OpEd:
In Support of Suing FOX News
August 3, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Libel, Politics, Rush Limbaugh, Slander
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics
The last year and a half has seen the rise of FOX News as an ultra-conservative vehicle for highly suspect political views and low intelligence fear mongering, but the last few months have been an escalation exercise, as if the loudmouth commentators were trying to outdo each other, culminating in Glenn Beck’s recent claims that President Obama “is a racist”. After this stunningly idiotic pronouncement on a morning show on the network, FOX News released a statement to the effect that Beck’s views do not necessarily represent their corporate interests, but that no reprimand would occur for the talk show host. This single instance of outright neocon lying brings to light an interesting opportunity to prevent the American public from being further subjugated: suing FOX News for both slander and libel.
As it became more clear in the 2008 Election that Obama was likely to win, FOX News turned their usual conservative-slanted news organization into the Democrat-hating, God-fearing, completely biased organization that it is now, and continues to further itself as the voice of a very vocal minority of Americans. In doing so, they have redefined journalism as a much more broad concept that includes unverified “facts” and outright lies, as well as participating in a new arena of “intentional mistakes” – look no further than any Republican politician to be labeled as a Democrat while under scrutiny for any number of ethical violations.
It is for this very reason that a case should be made against FOX News, perhaps by a liberal state’s District Attorney, for mass slander and libel, each applicable in their appropriate medium: cable news broadcasting and written-word Internet publications. The vilification and demonizing of public individuals, using both false pretenses and patently wrong information, would not be tolerated in other journalistic endeavors such as USA Today, the NY Times, or the Wall Street Journal – so why should it be tolerated in a TV network that claims to be a source of fact and information?
By taking FOX News to court for their lies and highly apparent misinformation agenda, which would ideally be successful, a welcome precedent could be set for all news outlets: the truth. Regardless of personal beliefs or opinions, only the truth should be handed to the public by newspapers, news radio, and other news networks, and not twisted with bias. The networks and/or organizations should not be able to label anything other than the truth as news, nor avoid responsibility for publishing it by using disclaimers. If the courts were to find the networks not liable, however, then the most visible and guilty individuals should be prosecuted in order to set the national tone – Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly could be the modern trinity of a political news reset.
At the minimum, organizations that wish to disseminate lies or half-truths to their viewers or readers should be required to label all of the material as opinion, visible at all times – not just once per viewing or after every instance of a comment going "too far”. The fact that FOX News uses the word “news” in their name is highly laughable to begin with, but a large subset of the population is too gullible to realize the irony of the situation, and is evidence enough that a name such as “FOX Entertainment-News Distributors” or “FOX Halftruth Sensationalist Not-News” would be more appropriate – their trademark’s validity has already been hinted at as questionable by a judge, so the door has been partially opened.
Glenn Beck’s defamation of President Obama is not the first time FOX News has exceeded their neocon mandate, nor will it be the last – but it is a highly offensive and patently untrue allegation against a national figurehead, and should not stand without reprimand. The current “birther controversies” that the network continues to exaggerate, thereby increasing the size of the movement itself, is further evidence that a line needs to be drawn in the sand by a combative legal powerhouse before FOX News manages to create legions of devoted racists willing to run the country into the ground in exchange for a hope of installing their crazy, nonsensical ideas as public policy.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
