In what may be the world’s most laughable double standard, Fox News’ Howard Kurtz thinks Univision’s Jorge Ramos is too anti-Trump be a news anchor. Meanwhile, Kurtz either hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care about the pro-Trump bias oozing out of Fox News anchors.
In Time magazine, Ramos wrote that Donald Trump’s racism and sexism is so extreme that journalists have an obligation take a stand and call him out:
Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite were right; sometimes you have to take a stand. They did it against the dangerous persecutions of Senator Joe McCarthy and in denouncing the pernicious official spin during the worst years of the Vietnam War.
Donald Trump’s candidacy has created the same moral dilemma and sense of urgency. So, yes, when it comes to racism, discrimination, corruption, public lies, dictatorships and the violation of human rights, we have to take a stand.
But rather than examine whether Trump is that extreme or objectionable, Kurtz deflected and complained he was “buzzed off” at Ramos.
From Media Matters’ transcript:
KURTZ: It’s a bit rich to hear Ramos talk about objectivity and fairness. This is a guy who staged that confrontation with Trump, shouting at him, “you can’t build a wall.” And continuing to yell as security escorted him out. Hey, Jorge, if you want to warn the world about Donald Trump, fine. Quit your job and go campaign against him. But stop using the cloak of an anchor to disguise your advocacy as journalism.
What’s really rich is to hear someone at Fox complain about anyone at another network using “the cloak of an anchor to disguise your advocacy as journalism.”
This very week, for example, host Sean Hannity helped Trump poll an audience in order to determine his latest immigration policy. Hannity is also reportedly advising Trump, too. Hannity is an opinion host but last I heard, “opinion host” should not equal “campaign operative,” virtual or not. But Hannity is just an extreme example of what can be seen on Fox nearly every day, nearly every hour from nearly every host: Harris Faulkner, Melissa Francis, Deirdre Bolton, Trish Regan, Leland Vittert, Lou Dobbs and Stuart Varney are just some of the supposedly “objective” news hosts who don’t even bother to hide their pro-Trump bias.
So if Kurtz really cares about bias in news, he’s got an awful lot of work to do in his own glass house.
Watch it above, from the August 28 MediaBuzz, via Media Matters.
Crossposted at Newshounds.us
