The Fox News Network is a polarizing influence on the American news media. Consider what happens when two people argue and one of them begins to shout. The argument escalates. Sides are chosen. Soon, any middle ground between the two parties is lost. However, one need look no further than the mirror to see who really loses when political zealots of any stripe allow their bias to determine what is and isn't news.
On Jan. 16, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) declared his candidacy for president of the United States. Just a few days later, Fox News aired a morning segment accusing Sen. Obama of being a closet Muslim and a potential terrorist sympathizer.
Later in the day, Fox News' John Gibson ran with a story that first appeared on the website of Insight Magazine (more on them later) which claimed that the Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and her staff were responsible for the smear on Obama, a claim denied by the Clinton team which refers to the Fox News coverage as "an obvious right-wing hit job."
Citing an unnamed source, described as "sources say" or "the source," the article on Insightmag.com is dubious. "The source" is referenced a total of 14 times and every salient fact of the Insight article is credited to "the source," making the story essentially hearsay. But that didn't stop Fox News from making this story the focus of that day's reporting, and consequently the hot political topic of the month.
So, I decided to do a little research of my own, starting with Insight magazine. My first clue was finding the phrase "liberal media establishment" in three separate places on the homepage of Insight's website. After very little digging, a history of conservative bias at Insight became clear.
The magazine is an offshoot of the Washington Times, a newspaper founded by and still controlled by the conservative and eccentric Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church. Rev. Moon is a long-time associate of former Republican President George H. W. Bush.
Furthermore, Insight supported Paula Jones financially in her lawsuit against former Democratic president Bill "I-Did-Not-Have-Sexual-Relations-With-That-Woman" Clinton, enabling Jones to continue the suit after her personal funds were depleted.
Fox News should never have used this article from this magazine as the basis for a news story.
At best, it makes everyone at Fox involved with the story appear lazy and unprofessional. At worst, they seem libelous and biased. But, I suppose bias in the media isn't exactly news, especially when the media outlet under discussion is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
What concerns me about this story, and what you should also be concerned about, is the apparent contempt and disregard Fox News has shown for the truth. The allegations against Sen. Obama, which were based on his childhood in Indonesia, have since been proven false by an Australian CNN correspondent who actually took the time to go to Jakarta, Indonesia to check the facts.
The facts that were already disclosed by Obama in his autobiographies.
Sen. Obama is not Muslim, nor was he raised in the Muslim faith. Contrary to the reporting done by Fox News, he never attended a madrassa (defined by Fox as a "Muslim seminary") that espoused extreme anti-American views. And, on a side note, the Arabic word "madrassa" means "school," just school.
Fox also didn't check the facts or purposefully ignored them. This is exactly the kind of journalism universities teach aspiring reporters not to practice. This is low journalism. It is unethical and undermines the institution of America's free press.
Everyone at Fox News should know better.
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