Moving to the Right

As the lead panelist on "Fox News Sunday," Hume said in August 2004 that the book by the Swift Boat Veterans "is a remarkably well-done document. It is full of detail. It is full of specifics. The charges that are being made of Kerry, of irresponsible and indeed in some cases mendacious conduct in his service in Vietnam, are made by people who were there."

The Center for Media and Public Affairs, in a 2004 study, found that "Special Report" coverage of President Bush was positive 60 percent of the time, while its evaluations of John Kerry were negative by a 5-to-1 margin. Hume says he was fair to Kerry and that the media gave far more scrutiny to Bush's National Guard record.

More recently, Hume said the press corps "behaved badly . . . like a pack of jackals" during the Cheney hunting accident furor. He also criticized an erroneous Associated Press report that said Bush had been warned that the New Orleans levees might be breached, when the word that a weather official used was "overtopped." "Much of the rest of the media fell for it hook, line and sinker," Hume said.

Part of what gives "Special Report" a right-leaning tone is its "all-star panel," the starters of which are the staunchly conservative Barnes, a Weekly Standard editor; Mort Kondracke, who positions himself as a moderate; and National Public Radio's Mara Liasson, who has described herself as a "girl reporter" who tries "to be right down the middle." Hume defends the lineup on loyalty grounds: "They were here when no one else cared."

Sometimes Hume can stretch things to make a point. In August 2003, he reported that "U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California, which is roughly the same geographical size." The problem: California's population of 34 million people compared with 145,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Hume later agreed it was a "crude comparison."

As a boss, Hume is a tough taskmaster. He can be withering in his comments to young staffers, say those who know him, and has a strong temper, once throwing a pitcher of half-frozen orange juice against the wall. But, they say, his flashes of anger quickly pass.

"It's not easy being a reporter for Brit," Barnes says. "If he thinks the story is one way and you've done it differently, you're probably going to hear from him."

Correspondent Jim Angle, who anchors the show on Fridays, says: "Flabby writing and poor video are not welcome. He pays attention to every detail of the craft. He doesn't feel compelled to do what everyone else is doing."

Lately, Hume says, he has been "seriously considering" hanging it up when his contract expires in three years. His wife has nudged him into becoming a golf enthusiast, and they now play around the country.

For now, Hume will continue to take his journalistic swings, and seems to accept the fact that he is playing to a mostly partisan crowd.

"Am I going to be able to get devoted readers of the New York Times to watch Fox News? Maybe, but it would be heavy lifting," he says. "We are in some respects the antidote."