Two Fox News media critics on Sunday defended their network against charges that it had more blond white women than other cable news channels by pointing out that 12 members of the on-air talent were "non-blondes."
Over the years, liberal critics of Fox News have pointed to the number of blond women at Fox News as evidence that network President Roger Ailes uses his employees as sex objects. One composite photo that has been circulated on the Internet for years shows 56 different blond personalities who were employees or frequent guests.
After a new photo of nine blond anchors recently began to be shared on social networks, PunditFact decided to fact-check the claim that Fox News had a lack of diversity, and came to the conclusion that it was "mostly-false." But it did note that only two of the female anchors were non-white.
"We found that for those women who are anchors or hosts in any capacity, about half are blond. And while most are white, not all are," PunditFact wrote.
"Fox, indeed, has its share of blondes," Fox News host Howard Kurtz noted on Sunday. "The sleuths found 12 non-blondes!"
"I have an idea," media critic Lauren Ashburn, who is also blond, said. "Why doesn't PolitiFact see how many shades of blond there are on Fox News? There's ash blonde, there's platinum blonde, maybe we could do dirty blonde and see how many variations there are because this is so important!"
"What does this accomplish?" she asked. "Except to make fun of Fox News."
"So, you're not giving up your blond ambition?" Kurtz quipped.
During a 2012 talk to journalism students at the University of North Carolina, Ailes tried to explain why so many of the women he hired were blondes.
"I pick good people," he said. "Although some people point out that most of them are blond … when women get into television, they dye their hair blond."
[ad]
