I remember doing a column earlier this year which dealt with the Fox News Network’s (FNN) unfair and unbalanced handling of the election coverage; I don’t think it got much attention, although it should have. You see, from my perspective FNN had a vendetta against Barack Obama. I know that their response to this column will be, that other mediums were in the tank for him; and as such, they weren’t about to go down the same highway.
I am not going to sit here writing this without admitting that Barack Obama charmed the pants off of many a journalist’s/reporter’s typewriter: he did. And he did it with brilliant speeches, surprising (to them) primary and caucus victories, a high-quality political organization, his decorum, temperament, intellect and more. His reassuring calm -especially when under fire- was as admirable a trait as seen in any presidential candidate in contemporary times. It is possible that mainstream media gave him the half-decent treatment he deserved; something that he earned; and not their usual ferocious pit-bull attacks. Despite his mixed-race (he is a mulatto) they treated him like the full human being he is; something admirable coming from mainstream media.
When you tally the newspaper endorsements shared between Obama and McCain, you find that Obama got more endorsements than his rival by about two to one. At university campuses you could easily double that spread. Some early studies are showing that Obama also got more favorable stories (reports) than his rival by about the same two to one margin. To analyze the reasons why will take a dissertation, so I wont try to do that here.
Yet, during the entire election season -including both primary and general election campaigns- you found that Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and other right-wingers who troll the shows on FNN, perpetually attempted to demonize Barack. They attacked his patriotism, character, associations, positions, affiliations, ideas, vision, and the like. And they did this relentlessly; in fact: almost non-stop. It was way above and beyond the pale. In my recollection, this was abnormal for any presidential campaign I have experienced first hand.
I think the nadir of these attacks came when they interpreted a simple fist to fist greeting between Obama and his wife (Michelle), as a “terrorist fist-bump”. They elaborated by saying it was some kind of secret radical signal; alluding to some kind of left-wing handshake, with Jihadist implications, and encapsulating anti-American sentiments. The only announcer over there who seemed to make sense was Kirsten Powers.
Once, I even saw Geraldo Rivera come in to condemn what they were trying to do to Barack’s character. It was an assassination attempt. You can’t say I didn’t warn about this, almost a year and a half ago, in the finale of my three-part series on Obama. The folks at FNN kept this up – morning, noon and night- for more than a year and a half. The news reporting at FNN is “fair and balanced” my ass. They need to stop attempting to bullshit ordinary people with that slogan.
How many times didn’t we see on FNN, the image of Rev. Jeremiah Wright as he said: “God damn America?” A thousand? Ten thousand? More? Or less? And how many times do you take snippets from thousands of the man’s sermons and reduce them to a handful of sound bites? Is this fair? Is it alright to ruin the reputation of someone who honorably served our navy during time of war? Someone who nursed one of our presidents during illness. And to think that Wright was doing exactly what Antonin Scalia -one of the leading conservative thinkers and jurists- acknowledges as his constitutional right to do: dissent. If you don’t believe me, then go see Scalia’s stirring opinion in the flag-burning case/decision of the Supreme Court.
How many times did we hear about Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rashid Khalidi and others? And what about the guy who claimed that he had homosexual liaisons with Barack, around the time Obama was first elected to the Illinois legislature? Didn’t he re-surface at the Press Club in Washington with media coverage? Was he financed by Republicans? Web-site and all? And didn’t he fail two lie-detectors tests that David Axelrod offered him a quarter million dollars to take and pass? And why couldn’t he even remember his nephew’s name -the same nephew whose graduation he came to Illinois to attend- when these supposed trysts took place? And didn’t he have a vast criminal past as a con-man and crook? And he could remember nothing of the specifics relating to time, date and places? And yet FNN never broke this particular story, emanating from a vast right-wing conspiracy -which kept blowing up in their faces, every time they tried to take it out of the oven?
Look; there were mountains of evidence all around, which could have enabled FNN to see what near every sane person all over the world saw: Barack Obama was no radical terrorist-sympathizer. Ridiculous. And yet they kept hyping this angle while raising the threat(s) of assassination or assassination-attempts on the democrat’s candidate. Disgusting. For Christ’s sake, the man’s life was already under constant threat. This was the worst piece of American journalism in political history. It was irresponsible, repugnant, vicious and vindictive. You can’t go here just to win an election. Blacks all over the world were already scared for the man’s life; they still are.
FNN knew that the constant reference to his middle name (Hussein) carried disturbing connotations and implications. They knew that it was all about smear tactics aimed at driving up fear, and dividing people of various races, religions and ethnicities; right here in this great country. They should have never been complicit with those in the Republican Party who were on this mission. The ethics of journalism demanded better. They announcers at FNN knew that the constant attack on Barack Obama as not being a Christian -but instead being a closet Muslim- was aimed at invoking anger over the 9-11 cataclysm; but they still enabled all the individuals who came up to spread the filth. Despicable.
What was also horrendous -coming from the folks at FNN- was the way in which they went after General Colin Powell, once he stepped in to endorse Barack Obama. They minced him and diced him like carrots. They alluded to his endorsement as being racially motivated. They called him everything but a son of God. It was horrible. This was no way to treat a standing national hero; no matter what his race, ethnicity, religion or social standing. No matter what his party affiliation was. And by the way: Colin Powell is a registered Republican; like the many other republicans who followed suit. They were all savaged by the announcers at FNN. Powell just got the worst of it that’s all. But they had already savaged Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver for their endorsements of Barack Obama; so what else could we have expected: decency? Somehow I doubt that.
So without much further ado, here are the questions for Sean Hannity and company: what did you feel and think when you saw all those people spontaneously hitting the streets – here and all over the world- in celebration of Barack Obama’s victory? Did it cross your individual and collective minds that you are so out of touch -and far removed from reality- that it borders on insanity? Have you ever seen millions of people literally “dance in the streets” for an American president-elect before? Have you ever seen an American president-elect receive such pervasive international goodwill? And how do you feel now -two weeks after the election- having had time to absorb all this? And can this all reflect on the types of human beings you really are? And does Obama’s racial make-up have anything to do with this; especially given your past treatment of him? And how are you going to cover Barack Obama now, given that he is only days away from becoming the 44th president of the United States? The world is watching you folks at FNN; be aware and remember the bottom line.
Stay tuned-in folks. Let’s se if FNN responds.