Fox exec says criticized Obama video unauthorized | The Associated Press

Fox News Channel’s morning show on Wednesday twice aired a nearly 4-minute video that contrasted President Barack Obama’s words with negative statistics about his administration in a format that looked similar to a campaign advertisement.

The liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America called the video “essentially a four-minute anti-Obama attack ad.” The segment also received criticism from a conservative blogger…

The video ends with Obama’s own words, as he says, “that’s the power of hope. That’s the change we seek. That’s the change we can stand for.”

When it ended, “Fox & Friends” anchor Steve Doocy praised the producer for a “job well done.”

Media Matters spokeswoman Jessica Levin said, “It looked like a very slickly produced Republican ad.”

Ed Morrissey, of the conservative media blog Hot Air, questioned the video even though he wrote, “I don’t disagree with much, if anything” that it says.

“If anyone wanted to look for evidence that the overall Fox News organization intends to campaign against Obama rather than cover the campaign, this video would be difficult to refute as evidence for that claim,” Morrissey wrote.

Fox programming executive vice president Bill Shine said the video was created by an associate producer and was not authorized at the network’s senior level. He said senior executives would not have approved it and the matter was addressed with the show’s producers.