<p>AFTER suffering another ratings plunge, CNN is desperately - and ridiculously - trying to blame a drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the rival Fox News Channel. On Wednesday, Fox reported exclusively that Special Operations units were on the ground in Iraq. A "crawl" below the screen reported the story and anchor John Scott talked about it. Unfortunately, Scott made a minor mistake when he initially said "Special Forces" were on the ground. (Special Operations are affiliated with the CIA, while Special Forces are under the command of the Pentagon.) But Scott immediately corrected his verbal error. Several minutes before Scott's slip-up, a report was released that stated consumer confidence was slipping - causing the DJIA to plunge. By the end of the day, it had dropped 140 points. But CNN's "Moneyline" show reported that the Dow had slipped on the Iraq news. And on Thursday morning - the day FNC posted higher ratings than CNN for the second month in a row - CNN anchors started crowing about the Fox "error," which they mistakenly claimed had sent the stock market reeling. Jack Cafferty, Paula Zahn's co-host on CNN's morning show, quipped: "I understand [Fox] may change the slogan from ‘fair and balanced' to ‘fair and balanced but not necessarily very accurate.' " Later, Lou Dobbs warned: "It's always very important to get your news from the right sources." Even CNN's ad-sales department got into the act, with a memo to advertisers citing FNC's "false" report. "Tuesday morning's 150 point loss on the Dow is an example [of false reporting]," the memo stated. "It illustrates the lack of credible news gathering resources on the part of Fox News." Fox News Channel executives were unconcerned abut CNN's attempt to discredit them. "This is just another pathetic attempt by CNN to try and cover up their flailing ratings," a rep said. Meanwhile, as CNN was decrying Fox on Thursday morning, the anchors of "Fox & Friends," E.D. Donahey and Steve Doocy, took turns gleefully announcing their higher ratings and taking some playful shots at their CNN counterparts. When Donahey noted "Fox & Friends" had a 30 percent higher rating than Zahn's CNN show in the same time slot, Doocy quipped: "Wow! That's harsh . . . You figure when you hire ‘The Mole' [a mysterious nickname for Zahn], you ended up with ratings gold, but obviously that doesn't happen." Later, Doocy compared CNN's Aaron Brown to his dentist.</p>
