Jebbie is, of course, the governor of Florida and the Republican candidate's brother. Seconds later, Fox called the election for Bush. Within minutes . . . terrified of being beaten to the punch by some puny cable station . . . the other networks followed suit.

The call, of course, turned out to be erroneous. But a new phenomenon in American television-news was born.

The station has gone on in much the same spirit as it approached that extraordinary night, purporting to be a disinterested bearer of the day's tidings, while in fact pushing a very specific Republican agenda. Its fortunes have been bound, with uncanny closeness, to those of George Bush . . . soaring in the ratings when the president's popularity peaks, then slumping in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Fox nonetheless remains the number-one cable news station. In a few short years, it has rewritten the rules of US television-news coverage with its penchant for presenting politics as a gladiatorial sport, ditching fact and reasoned analysis in favour of outrage, anger and patriotic pride.

Today, Fox News celebrates its 10th anniversary, but really the station has lived through two distinct phases. From 1996 to the 2000 election it was known for airing The Simpsons not for its news coverage. Fox News correspondents had trouble getting accreditation with major government agencies and had to fight for a place on presidential plane trips.

Since 2000, Fox has evolved into the White House's news poodle. But it has not thrived only because of the political climate of the past years.

Realising that the best way to trounce the competition was to be more lively than them, Fox introduced flashy graphics, shouting matches between ideological opposites, and news coverage that was both insidiously partisan but also gleefully liberated from the ponderous style of traditional broadcast journalism. In no time, it leapfrogged past MSNBC and CNN, becoming essential viewing for anyone seeking to understand the true nature of the US under George Bush.