Today in making stuff up

You can draw your own conclusions about why this was the fourth most important story of the morning at the Fair 'n' Balanced Network, but wouldn't you really like to know where the hed came from?

The couple have stayed strong in their Christian faith throughout their ordeal, but Rory admits that they are heartbroken and scared.

“I’m not going to tell you that I’m okay with this because ‘God has a bigger plan’. Or that ‘we’ll understand His bigger purpose somewhere down the line’. That logic doesn’t really work for me right now,” he writes.

Granted, journalism doesn't do very well with the idea of context -- mostly, I think, because we tend to confuse "out of context" with "embarrassing," as in this example from July:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush seems to have earned what is now a rite of passage for White House hopefuls: the out-of-context quote that will be replayed thousands of times.

The future is another country; they do things differently there (which is one reason heds like "Jeb Bush's 'longer hours' remark will haunt him" are a dumb idea). But hang on for the context:

On Wednesday, Bush was speaking to the conservative editorial board of the New Hampshire Union Leader when he seemed to say Americans need to work harder if they want the economy to grow.

“My aspiration for the country—and I believe we can achieve it—is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see,” he said. “Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.”

Despite the reporter's help (thanks, liberal media!) it's hard to see a "context" for "work longer hours" other than ... you know, work longer hours. "Out of context" would require something like "I'm not going to tell you that people need to work longer hours" -- exactly the sort of thing the poor guy in today's story said.

Nobody should be surprised by now to find Fox making stuff up about its political enemies. That's what Fox does. But making stuff up to fit the story line about people you purportedly sympathize with seems like a new twist, even for Fox.