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Fox News is trying to downplay the effects of the Republican-led government shutdown by replacing "shutdown" with "slimdown" in Associated Press reports posted on FoxNews.com. The changes have appeared in headlines, a photo caption, and story leads.
FoxNews.com even replaced "shutdown" with "slimdown" when promoting an original FoxNews.com article that took issue with Fox's use of "slimdown." Fox News host Howard Kurtz wrote in a column that the "Fox News website keeps using the term 'slimdown' instead of shutdown, though no one would claim this was some kind of sensible Weight Watchers method of trimming government spending." Kurtz's column has the headline, "Spin Wars: Is the shutdown about blackmail or ObamaCare?" -- but Fox modified the headline to "KURTZ: Is slimdown about blackmail or ObamaCare?" on its front page.
FoxNews.com even replaced "shutdown" with "slimdown" when promoting an original FoxNews.com article that took issue with Fox's use of "slimdown." Fox News host Howard Kurtz wrote in a column that the "Fox News website keeps using the term 'slimdown' instead of shutdown, though no one would claim this was some kind of sensible Weight Watchers method of trimming government spending." Kurtz's column has the headline, "Spin Wars: Is the shutdown about blackmail or ObamaCare?" -- but Fox modified the headline to "KURTZ: Is slimdown about blackmail or ObamaCare?" on its front page.
