Opinion Brief

Fox News' Tina Fey-Sarah Palin mixup

The cable news network that employs the former Alaska governor accidentally subs in a photo of the comedienne imitating Palin

The video: Sarah Palin may work for Fox News as an on-air consultant, but that doesn't mean the studio staff knows what she looks like. On Sunday, Fox plugged a report that Palin was "50-50" on entering the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination with a graphic showing not Palin... but comic Tina Fey portraying Palin in a 2008 Saturday Night Live skit. (See the video below.) According to Mediaite, Fox executives — already embarrassed by "a few Palin-related screwups over the years" — responded with a strongly worded memo announcing a zero-tolerance policy for such errors in the future.

The reaction: Given that "Fox News is infamous for falling for fake stories and making other overt flubs" says Lindsay William-Ross at LAist, this is hardly surprising. Though justified in getting mad, says Natasha Lennard at Salon, Fox News bigwigs should cut their minions a break: "Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression is uncanny." Anyone could have made the same mistake. Watch the goof-up that slipped through the cracks:

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