOR GAFFE

Fox News Channel on Tuesday apologized to Michigan Congressman John Conyers for showing his picture during a report about the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson on bribery charges. Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, rejected the apology, saying, "Fox News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair nor balanced." The Virginia-based al-Hurra satellite television network that is financed by Congress and beams to the Arab world may be subject to an independent review following reports that it has routinely aired broadcasts that include denunciations of Israel or Jews. The station, which reportedly receives $62 million in funding annually (plus an additional $40 million for a station that targets Iraq), was reportedly set up as an alternative to the principal Arab news channel al-Jazeera, which has frequently been attacked by U.S. politicians as sympathetic to Arab militants. But the Associated Press reported Tuesday that al-Hurra has aired programs that have included a lengthy speech by Hezbolla leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian prime minister -- and Hamas leader -- Ismail Haniya -- and referred to the founding of Israel in 1948 as "the catastrophe."

06/06/2007