Like I’ve always said: Sometimes the mask slips and the truth comes out.
A 24-year-old Fox News Channel production assistant was fired this morning for something she said during the red carpet arrivals at the Time 100 Gala last night.
Insiders tell us the assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was on assignment with a camera crew to cover the entertainment angle of the event. When Sen. John McCain walked by, the assistant said, “I voted for you in the primary, you’re going to win.”
McCain was overheard saying to her, “You’re not supposed to reveal that.”
On the one hand, we’re talking a 24 year old assistant, not Roger Ailes (the bad), or Bill O’Reilly (the worse). So I don’t know how far this can realistically be flogged as an indicator of a systemic bias at the network.
On the other hand, I have no doubt at all that if the same thing happened with an MSNBC staffer praising Obama, the wingnut blogs would be outraged and O’Reilly would dedicate a week of solid coverage including sending his homunculus Jesse Waters to harass any MSNBC executives to demand they repudiate their network bias and commit to giving a conservative wackjob a show instead of Keith Olbermann.
And the really, well, I can’t decide if the right word is “sad” or “scary”, but the really something part of that, Rheinhard, is that Ailes, O’Reilly or any of the senior folks at Fox have no concept at all of their hypocrisy.
At least Limbaugh has referred to himself as an entertainer and publicly acknowledge that his job is to “grab as many listeners as I can hand hold them for as long as possible”. He’s a liar and destructive of the common good, but he knows it.
Fox et all just seem truly deluded. They actually believe they are fair and balanced.
Fox et all just seem truly deluded. They actually believe they are fair and balanced.
Moreso, they believe that enough people still buy into the idea that they are fair and balanced, to the point that they’ll fire this girl to protect their tarnished brand image.
SpiderJ:
You realize what they were doing, right? Obviously mostly brain dead people work at Faux Noise(which includes Olvier’s girl Kirsten Powers). The problem is sorting out the brain dead people who open their mouth too much from the ones that knew when to keep their trap shut.
Thinking about this a bit more, I don’t really see how this young woman’s comments does anything to reveal Fox’s bias. A very minor cog in a large company expresses a personal opinion. If some secretary at Exxon said gas prices were too high should that be taken as being some great reveal about official company policy?
Far more revealing is the fact the Fox then fired her, after several years of service. The proper response from Fox should have been “We’re a large company and our employees hold a large variety of opinions. Nothing further to say.” Better still, just make no comment at all.
This is another non-issue being writ large because people want to jump an every little word uttered rather than discuss anything actually, y’know, relevant.
On the one hand, we’re talking a 24 year old assistant, not Roger Ailes (the bad), or Bill O’Reilly (the worse). So I don’t know how far this can realistically be flogged as an indicator of a systemic bias at the network.
I think the young assistant made the critical mistake of openly reflecting the corporate culture of the newsroom where she works. Fox likes to pretend to have journalistic ethics. I think the talk on the inside is too similar to what the assistant said in public.
I just wonder if Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Brent Hume, or even Geraldo Rivera had said the same thing they would be fired. Somehow I think not. Talk about knee jerk reactions!
I also love John McCain’s answer which indicates that he is well aware of Fox and the rest of the media is going to be the propaganda arm of his campaign.
“giving a conservative wackjob a show…”
Rheinhard, MSNBC already did that with Michael Savage
There should have been a period after “Savage”.
Daniel, Savage IS a “period”. A nasty, smelly, bloody mess that shouldn’t be discussed in polite society.
So are Democrats the only acceptable party for a Fox News PA to admit they voted for?
So are Democrats the only acceptable party for a Fox News PA to admit they voted for?
Exactly. The story (if there is one here, which I don’t think there should be) isn’t that some extremely minor minor peon expressed an opinion.
The story (if there is one, and there really isn’t but don’t let that stop folks on both sides of from trumpeting their hypocrisy and making a big deal out of every trivial word spoken even thought that is drastically unfair when coming from the other side) is that Fox, defender of freedom and what America stands for, fired someone for doing so.
“Daniel, Savage is a ‘period.’ A nasty, smelly, bloody mess that shouldn’t be discussed in polite society”.
Comedic answer: But how do you really feel, sir? Non-comedic answer: Amen, brother. Amen.
“So are Democrats the only acceptable party for a Fox News PA to admit they voted for?”
Are you implying that Fox would not have fired this lady if she publicly said that she voted for Obama or Clinton? You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re question is basically moot, anyway, since most people associated with Fox News aren’t going to voting for Democrats.
Correction: “going to voting for Democrats” should have been “going to be voting for Democrats” (note to self: proofread your posts before you hit the “submit” button).
Note to daniel rotter: We all make typos and small grammatical slips. Nobody worries about it. You needn’t either.
Thank you, Sean. It’s just that these mistakes shatter the illusion that I’m perfect (just kidding).