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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / Just Make a Form Letter, Rupert

Just Make a Form Letter, Rupert

by John Cole|  June 14, 200810:17 am| 34 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Media

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This is kind of amusing:

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News television station has been forced to apologise to Barack Obama for the third time in a fortnight after screening a racially tinged caption referring to his wife Michelle as his “baby mama”.

Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming at Fox, said in a statement on Thursday that a producer “exercised poor judgment” during the segment.

I think it might save them some time if they just made a form letter.

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Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    MattF

    June 14, 2008 at 10:23 am

    Da da, dadadadadada…. “I’m sorry… sooo sorrry….”

  2. 2.

    Krista

    June 14, 2008 at 10:28 am

    I’m surprised they apologized, frankly. And I’d like to think that they’ll smarten the hell up and stop being such racist asshats.

    But I’m not holding my breath.

  3. 3.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    June 14, 2008 at 10:35 am

    sample Fox news form letter:

    Dear Senator Negro Obama (D-Uppity),

    We are writing to express our glee apologies that one of our producers has done exactly what we pay them for exercised poor judgment in the recent segment on our network which was carefully crafted to could have been misunderstood as perputating racial stereotypes in an unfortunate manner for your campaign, Muthaf***ka. We extend our middle finger apologies to you and your family, and will work to ensure that this incident will not happen again more than 2 or 3 hundred times.

    Sincerely,
    Roger Ailes

  4. 4.

    Jon H

    June 14, 2008 at 10:38 am

    Form letter?

    They might as well make it their new motto or tagline.

    Instead of ‘Fair and Balanced’ or ‘The Cost Of Freedom’, they could run “We apologize for the racism of our staff’ on the chyron all the time.

  5. 5.

    Joe Max

    June 14, 2008 at 10:44 am

    They can’t help it. You may as well try to train a dog to stop pissing on trees and fire hydrants.

    When the dog’s gotta go, it’s gotta go. When you put Malkin on a camera, she’s gotta insert her foot in her mouth all the way to the knee cap. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was giving the chyron operator suggestions for the banners before they went on the air.

    “Hey, you know what those negroes call mothers? ‘Baby Mamas’! It’s hip urban slang! So use it, it’ll be cool!”

    I thought Malkin got booted from Faux News after the Geraldo kerfuaffle. Did she dispense sexual favors to Ailes or something?

    Enquiring minds want to know!

  6. 6.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    June 14, 2008 at 10:51 am

    Hopfully the Obama camp doesn’t circulate a list of all the racist things Fox has said. Cuz that’s just like playing the race card, as we found out in the primary.

  7. 7.

    Joshua Norton

    June 14, 2008 at 10:56 am

    They could come up with one for BO Reilly, too:

    Dear Sir/Madam:

    I am sorry if my grabbing your (check all that apply)

    1. Crotch
    2. Boobs
    3. Ass
    4. Other body part

    Was offensive to you. That was not my intention. The check is in the mail.

    Regards,
    BO

  8. 8.

    jrg

    June 14, 2008 at 11:00 am

    Fox makes up the news, then treats it like the “Jerry Springer” show. In any rational world, Fox would have no credibility at all.

  9. 9.

    The Other Steve

    June 14, 2008 at 11:29 am

    I hope that producer was fired.

    Probably only a 25 year old, it seems like Fox mostly has people who don’t know what they are doing working for them.

  10. 10.

    rob!

    June 14, 2008 at 11:42 am

    Nixon tried to have CBS’ news credentials removed during the lead up to Watergate.

    i’m not saying a President Obama SHOULD do that to Fox News when he’s in office, but…

  11. 11.

    RSA

    June 14, 2008 at 11:46 am

    Call me a sticker, but unless I hear the words “I apologize” or “I’m sorry”, I don’t count “someone in the organization exercised poor judgment” as an apology. I mean, George Bush has probably acknowledged exercising poor judgment at some point in time (e.g. in choosing a wedge instead of a 9-iron), but that’s not an apology.

  12. 12.

    RSA

    June 14, 2008 at 11:47 am

    Oops. Don’t call me a “sticker”, please. A stickler, okay.

  13. 13.

    jvill

    June 14, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Wai, wai, wai, wai, wai, wait…

    Are you telling me those #$@#%&#s lied to me when they said they were fair and balanced?

    @#$$%*&@#$&!

  14. 14.

    MikeR

    June 14, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    If I were Obama, I’d start calling out these Fox employees by name. Hold a press conference, identify the person or persons Fox says is responsible (certainly someone can figure out who was on duty at the time), and call them racists, call for their firing. Put these people under scrutiny, and let them squirm. Of course this stuff can’t be blamed on individual producers, but let’s take Fox at their word and start making these people the headlines.

  15. 15.

    JL

    June 14, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    If only the apology took the same amount of time as the actual mistake. In fact FOX should start the news segment with, we are going to make unfair and unbalanced comments about the next President of the United States, Barack Obama, so we apologize in advance.

  16. 16.

    Samwise

    June 14, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    The Other Steve Says:

    I hope that producer was fired.

    Probably only a 25 year old, it seems like Fox mostly has people who don’t know what they are doing working for them.

    I wish I could share your belief in the basic decency of Fox. Sadly, I’m certain that producer knew exactly what they were doing. For the next 5 months, Fox will continue to remind us as often as possible that the Obamas are (threateningly) Black.

    I’m thinking it might be fun to work up a bingo card with every racist dog whistle and smear and see how long it takes to Fox to hit five in a row. I doubt they’d even make it to the convention.

  17. 17.

    Cain

    June 14, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Call me a sticker, but unless I hear the words “I apologize” or “I’m sorry”, I don’t count “someone in the organization exercised poor judgment” as an apology. I mean, George Bush has probably acknowledged exercising poor judgment at some point in time (e.g. in choosing a wedge instead of a 9-iron), but that’s not an apology.

    Naw, just label them as “entertainment news”. It would piss them off if the President thinks of them of non-serious worthy of only entertainment. They should be on the same level as E! entertainment or something. They are the Mos Eisley of Journalism! Don’t invite them for any press releases nothing. Only mention the other news networks never them. It’ll piss them off.

    cain

  18. 18.

    Cassidy

    June 14, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    When you put Malkin on a camera, she’s gotta insert her foot in her mouth all the way to the knee cap…. Did she dispense sexual favors to Ailes or something?

    This would explain her popularity….

  19. 19.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    June 14, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Hopfully the Obama camp doesn’t circulate a list of all the racist things Fox has said. Cuz that’s just like playing the race card, as we found out in the primary.

    Heh heh. Indeed.

  20. 20.

    Tsulagi

    June 14, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    I don’t expect much from Fox News, but that “baby mama” reference really goes below zero class.

    Also shows once again they’re stupid to the core. Sure, “baby mama” no doubt got their target audience all giggly, but once again showed they’re nothing but a mouth organ for the 28%ers. They gained nothing trying to be cute, but turned off others and toward Obama.

  21. 21.

    barkleyg

    June 14, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    At this rate, we have another 30+ of these”mistakes”, by professionals(amateurs anywhere else) to look forward to. Real classy guy that Murdoch. NOT!!

  22. 22.

    Martin

    June 14, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    Obama’s press conference should be a bit different:

    “In the last two weeks, Fox News have referred to Michelle as my ‘baby mama’. For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a derogatory term used to describe the unwed mother of a man’s child, used almost exclusively against black people. This is the 3rd such incident in the last two weeks. Clearly Fox hasn’t yet figured out how to call Michelle and I ‘niggers’ and get away with it, but they keep trying, so I’ll offer this free opportunity. July 2, 2008 is the 44th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. On that day, Fox has my and Michelle’s permission to call us niggers all day long – as often as they want. A free 24 hours to get it out of their system. Maybe after that they can focus on actual reporting.”

  23. 23.

    Krista

    June 14, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    In the last two weeks, Fox News have referred to Michelle as my ‘baby mama’. For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a derogatory term used to describe the unwed mother of a man’s child, used almost exclusively against black people. This is the 3rd such incident in the last two weeks. Clearly Fox hasn’t yet figured out how to call Michelle and I ‘niggers’ and get away with it, but they keep trying, so I’ll offer this free opportunity. July 2, 2008 is the 44th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. On that day, Fox has my and Michelle’s permission to call us niggers all day long – as often as they want. A free 24 hours to get it out of their system. Maybe after that they can focus on actual reporting.”

    Oh god…just the thought of the look on EVERYBODY’s faces…

    /laughs hysterically.

  24. 24.

    rob!

    June 14, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    i would max out my $2300 contribution to Obama if he made that statement…

  25. 25.

    Blue Raven

    June 14, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    Obama’s press conference should be a bit different:

    wild applause

    And I keep coming back to wanting to call Malkin the right’s comfort woman.

  26. 26.

    ann

    June 14, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    lmao @ the press conference. Classic. I do keep wondering when one of the talking heads at Fox or wingnut radio will just finally snap and say what they want to say about the Obamas. Sean Hannity is crying daily about what he can’t say about them and what he can’t call them.

  27. 27.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    June 14, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    Obama’s press conference should be a bit different:

    POTD.

    Obama might have to set up a clean-up crew fund to help pay for dealing with the exploding head remains.

  28. 28.

    YellowJournalism

    June 14, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Martin just wrote part of the script for the best political skit ever.

  29. 29.

    Down and Out of Sài Gòn

    June 14, 2008 at 7:19 pm

    I doubt that Rupert Murdoch is personally behind the smears. He’s got two partly-black grandchildren after all (via his daughter Elisabeth) and has praised Obama in the past. I suspect he was the guy that brought the hammer down in News Corporation and made Fox apologise.

    My problem with him is that he’s a mercenary bastard. He’s not racist himself, but he doesn’t mind making a buck out of racists.

  30. 30.

    grumpy realist

    June 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    Anyone with a connection to the Obama campaign? MikeR, you are a political genius.

  31. 31.

    Liz

    June 14, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Martin, you win so hard. If he actually delivered that speech, I’d sell blood to donate to him.

  32. 32.

    Conservatively Liberal

    June 15, 2008 at 12:50 am

    Unrelated to this, but the wife and I went on a long motorcycle ride this evening, and we saw a huge home made “Obama 08” sign in a pasture about 10 miles north of Gold Beach, Oregon. It looked like three sheets of 4×8 plywood that was set up as a 12×8 sign. They painted it bright white and used bold black lettering to make it stand out loud and clear.

    My wife and I just smiled. This rural county is generally right leaning, and Obama won it 52/48 in the primary. I see Obama signs scattered around, and I have yet to see one McCain sign. Same for the wife.

    One sad note is that we can tell gas prices are going to kill our tourism this year. Our motels/hotels and campgrounds/state parks are usually full every weekend, with ‘No Vacancy’ signs everywhere, and the roads are clogged with RV’s, trailers and loaded SUV’s. Not this year. The lack of traffic on the highway is a loud and clear sign that things are different this year. We saw two RV’s on our 90 mile trip this evening. The hotels/motels are almost empty, and we have not seen a single no vacancy sign so far this year.

    Ouch.

  33. 33.

    passerby

    June 15, 2008 at 2:34 am

    Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News television station has been forced to apologise

    And from the link:

    The trio of apologies is embarrassing for Fox.

    “Forced to apologize” but, the article does not elaborate. Who’s forcing them, who’s even calling for an apology?

    Fox is not embarrassed in the least. This is all by design where they inject these smears into the public realm then “apologize” knowing full well you can’t get the genie back in the bottle.

    It’s so obvious as to not even be clever anymore. Those viewers who would fall for it were already “fallen” to start with.

    Still waiting for the N word…

    T

  34. 34.

    Balakirev

    June 15, 2008 at 8:32 am

    Fox is not embarrassed in the least. This is all by design where they inject these smears into the public realm then “apologize” knowing full well you can’t get the genie back in the bottle.

    Exactly. They know quite well the conventional journalistic wisdom that inaccurate news lands on the first few pages, while apologies go next to the obituaries. Put this one right alongside the morally suspect Republicans identified “out of error” on Fox News as Democrats. What matters is the image, not the words given a day or two afterwards.

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