FOX NEWS TO AIR SPOT FROM LIBERAL WEBSITE

Fox News has agreed to run an ad from the liberal website Media Matters, decrying the $1 million that the news network’s corporate parent, News Corp, donated to the Republican Governors Association, Politico.com reported on Tuesday. The 30-second ad will air during The O’Reilly Factor, whose host, Bill O’Reilly, once described Media Matters as “perhaps the most dishonest enterprise in the country.” Politico quoted a Fox News spokesperson as saying, “If Media Matters can come up with the money, we’ll take the ad.” (Politico suggested that the website might be having difficulty raising the $35,000 to pay for the spot.) Two earlier versions were rejected by Fox, one of which began: “A special message that Fox News’ primetime hosts refuse to tell you, brought to you by Media Matters for America.” Paul Rittenberg, head of ad sales for Fox News, told the Mediaite website that the spot was rejected because it made “false claims” about the network’s on-air talent. The final wording: “A special message about a story that’s not yet been covered on Fox News primetime.”