No one on the planet would have expected Fox News' coverage of Democratic congressman William Jefferson's indictment on corruption charges to be anything less than gleeful but it also turned out to be more than a little insidious. The video to your right, produced by The Talking Points Memo, shows how while the on air personalities drone on about Jefferson's indictment, footage of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is played. Now, probably Fox News would plead that was an honest techinical mistake on their part if they were ever challenged about it. But I think it is fair to assume the network wanted to not-so-subtly make Conyers and Jefferson seem linked and maybe for less than discerning viewers--appear to be the same person. For all the attention Fox News receives for being partisan politically, I don't think remotely enough attention has been paid to their consistent and shameless racist content.

UPDATE: This was released from John Conyers office today: Yesterday, Fox News Channel broke the story of Rep. William Jefferson's indictment with video of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers greeting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a recent Judiciary Committee hearing. The network apologized on-air for airing the wrong video; however, they did not personally apologize to Mr. Conyers or describe the video they aired the previous day. Chairman Conyers responded today:

"Fox News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair, nor balanced. This type of disrespect for people of color should no longer be tolerated. I am personally offended by the network's complete disregard for accuracy in reporting and lackluster on-air apology." - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)