Malice? Never!

Fox News has apologized for posting a fake news story about John Kerry on its Web site.

The story purported to cover a post-debate rally at which the Democratic nominee gushed about being a metrosexual, attributing to Kerry such wholly fabricated quotes as:

• "Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!"

• "Women should like me! I do manicures."

• "I'm metrosexual -- he's a cowboy."

In its statement on the article, Fox News said: "The item was based on a reporters partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. Foxnews.com also regrets that error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice."

No malice, just bad judgment? Certainly I agree that Fox does exercise exceedingly poor judgment in slavishly promoting a right-wing agenda as a de facto agitprop arm of the GOP. But clearly there isn't malice involved.