] Brit Hume is the Fox anchor who helped orchestrate the ] Republican-led 39-hour Senate talk-a-thon intended to ] counter the Democratic filibuster against four of ] President Bush's most radically conservative judicial ] nominees. ] Hume and fellow anchor Tony Snow pitched the idea ] outright to Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist on Fox ] News Sunday, challenging the Senator's repeated ] contention that an all-night protest session would be ] counterproductive. Two weeks later, the two-day marathon ] session was announced. ] Having successfully prodded Frist to hold the all-night ] session, Hume sought special coverage of the event. ] According to a leaked email, a producer for Hume's ] evening news show, Special Report with Brit Hume, worked ] directly with a staffer for Senator Frist, in an effort ] to choreograph the launch of the Republican protest as a ] "live opening shot" for Hume's November 12 newscast. As ] reported in The Hill, the leaked memo read: ] "It is important to double efforts to get your boss ] to S-230 on time ... Fox News Channel is really excited ] about this marathon and Brit Hume at 6 would love to open ] with all our 51 senators walking onto the floor -- the ] producer wants to know will we walk in exactly at 6:02 ] when the show starts so they get it live to open Brit ] Hume's show? Or if not, can we give them an exact time ] for the walk-in start?" ] Hume's behavior in this incident shatters any illusion of ] 'fair and balanced' journalism. Worse, it evidences an ] effort to orchestrate PR coups for Bush Republicans. Wow. I didn't realize it was this bad. I read this in a thread discussing how the National Press FOundation should not honor Brit Hume as its Broadcaster of the Year. Worth checking out. MoveOn.org: Media Corps: Award to Fox anchor prompts outrage |