The Fox & Friends team of Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade responded this morning to the Jacques Steinberg New York Times story from this weekend, headlined, "Fox News Finds Its Rivals Closing In."

"There was a hit piece by somebody in the New York Times," said Doocy, and then took on Steinberg directly. "He's been doing a bunch of attack stories on Fox News Channel."

The pair speculated the reason for Steinberg's "attack stories" was because his editor, Steve Reddicliffe, was fired as editor of TV Guide (owned by FNC's parent company News. Corp). "This guy has had an ax to grind," said Doocy, an angle raised by Radar Online, among other places.

Of Steinberg: "He is essentially his attack dog, his poodle if you will," Doocy said, a description the graphics department had some fun with (see picture).

TVNewser reached out to the Times for comment. Reddicliffe is on vacation, but culture editor Sam Sifton tells TVNewser, "The Fox & Friends bit serves as a practical definition of a 'hit piece.' The article we published was straight news. It was not a hit."

He called the idea of a vendetta, "specious, a meritless claim."

• Update: Apparently the graphics department was busy this morning. Media Matters reports the headshots of Reddicliffe and Steinberg used in the segment are significantly altered.

Click continued to see the clip, including the dog-related sound effects...