It's hard to understand what Fox, or in this case, Faux News had in mind with the full page ad that ran in the Washington Post Friday, as well as in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, both owned by Fox's parent company. The ad falsely claimed that other major media outlets did not cover the 9/12 "tea party" in Washington, D.C. last Saturday.

Over photos of protesters, the ad asked: "How Did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN Miss This Story?"

Well, they didn't. And the networks mentioned above made sure to protest themselves, against this blatant lie. They all issued statements and details about the extent of their coverage. CNN was the most vociferous.

CNN’s Rick Sanchez said:

“I usually don’t suffer fools gladly. Especially when it comes to the fools who perpetuate falsehoods. Well, today thousands of you flipped through the pages of the Washington Post, only to come up a lie so bold and so upsetting that frankly I’m just not going to sit here in silence and allow my craft or my news operation to be unfairly maligned.

“Enough is enough. And yes, I’m talking to you, Fox News. You, who claim to be fair and balanced. At what, I wonder? … They are saying we did not cover this story. They are using a lie to try and divide people into camps. … That’s an offense to myself and my colleagues, who risked their lives in Iran and Afghanistan and around the world to bring the news."

Sanchez then showed clips of the CNN coverage, and added:

“Here’s the fact,” Sanchez summed up. “We do cover the news, and we did extensively cover this event. We didn’t promote the event. That’s not what real news organizations are supposed to do. … ‘Cover’ is kind of like a ‘fair and balanced’ way of doing things. You get it? You might want to look into that.”

“Let me address the Fox News Network now,” concluded Sanchez, “perhaps the most current way that I can — by quoting somebody who recently used a very pithy phrase. Two words, that’s all I need. ‘You lie.’”

Watch the video:

Originally on SNAFU-ed