Bill Sammon

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

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: Brooke, Ben, Billy, Blair, and Bernie.[2] He stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and is reportedly nicknamed by some, including President George W. Bush, as "Big Stretch," or "Superstretch."[3]

Career

He is the author of 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 overly favorable to President George W. Bush and his administration. Vanity Fair critic James Wolcott listed Strategery among a group of books on George W. Bush written by "faithful holdouts in Bush’s pep squad [who] are happy to have endowed him with superpowers" by writing "hagiography mash notes whose toothy gleam of triumphalism was almost blinding."[4] Reporter David Weigel has 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 FoxNews shows 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, a position once held by Brit Hume.

Controversy

Obama Cairo Speech

According to Salon.com: "Right after Barack Obama finished his 2009 speech in Cairo, Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon did a quick word search on the president's prepared remarks. When he didn't specifically see the words 'terror' or 'terrorism' or 'terrorist,' Sammon decided that the president was soft of terror, and this was immediately repeated on Fox news, on the 'objective' news shows."[7] Sammon sent the following e-mail to Fox News personnel:[7]

—

From: Sammon, Bill

Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:23 AM

To: 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 069 -Politics; 036 -FOX.WHU; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers

Cc: Clemente, Michael; Stack, John; Wallace, Jay

Subject: FYI: My cursory check of Obama's 6,000-word speech to the Muslim world did not turn up the words "terror," "terrorist" or "terrorism"

According to Alex Pareene at Salon.com, "Obama had mentioned 9/11, and al-Qaeda, and 'violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security.'"[7]

Fox News memos

A 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.[8] The publication of the memos received attention from media observers.[9][10][11]

Another leaked memo showed Sammon gave orders for Fox to cast then-Senator Obama as a socialist. "Sammon repeatedly 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 Dreams From My Father."[12] Some questions asked by Fox journalists were allegedly scripted by Sammon.[13] 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."[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Changes To FNC's DC Bureau", TV Newser, August 5, 2008.
  2. ↑ Bill Sammon biodata
  3. ↑ Sammon, Bill Strategery: How George W. Bush is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media, pg. 4
  4. ↑ Wolcott, James (February 2008). "How Bush Stacks Up". Vanity Fair.
  5. ↑ Weigel, David (2007-09-14). "Scoundrels, to Your Refuges!". Reason.
  6. ↑ Waldman, Paul (2009-03-03). "Believe It or Not, He's Walking on Air". The American Prospect.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Pareene, Alex (2011-02-08) "How Fox invented the "Obama didn't mention terror in Cairo" meme", Salon.com
  8. ↑ Dimiero, Ben (2010-12-09) LEAKED EMAIL: Fox boss caught slanting news reporting, Media Matters for America
  9. ↑ Petri, Alexandra (2010-12-09) Can’t say ‘public option’ on Fox News? Try these instead!, Washington Post
  10. ↑ The Daily Beast: Fox News' Spin Game. December 9, 2010.
  11. ↑ The New Republic: Shocker: Fox News Not Fair And Balanced. December 9, 2010.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Pareene, Alex (2011-03-29) Fox exec: That whole "Obama is a socialist" thing was a wacky joke, Salon.com
  13. ↑ FOXLEAKS: Fox Caught Scripting Socialism Attack

External links