Secret to network's reporting methods exposed. A former FOX News executive has divulged details about how FOX maintains its high level of accuracy, it has been revealed.

According to Jim Goodman, who recently left the news network to write a book about Joseph Goebbels, FOX has been using the sophisticated "No duh" method of fact-checking for the past decade. Goodman has been trying to rebut FOX's accusation that he and his conspirators were plotting to use the network to plant anti-Bush - and therefore anti-American - sentiments in the organization's political rhetoric from 2000 until his employment was terminated last month.

Originally, Goodman's response was "What political rhetoric?" However, his lawyers have advised him to take a more proactive stance.

As Goodman explains in his statement, the "No duh" approach involves feeding information to focus groups and having them rate their apparent veracity on a scale of responses: "No way" - "Highly doubtful" - "I think I heard that somewhere" - "Sounds good" - and "No duh". In order to ensure that all facts mentioned on FOX programming are correct, Goodman contends the network will only air information that has received at least ten "No duh" votes.

"This can be an extremely time consuming process," he says, citing FOX's report that Iraq harbored weapons of mass destruction. "That one took nearly ninety focus groups of twenty people each before we reached the minimum requirement."

When questioned on the matter, one FOX administrator, speaking on condition of anonymity told the Brainsnap correspondent, "Take [the statement] to a focus group yourself!"

Yesterday, however, FOX news released an official statement announcing that they "no longer indulge in such inefficient and unpredictable practices," even though they still consider the method to be "democratic" and "true to the integrity of the journalistic spirit."

The Press Reacts

Local newspapers across the south are now looking into adopting this fact-checking method. "History is always written by the person who ends up with all the pens," says Gregory McGregory, editor-in-chief of the Dalinousie Herald.

"But we have a printing press. So it is up to us to present a different point of view."

There are those who oppose this burgeoning trend within the news media. One reader, Lisa Contrello-Minhindouian, refers to this "cavalier attitude towards reporting" as "misuse of our freedom of expression." She feels that fictitious news may inadvertently be reported in the place of "the real thing".

FOX responded to this sentiment with equanimity. A representative of their media relations department explains, "If it is fiction, it is not news. We are a news network. So, of course what we report is news."

Brainsnap has been unable to get a statement from AIP (the American Institute for Postmodernism) since the person answering their phones cannot stop laughing. However, visitors to their headquarters report that much popcorn is being consumed there. When we asked our focus group if AIP is amused by this debate, they told us, "No duh."

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