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Fox News Channel Appears In Need Of Fairness And Balance In Political Coverage

By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

Most reasonable people have come to view Fox News Channel's "fair and balanced" motto as little more than a promotional claim that can't be backed up by fact.

The network, top-heavy with conservative pundits, has always leaned to the right. And that's just fine with the 2 million-plus loyal fans who know what they're getting when they tune in.

But in the past few months, as Sen. Barack Obama began to secure the Democratic nomination, Fox News threw out even the appearance of "fair and balanced" coverage.

I'm just a casual viewer of the all-news networks, and I seldom watch Fox News. But after getting a few e-mails from readers who think the network has gone off the deep end with Obama bashing, I started taking a closer look.

This is totally unscientific but I have noticed that the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, gets headlines such as "McCain Picks Up Endorsement Of 'ChiPs' Star Erik Estrada" while Obama gets headlines such as "Obama Would Open The Door To Illegal Immigrants."

Fox News recently explained a headline graphic that called Obama's wife, Michelle, "Obama's baby mama" as "poor judgment" by a producer.

In late May, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta apologized for joking that Obama should be assassinated, along with Osama bin Laden.

In February, conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly apologized for saying that he "didn't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's hard evidence" that she really wasn't proud of her country until her husband made this bid for the presidency.

More recently, Fox anchor E.D. Hill lost her afternoon show after asking on-air if a knuckle-tap gesture between the Obamas was a "terrorist fist jab."

"A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently," said Hill, who did a whole segment on Obama body language, suggesting it was more than just an affectionate celebration on the night he claimed the Democratic nomination.
Fox News Channel has more commentary than news - and most of the news is presented with attitude - so it's hard to tell when spinning stops and the reporting begins.

I caught one installment of Fox News' new afternoon show, "Just In ... With Laura Ingraham," which opened with a favorable preview of a McCain commercial. Set to James Bond-style theme music, the ad calls Obama a "Dr. No" because supposedly he is opposed to offshore oil drilling, electric cars, a gas tax holiday and "clean, safe nuclear energy." A Republican strategist praised the commercial. But there was no "fair" or "balanced" response from the Obama camp.

Ingraham then launched into a rant about a Rolling Stone magazine interview in which Obama revealed his "eclectic tastes" in music.

On his iPod are about 30 Bob Dylan songs including "Maggie's Farm," which he says is a favorite. He's also got Jay-Z , Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow and rapper Ludacris, whom he calls a "talented genius."

Ingraham zeroed in on Ludacris, suggesting that Obama's faint praise for a rapper who sings vulgar misogynistic lyrics shows questionable moral character. She showed a bleeped-out list of Ludacris' raunchy song titles.

So far, we don't know what's on McCain's iPod, or if he even has one. But I have trouble imagining Obama listening to something like "Hoes in My Room."

The problem for Fox News Channel is that Ingraham's questioning of Obama's stand on rap, or lack of a stand, might be worthy of comment, but the air there has been poisoned by what appears to be an anti-Obama campaign.

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