The decision by Fox News Channel to alter and distort the facial features of two New York Times reporters in a photo aired on Fox & Friends on Wednesday was "beneath comment," Times culture editor Sam Sifton told Editor & Publisher Wednesday. Fox aired the photographs of Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and TV editor Steven Reddicliffe as Fox & Friends personalities Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade referred to what they called "a hit piece" by the writers that noted that ratings for the all-news cable network were exhibiting an "ominous trend." Sifton, however, told E&P: "It was straight news. This was a hit piece by Fox News."