Challengers in Britain, believing FOX News can’t stake claim to being fair and balanced, recently lost their appeal to the country’s Advertising Standards Authority. The authority ruled that the fair and balanced claim “would be seen as News Corporation’s opinion of the service they provided rather than an objective claim.” Thus, the channel is allowed to continue using its trademark fair and balanced tagline, reports Inside Cable News.

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Beltway sources tell Big Head DC that former Bush administration Press Secretary Tony Snow will make his debut on CNN tomorrow night during coverage of the Pennsylvania primary.

There’s some inside media speculation that this move may be CNN’s response to try to blunt praise Karl Rove has received as a pundit this primary season on FOX News.

But the bigger question is whether a short term former Bushie like Snow will even make an impact…look no further than former Bush communications director Nicolle Wallace on CBS — has anyone heard a thing about her?

For those of you who remember Snow before his White House days, he was a host of FOX News Sunday until 2003 at which point the network relegated him to radio to make room for Chris Wallace.

UPDATE: CNN confirms the move in a press release issued after Big Head DC broke the news:

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow will join CNN as a conservative commentator beginning today, it was announced by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. A well-known and respected observer of politics with a longstanding news background, Snow will contribute to CNN as the network continues to broadcast winning political coverage.

Snow most recently served as press secretary to President George W. Bush from April 2006 to September 2007. For 10 years beginning in 1996, he appeared on Fox News Channel, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live with Tony Snow and other programs. From 2003 to 2006, The Tony Snow Show aired on Fox News Radio.

Before joining Fox, Snow served as a substitute “From the Right” co-host for CNN’s Crossfire.

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Boston Globe scriber Mark Shanahan lucked out by getting a ticket for the Radio and Television Correspondents dinner this year…although, it looks like that is the last time he will attending the DC ball. Judging from his piece on the event, Shanahan didn’t mesh well with his hosts — and they ended up leaving him in the dust when he asked about attending an after party.

Said one partygoer, “He just seemed really out of place and uncomfortable. It doesn’t seem like he gets out of the house much…he just couldn’t hack it.”

A FOX insider explained that Shanahan was a fourth string invite — “He was only extended an invitation AFTER three other more prominent reporters were unable to attend — he was literally on the D-list of possible invitees.”

Ouch. Maybe Kathy Griffin might have some advice for Shanahan?

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Do you think this kiss up piece to Karl Rove and his new role on FOX News is going to help Howard Kurtz convince any of his critics that he isn’t in the tank for the GOP?

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Looks like Crain’s New York Business reporter Matthew Flamm royally screwed up with a doozie of a “report” today, which indicated Bill O’Reilly might be “anchoring” FNC’s Ohio and Texas primary coverage Tuesday night. This guy doesn’t just have egg on his face – he has an entire omelet. As soon as we saw this story, alarm bells went off. Anyone who covers FOX knows that Brit Hume would never be dethroned from anchoring the network’s political coverage.

As one wag us, “Just the fact that the notion of O’Reilly anchoring election coverage even passed Flamm’s smell test is off the charts. This guy should run fleeing from the media beat immediately before he suffers any further embarrassment.”

Big Head DC looked at some of Flamm’s previous “reporting” on Fox News and that turned out to be wrong as well. In September of 2006, he asserted that “FNC suffering from popular disaffection with Republican policies and the declining ratings could pose problems for cable subscription fees.”

It’s widely known that FNC made millions off the renewal deals charging nearly $1.00 per sub in the Fall of 2006 — in fact, News Corp is still referring to the profits made off these deals in their earnings reports nearly two years later.

Not to mention, is Flamm kidding in the way he referred to the ratings? Yeah, CNN and MSNBC have had big numbers with the Hillary-Obama debates – any network would – you could put them on the Weather Channel and get seven million viewers, too. Still, both networks have been unable to sustain the viewership.

In light of all this, we hear Flamm is being referred to as “Matthew Flailing” in some media circles today. The bigger question remains: how did such a woefully inaccurate story make it to print? Some insiders are even wondering whether Flamm will even have a job come Monday.

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