Fox Staff In Hot Water Over Video Switch

In a story about Sarah Palin's book tour, Fox News ran video of Palin at a 2008 campaign appearance, leading viewers to believe that a massive crowd was on hand. This is second such "mistake" by Fox in a week, leading network honchos to claim that staffers will be disciplined.

The unwelcome mishap follows soon on the heels of another FOX Pas - when the network's Sean Hannity ran video of a hugely attended TEA Party protest rally in Washington in September as Hannity was talking about a less-attended Nov. 4 rally outside the Capitol. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart called out Hannity on that video, and Hannity apologized, on air, for what he called an "inadvertent'' error. Hannity has a book-tour interview of Palin on his show tonight, and we're betting Stewart's Daily Show crew will be watching. So, as you might suspect, the No. 1-rated cable news network is taking today's mixing of videos quite seriously; How seriously? The Swamp hears tonight that it's highly like that serious disciplinary action will be taken for those responsible behind the scenes in the control room. News executives there consider this to have been a sloppy and unnecessary error.

(Tipped by JMG reader Todd)