Bill Sammon

Last updated

Bill Sammon is a former managing editor and vice president for Fox News, as well as an author and newspaper columnist. He had previously worked as White House correspondent for The Washington Times and the Washington Examiner before joining Fox News in August 2008. [1]

Contents

Personal life

A graduate of Saint Ignatius High School, in Cleveland, Ohio, and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Sammon lives in Maryland with his wife, Becky, and their five children. [2] He is 6 feet 7 inches tall and was reportedly nicknamed "Big Stretch" or "Superstretch" by President George W. Bush. [3]

Career

Sammon authored four New York Times bestsellers: At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election; Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism From Inside the White House; Misunderestimated: The President Battles Terrorism, Media Bias and the Bush Haters; and Strategery: How George W. Bush Is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media. These books have been largely derided as overtly favorable to President George W. Bush and his administration. Vanity Fair critic James Wolcott listed Strategery among other related books on Bush written by "faithful holdouts in Bush's pep squad [who] are happy to have endowed him with superpowers" as "hagiography mash notes whose toothy gleam of triumphalism was almost blinding". [4] Reporter David Weigel sarcastically referred to these books as "scathing critiques of presidential power". [5] The American Prospect wrote that Sammon "wrote an astonishing four books on the topic of Bush's super-awesomeness". [6]

He is a frequent guest on Fox News programs like Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Sunday, and Hannity & Colmes. On September 13, 2007, Sammon appeared on Special Report and argued that Theodore Olson should be confirmed as Attorney General.

On February 27, 2009, Sammon was promoted to vice president of Fox News and Washington managing editor.

In January 2021, Sammon announced he was retiring at the end of the month, with his position to be assumed by editorial staff members. On the night of the 2020 United States presidential election, Sammon had supervised the network's Decision Desk HQ, which had controversially declared Arizona for then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Sammon's departure, along with that of Chris Stirewalt, was seen as retaliatory in light of President Donald Trump's criticism of the network and subsequent decline in viewership. [7] It was subsequently reported that Murdoch suggested that it was "maybe best to let Bill go right away" as a "big message with Trump people". [8]

Controversy

Fox News memos

Media watchdog group Media Matters for America published memos allegedly written by Sammon while he was Washington managing editor at Fox News where he reminded recipients not to refer to the public option proposal in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by name, but instead use terms like "government-run health insurance" or to use various qualifiers. [9] The publication of the memos received attention from media observers. [10] [11] [12]

Another leaked memo showed Sammon had given orders for Fox News to characterize then-Senator Barack Obama as a socialist. Sammon said Obama's remarks were "tantamount to socialism", on-air and in a FoxNews.com column, while sending around a memo noting Obama's "references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists" in his 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father . [13] Some questions that were asked by Fox journalists were allegedly scripted by Sammon. [14] Sammon later explained the incident as a product of his "rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched". [13]

In 2009, during the Copenhagen Summit, Sammon instructed Fox News reporters to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question." [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox News</span> American conservative cable news channel

The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owned by the Fox Corporation. It is the most-watched cable news network in the U.S., and as of 2023 generates approximately 70% of its parent company's pre-tax profit. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Fox News provides a service to 86 countries and territories, with international broadcasts featuring Fox Extra segments during advertising breaks.

Joe Conason is an American journalist, author and liberal political commentator. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The National Memo, a daily political newsletter and website that features breaking news and commentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election</span> 56th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, this was only the second successful all-senator ticket since the 1960 election and is the only election where both major party nominees were sitting senators. This was the first election since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot, as well as the first election since 1928 in which neither ran for the nomination.

The word "strategery" was used in a Saturday Night Live sketch, written by James Downey, airing October 7, 2000, which satirized the performances of George W. Bush and Al Gore, two candidates for President of the United States, during the first presidential debate for election year 2000. Bush, played by Comedian Will Ferrell, when asked by a mock debate moderator to "sum up, in a single word, the best argument for his candidacy", replied "strategery", satirizing Bush's reputation for mispronouncing words. SNL later released the episode as part of a video tape titled Presidential Bash 2000.

<i>Outfoxed</i> 2004 documentary film

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism is a 2004 documentary film by filmmaker Robert Greenwald about Fox News Channel's and its owner's, Rupert Murdoch, promotion of conservative views. The film says this bias belies the channel's motto of being "Fair and Balanced".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byron York</span> American conservative (born 1955)

Byron York is an American conservative correspondent, pundit, columnist, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Morris</span> American political commentator and consultant (born 1948)

Richard Samuel Morris is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Blumenthal</span> American political writer

Sidney Stone Blumenthal is an American journalist, political operative, and Lincoln scholar. A former aide to President Bill Clinton, he is a long-time confidant of Hillary Clinton and was formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation. As a journalist, Blumenthal wrote about American politics and foreign policy. He is also the author of a multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln, The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln. Three books of the planned five-volume series have already been published: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel, and All the Powers of Earth. Subsequent volumes were planned for later.

Claims of media bias in the United States generally focus on the idea of media outlets reporting news in a way that seems partisan. Other claims argue that outlets sometimes sacrifice objectivity in pursuit of growth or profits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Bush</span> President of the United States from 2001 to 2009

George Walker Bush is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox News controversies</span> Allegations of bias at Fox News and other controversies

Fox News is an American basic cable and satellite television channel currently owned by Fox Corporation. Since its inception by Rupert Murdoch's original News Corporation in 1996, it has been the subject of several controversies and allegations.

Aaron Klein is an American-Israeli conservative political commentator, journalist, strategist, bestselling author, and senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He served as campaign manager for several of Netanyahu's election campaigns and chief strategist for Netanyahu's 2020 election campaign that resulted in a rotating unity government with Netanyahu at the helm and his 2022 campaign in which Netanyahu won a full-term. Klein was Netanyahu's full-time strategic advisor in government from 2020 to 2021, during the period Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel's 36th government and he serves as a strategic advisor to Netanyahu during Israel's 37th government.

Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, at national and state levels, of elections, politics, current events, consumer confidence, business topics, and the United States president's job approval ratings. Surveys by the company are conducted using a combination of automated public opinion polling involving pre-recorded telephone inquiries and an online survey. The company generates revenue by selling advertising and subscriptions to its polling survey data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Perino</span> American political commentator (born 1972)

Dana Marie Perino is an American political commentator and author who was the 26th White House Press Secretary, under President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007, to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White House Press Secretary, after Dee Dee Myers who served during the Clinton administration.

"Enhanced interrogation techniques" or "enhanced interrogation" was a program of systematic torture of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and various components of the U.S. Armed Forces at remote sites around the world—including Bagram, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and Bucharest—authorized by officials of the George W. Bush administration. Methods used included beating, binding in contorted stress positions, hooding, subjection to deafening noise, sleep disruption, sleep deprivation to the point of hallucination, deprivation of food, drink, and medical care for wounds, as well as waterboarding, walling, sexual humiliation, rape, sexual assault, subjection to extreme heat or extreme cold, and confinement in small coffin-like boxes. A Guantanamo inmate's drawings of some of these tortures, to which he himself was subjected, were published in The New York Times. Some of these techniques fall under the category known as "white room torture". Several detainees endured medically unnecessary "rectal rehydration", "rectal fluid resuscitation", and "rectal feeding". In addition to brutalizing detainees, there were threats to their families such as threats to harm children, and threats to sexually abuse or to cut the throat of detainees' mothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election in Wisconsin</span>

The 2008 United States presidential election in Wisconsin took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. State voters chose 10 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois Barack Obama, and his running mate U.S. Senator from Delaware Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Fox News</span>

The Fox News Channel (FNC) is an American basic cable and satellite news television channel that was founded by media mogul Rupert Murdoch in 1996. It competes as one of the top-three cable news networks in the United States, often leading its rivals MSNBC, and CNN.

The post-presidency of Bill Clinton began on January 20, 2001 following the end of Clinton's second term as president. Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. After he left office, he continued to be active in the public sphere, touring the world, writing books, and campaigning for Democrats, including his wife, Hillary Clinton, who served as the junior U.S. senator from New York between 2001 and 2009 and the 67th United States Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013, on her presidential campaigns in 2008, in which she was runner-up for the Democratic nomination, and in 2016, when she lost the election to Donald Trump. After Clinton left office, he ended up forming a close friendship with George H. W. Bush and later, with George W. Bush.

This bibliography of Barack Obama is a list of written and published works, both books and films, about Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.

Christopher W. Stirewalt is an American political analyst who is the politics editor for NewsNation and is a contributing editor for The Dispatch. Previously he had worked for the Fox News Channel, which he joined in July 2010. He authored and hosted Fox News Halftime Report newsletter and co-hosted the podcast Perino & Stirewalt: I'll Tell You What with Dana Perino.

References

  1. "Changes To FNC's DC Bureau". TV Newser . August 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008.
  2. Bill Sammon biodata
  3. Sammon, Bill (2006). Strategery: How George W. Bush is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. p. 3. ISBN   978-1-596-98036-5.
  4. Wolcott, James (January 14, 2008). "How Bush Stacks Up". Vanity Fair .
  5. Weigel, David (September 14, 2007). "Scoundrels, to Your Refuges!". Reason .
  6. Waldman, Paul (March 3, 2009). "Believe It or Not, He's Walking on Air". The American Prospect .
  7. Ellis, Sarah (January 19, 2021). "Top Fox News managers depart amid Murdoch's concerns over controversial Arizona election night projection". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  8. Barr, Jeremy; Ellison, Sarah; Weiner, Rachel (February 27, 2023). "Murdoch admits some Fox hosts 'were endorsing' election falsehoods". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  9. Dimiero, Ben (December 9, 2010). "LEAKED EMAIL: Fox boss caught slanting news reporting". Media Matters for America . Archived from the original on December 10, 2010.
  10. Petri, Alexandra (December 9, 2010). "Can't say 'public option' on Fox News? Try these instead!". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 15, 2012.
  11. Kurtz, Howard (December 9, 2010). "How Fox News Spun the Health-Care Debate". The Daily Beast .
  12. Chait, Jonathan (December 9, 2010). "Shocker: Fox News Not Fair And Balanced". The New Republic .
  13. 1 2 Pareene, Alex (March 29, 2011). "Fox exec: That whole "Obama is a socialist" thing was a wacky joke". Salon.com .
  14. Willis, Oliver (February 3, 2011). "FOXLEAKS: Fox Caught Scripting Socialism Attack". Media Matters for America . Archived from the original on February 6, 2011.
  15. Sandoval, Marisol (2014). Social Media: Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in Media and Communication Industries. New York City: Routledge. ISBN   978-0415722568.