Who says the American political right doesn’t have a sense of humor. In yesterday’s column, Howard Kurtz—the Washington Post‘s media maven—reported that when peace demonstrators gathered outside the Fox News building in Manhattan, the network’s “news zipper” replaced its headlines with taunts:
“‘War protester auditions here today… Thanks for coming!’ And: ‘How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ignore them.’ And: ‘Attention protesters: The Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street.’”
Kurtz asks if the prank was unfair and unbalanced.
J.D. Lasica takes the bait, calling it “funny (especially the Moore barb) but also an unprofessional stunt that demonstrates again Fox News’ right-wing slant (as if we needed any reminding).”
Lighten up, fellas. Anyone who thinks Fox News (or CNN or any of the other mainstream broadcast news outlets, for that matter) is anything other than entertainment needs a stiff shot. It was funny and certainly no more “unfair and unbalanced” than anything else that or any other network broadcasts.
There are more important media issues that demand the attention of analysts like Kurtz and Lasica.
Slate‘s Jack Shafer got it almost right with a headline he probably didn’t write: “Sacking Arnett for the Wrong Reason: Opinions shouldn’t be a firing offense. Credulous behavior on the other hand…”
NBC sacked Peter Arnett, you’ll remember, for voicing his opinions about the failed U.S. invasion of Iraq on state-operated Iraqi television. But as Shafer points out, NBC’s initial reaction was a knee-jerk defense of its reporter. A half-day later, NBC News reversed its position, firing Arnett outright. It wasn’t that Arnett was canned because of his analysis; he was canned because his analysis—which was, admittedly, as dumb as dirt—didn’t fit the NBC agenda (which is, if you can believe it, even less intelligent). How else can you explain the network’s whipsaw reaction and reversal. As Shafer opines, “It was better, from NBC’s perspective, to bury the issue quickly and pat Peter’s face with a shovel than to examine the ethics of his appearance.”
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