Colbert launches Twitter bot to praise Fox News

Yahoo News

In "Murdoch's World," the new book about News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his media empire, NPR's David Folkenflik revealed that publicists at Fox News used thousands of fake aliases to counter negative comments on anti-Fox blog posts across the Web.

"Fox PR staffers were expected to counter not just negative and even neutral blog postings but the anti-Fox comments beneath them," Folkenflik wrote. "One former staffer recalled using twenty different aliases to post pro-Fox rants. Another had one hundred. Several employees had to acquire a cell phone thumb drive to provide a wireless broadband connection that could not be traced back to a Fox News or News Corp account."

On Monday, Stephen Colbert announced he would help that effort, unveiling a Twitter account —
"@RealHumanPraise" — that uses an algorithm to spit out praise for the top-rated cable network every two minutes.

"If you watch this show, you must know it would not be possible without the all-star team of patriots over at Fox News," Colbert said. "They're like the Harlem Globe Trotters of people who do not trot to Harlem."

The bot, designed by "Colbert Report" staff writer Rob Dubbin, combines positive film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with names of Fox News personalities.
 
The results are rather hilarious and, as far as Twitter bots go, surprisingly intelligible.

Below are just a few.