Wallace Brings Up Moyers Dispute, Refuses To Acknowledge His Own Inaccurate Reporting

For the last several weeks, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace has attacked PBS’s Bill Moyers for criticizing Karl Rove for cynically invoking Christianity for political purposes while telling others that he is an agnostic. Moyers called Rove “a skeptic, a secular manipulator.”

On Aug. 19, Rove appeared on Wallace’s show and responded Moyers. “I’m a Christian. I go to church. I’m an Episcopalian,” responded Rove. “You know, Mr. Moyers ought to do a little bit better research before he does another drive-by slander.”

Then on Aug. 26, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace personally criticized Moyers, stating that he needs to learn “reporting 101“:

If you want to find out about someone’s religious beliefs, a good first step might be to ask him. … Of course, you never called Rove. That’s reporting 101, but it would have gotten in the way of a tasty story line about a non-believer flimflamming the Christian right. I guess, Bill, reporting is easier when you don’t worry about the facts.

Yet as ThinkProgress pointed out yesterday, Moyers’s show did contact Rove — repeatedly — and never received a response. Rick Byrne, Director of Communications for Bill Moyers Journal wrote on Thursday:

For the record, Bill Moyers did ask Karl Rove to come on BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, by fax and by mail. These requests were made before Chris Wallace responded on-air on Fox News Sunday to Bill Moyers’ letter, and we still haven’t heard from Karl Rove.

Nevertheless, this morning on Fox News Sunday, Wallace once again brought up the Moyers dispute, but did not correct his false allegation. He read viewer mail — two supporting Wallace, one supporting Moyers — yet never acknowledged that the Bill Moyers Journal did attempt to contact Rove. Watch it:

Write to Wallace at fns@foxnews.com and ask him to publicly correct the record and admit his error. (Be polite.)

Transcript:

WALLACE: Time now for some mail on our back-and-forth with commentator Bill Moyers on the religious beliefs of White House aide Karl Rove.

Gary Patterson from Pittsburgh writes: “Bill Moyers is a liberal bully who uses his Public Television pulpit to slander many good people who do not bow down to the golden idol of liberal ideology.”

Larry Kump from Falling Waters, WV, adds: “Mr. Wallace was both crystal clear and absolutely correct when he called Bill Moyers to account for his slimy, self-serving rationalization of his blatantly false reporting on Karl Rove.”

But Hank Quine from Atlanta saw it differently: “You and Fox News are in now position to talk about facts when reporting, as you were created to push the President’s agenda; I am amazed at how threatened the Bush team must have felt when Bill Moyers spoke out.”

Be sure to let us know your thoughts by e-mailing us at fns@foxnews.com.