No news today? make it up!(WORDS IMAGES)

• Author: Saltzman, Joe

TWENTIETH-CENTURY journalists sitting in a newsroom with no sensational story to punch up the front page or to lead off a prime-time television broadcast sometimes would resort to creative reporting. It was called "the denim quotation" and it went something like this: Someone would come up with a plausible rumor--the husband of a famous star was having an affair with another actress, or the alcoholic wife of a politician was seen having a drunken shouting match with her husband. Then the reporter would talk to either the star or politician, or their representatives, and get a denial of the story. The headline then would read: (Famous Star) Denies That Her Husband Is Having an Affair with (Actress), or (Politician) Denies His Wife Was Involved in a Drunken Shouting Match. TV news broadcasts would show a picture of the star or politician (usually an unflattering photo) while the anchor read: "(Famous Star) denied tonight that her husband is having an affair with (Actress)." Thus, a nonstory, a scenario created in the newsroom, was validated and became news with the denial quotation. The story often would become front-page news all over the world when the people involved repeatedly denied the made-up accusation. The story was not fake and it was not wrong. The inaccurate and untrue premise was given validity as a news story because the denial was real.

This rather crude attempt at juicing up a dull news day has become standard fare in the hands of today's TV news organizations. Fox News has turned it into a fine art by using this form of non-news to tap into the fear and frustration of Americans struggling through the worst economy in generations and a world filled with threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. A national health care plan becomes a debate on a plan to kill old people. Children singing a song praising Pres. Barack Obama in a public school becomes a plot to indoctrinate youngsters with comparisons made to Stalinism and Nazi Germany. The President telling kids to stay in school becomes an attempt by the Federal government to propagandize the nation's youth. Claims that Pres. Obama is not a U.S. citizen because of some confusion over his birth certificate become a national story.

What Fox News does so well is to take a small piece of a real news story, sometimes suggested by one of its many commentators, and then stretch it into an absurd notion by anointing it as legitimate news through repeated coverage and...