Fox News turns a blind eye - 3.21.2007.1

I am pissed at Fox News. I watch this channel daily, while I am at work. I find their views close to my own on various issues, especially politics. I have often referred to them when I am commenting on a current event or breaking news. Generally it’s a decent 24 hour cable news network. Then there are the exceptions.

Let me first commend the channel on their attention to missing children. I feel the channel takes a lot of time to announce and follow Amber Alerts, broadcasts of missing children. I feel the news organization has a real desire to protect and make the public aware of issues with children. That is a positive that shouldn’t be taken away from the cable news channel.

Beyond this compliment I have noticed an issue with them. I’ve mentioned it before and I believe I will need to again in the future. Fox News seems to have difficulty providing equal coverage to African American and minority children. There are many examples of this, but today it just hit the top.

I’m referring to news about the Boy Scout that was lost, and 2 girls that were abducted in Texas, I may have gotten the location wrong, on Saturday. The Boy Scout has been a featured item for the last 3 days. It’s known now that the boy was attempting to hitchhike home and got lost in the woods. There was roughly 10 minutes of coverage per hour for at least 2 days, with about 2-3 minutes of coverage per hour today after the boy has been found and has been with his family for 24 hours. That is a good thing to know. I’m glad the boy was found alive and relatively well. I’m sure his family is rejoicing.

But on Saturday there were to teen girls that were abducted. We know that this happened because there was a call from a cell at 4 (I am unsure if that is am or pm) were they were screaming which was the last time they were heard from. This information never hit the air, that I am aware of. The first I heard about this was today, for 45 seconds. Thankfully this was because the 2 girls were found 200 miles from where they lived, injured but alive. The police stated that they felt this was a serious abduction and not a prank.

So what makes the boy lost in the woods so much more newsworthy? Why was the fact that an apparent kidnapping of teens in an urban environment, with a cryptic message less important than all other news? Why is the news of their being found alive and a police investigation into their situation only worth 1 scant announcement lasting barely a minute? Why is the news of the Boy Scout already with his family, lost due to his own bad decisions, worthy of at least 5 announcements of roughly 2 minutes a piece in the last 4 hours?

I don’t expect Fox News, or any cable news network, to follow every single abduction of children and Amber Alert in the nation. Perhaps there should be a cable channel just for that; but that is a separate issue. Since the New Year started I recall 2 missing children features that had children of color. I recall about 7 or more for non-minority children. I have seen coverage of white teens committing crimes that are brushed aside, and others getting an hour or more coverage for things like demonstrations at schools. Yet African American children seem to only be referred to when a violent or drug laden action has happened.

There was plenty of time to cover the Long Island girls that had the Youtube broadcast fight, maybe 2 hours of coverage. The white girls that had a similar taped fight got maybe 15 minutes of coverage. The toddlers given marijuana by teens got roughly 3 hours of attention, yet I’ve seen nothing that was mentioned about this being something that happens across the nation to families of all colors. I know it’s not just a minority thing as I’ve heard locally of such acts, by white parents – who were then disciplined by the police.

There is plenty of time to talk about the various issues of Anna Nicole Smith, who contributed nothing to the sum total of the planet (I’m not being cruel, it’s just honest), or women’s basketball, or Britney Spears coming out of rehab. There is no lack of air-time to discuss why the Boy Scout wanted to hitchhike home, or that the family does not want to release any information about which hospital he may now be in, if any. Yet there is no space to get into any depth on 2 Black American girls that were taken against their will, injured, found 200 miles from home, and are now thankfully being reunited with their families.

So the thought is why has Fox News taken what seems to be this active prioritization on news events? What is fair and balanced on this current reporting? Which event seems more news worthy to you, finding out what the Boy Scout looks like now that he is home after trying to hitchhike home or finding out who essentially kidnapped and possibly assaulted two girls for several days and is still loose to attack your daughter, sister or mother? Does the race of these 2 girls matter to you if your family member is the next victim, loose because color of skin seemed to matter to an executive at Fox News.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Too much on Anna Nicole Smith - 2.20.2007.3

It’s amazing what is going on with the Anna Nicole Smith burial case. This is just too much. The trail has been THE story on Fox News for about 3 hours. If you thought that Mr. Donald Trump vs. Ms. Rosie O’donnell was a waste of time, I have no idea how to classify this. Seriously other things are happening in the world.


But this must be spoken on in a brief manner. It is obvious that for many of the participants this is all about money. That is quite sad. From what I can gather, Mr. Stern was never the husband of Anna Nicole. He is able to gain financially from the will. He was aware of what would be in the will when it was made. He is trying to establish that he will is sound, and that the will and the birth certificate give him the rights to the name and image of Anna Nicole as well as managing the inheritance of the baby.

Perhaps it is me, but it seems like Mr. Stern was all about the money almost from day one. His only client since 2002 was Anna, he benefited from her will, he was around her as she used drugs, and he was ‘involved’ with her while she had sexual relationships with other men. This does not sound like a caring individual. And he ‘generously’ offered to give up the commission fees that he is entitled to via the will, though he will not give up the right to manage any money from the will. To me he has clearly stated he is after the money.

It seems quite clear that he has no idea who the biological father is. I believe he is quite sure it isn’t him. Of all the people that have claimed the child, Mr. Birkhart seems to be the only one with a valid claim and an interest that goes beyond the money. He has been trying to claim his rights as the father before the issue of inheritance was ever an issue. Mr. Stern needs to take a paternity test and this will all get resolved incredibly quickly.

This case just shows how much waste is in the justice system. I have no doubt that new laws will be created based on this case so future cases can be even more confused. This is a sign that the baby girl of Anna Nicole will be quite messed up.

And some think that black families are odd. I’ve never seen such a confused case, talk about Baby Mama/ Baby Daddy drama.

But what about the news on Mr. James Brown’s body? What about the difficulty in that case? Where is the news on that? Why hasn’t the Godfather of Soul been allowed to be laid to rest?

With news 24/7 I can’t imagine there is nothing of more importance happening in the world. What has happened on the Sean Bell case? What of the Hispanic child that an Amber Alert has been released on? What about the news of the premature black baby that was the size of a pen when she was born? For 3 hours there has been no mention of anything else. That is perhaps more sad than anything else.

This is what I think, what do you think?