We really can't compare infoclearinghouse and Fox News, they are apple and oranges. The former is a website run by one or two private individuals dissatisfied with the war cheerleading provided by major media outlets. So they collect news articles from various sources (mainly British media) that offer perspectives usually not found in the American mainstream media. This is not ignorance, this is a good service run by a few dedicated people. Fox News, on the otherhand, is a billion-dollar enterprise whose alleged mission is to provide impartial news to the huddled masses around the TV sets.

That Australian TV program clip provide four or five samples of Fox coverage that showcased its anchors and reporters' total lack of journalistic objectivity, for example, their sneering contempt for the Iraqis ("The Shi'ites have really hit the fan!"), their Beavis and Butthead style of blood-lustiness ("I really think they should use a bigger bomb, heh, heh heh") and their self-righteous arrogance ("You know why Al Jazzera show the prisoners and the dead? You know why? Because they're not on our side!")

Of course, these are just snippets of clips from a month long coverage, but a major news organization that tolerate these kinds of antics and attitudes is not worth my time. (by the way, ABC in the clip is Australian Broadcast Company, not the American one)

As for the GI-shitting-in-desert segment, it's just harmless fluff. But I think it's reflective of the sorry state of embedded TV journalism in general, not just Fox. They drive around the desert following the soldiers like camp-followers of a medieval army and periodically they stop, make sure their hair look properly windswept and squeeze off a two minute sound-bite that says everything and nothing. When there are truly nothing to report, well, there is always the shitting habits of GIs. Print-journalists are better I think: when they witness something, they have to think about it in order to write a thoughtful article. But nothing profound or interesting come from these two minute sound-bites. Their physical presence in Iraq add nothing to their reporting. They might as well be giving the report standing in front of a studio blue screen with the background footage of deserts and mosques digitally pasted in.

Also, I really don't see how watching GI shit in a desert is a human-interest story. Though it may have practical value: next time I am lost in a desert, I will make sure to bring a shovel. Thank you, Fox News.