Rick Sanchez Slams Fox News

That, and other news, in today's Roundup and Recap.

CNN anchor Rick Sanchez took on Fox News after the network ran an ad in the Washington Post today with a picture of last weekend's 9/12 protests on Capitol Hill and the headline, "How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN miss this story."

In fact, the broadcast news networks and CNN did cover the event, but Sanchez is by far the most vocal, taking on a tone of indignation at the CNN competitor.

In a tone that had shades of Olbermann, "I am not going to sit here in silence and allow my craft and my news operation to be unfairly maligned, because enough is enough. And yes, I am talking about you Fox News, you who claim to be fair and balanced. At what, I wonder?"

Sanchez then went into a five minute account of CNN's coverage last Saturday, even suggesting that a photo that Fox used in the ad came from a CNN camera. And he ran a tape of Bill O'Reilly doing one of his "Reality Check" segments where he complained about CNN's coverage.

"Here's the thing, we did cover the event," Sanchez says, "What we didn't do is promote the event."

He concluded, "Let me address the Fox News network now perhaps the most current way that I can, by quoting somebody who recently used a very pithy phrase --- two words.  It's all I need --- you lie."

Sanchez was not the only news org figure making a public camplaint. ABC News' White House correspondent wrote on Twitter that Fox News' contention was "demonstrably untrue."

In a statement, Michael Tammero, vice president of marketing for Fox News, did not address Sanchez directly but the ad itself. He said, “Generally speaking, it’s fair to say that from the tea party movement…to Acorn…to the march on 9/12, the networks either ignored the story, marginalized it or misrepresented the significance of it altogether.”

Few other recent events seem to have stirred such a challenge over basic facts, starting with the original contention that the event drew up to 2 million, quickly challenged and even corrected to a fraction of that. (Media Matters for America is taking issue with Time's Glenn Beck profile for that very thing).

Meanwhile, Bill Maher offers his own theory on why the protest figures were subject to such wild estimates --- something that won't endear him to those in the movement. He writes, "News flash, Glenn Beck fans: the reason health care is so expensive is because you're all so unhealthy. Yes, it was fun this week to watch the teabaggers complain how the media underestimated the size of their march, "How can you say there were only 60,000 of us? We filled the entire mall!" Yes, because you're fat. One whale fills the tank at Sea World, that doesn't make it a crowd." In all seriousness, he says that not enough is being done in preventative care. We'll see if Beck responds.

Mudd's Memory: Roger Mudd has a very different take on his 1979 interview with Ted Kennedy than the late Massachusetts senator describes in his jest released memoir.

Shark Tale: "Mad Men" star January Jones will trek to D.C. later this month as the new spokeswoman for Oceana and its campaign to save sharks.

Lobbed at Dobbs: A leading Hispanic organization is calling on CNN to do something about Lou Dobbs, arguing that the anchor/commentators has been offensive to the Latino community.