FOX Evades Earthquake Coverage: Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter Ignore/Redirect on Haitian Tragedy

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Jeffrey Joseph

With "News" as a part of the name, people should expect FOX News to cover the major stories of the day such as the massively damaging earthquake in Haiti. The network's prominent hosts and guests, however, chose either to avoid the topic for fluff pieces or to turn the event into an opportunity to revisit tired political attacks.

Bill O'Reilly, the reigning "Big Man on Campus" at FOX News, spent a few minutes discussing the earthquake and the aid Americans would provide. He also went on to suggest that funds sent in the direction of Haiti would come mostly from the U.S. but would largely go stolen. Dana Perino, who failed to remember 9/11, then came on the show to give her expert analysis on Obama's popularity. The rest of his broadcast from the day after the earthquake included highlights such as bashing Jon Stewart, bringing on Bo Derek to talk about Japanese whaling, and having Dennis Miller discuss topics such as the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien dispute. In that context, the politics of dissecting Obama's poll numbers almost does appear relevant. Still, at that moment, nothing should have called for O'Reilly's attention more than the situation in Haiti.

Conspiracy theorist extraordinaire and another highly rated FOX host, Glenn Beck hardly spent much time on the topic, either. Last Thursday, just two days after the earthquake initially struck, Beck failed to devote even 90 seconds to the situation in Haiti. He preferred to denigrate Sen. Harry Reid -- Beck's top priority still remaining politics. Of course, Beck probably had enough difficulty forcing himself to utter "Haiti" on air, what with his disdain for "pronouncing these stupid countries’ names."

Another commentator clearly sickened at considering real issues within Haiti, Ann Coulter turned the discussion to a diatribe against former President Bill Clinton. Nine years out of office, President Clinton joined President Bush

to coordinate relief efforts for Haiti. Coulter turned the issue into a political one, decrying President Clinton as "the horny hick" and referring to his involvement in an attempt to help the millions suffering in Haiti as a "shame and embarrassment." 

FOX and its publicized media figures certainly have their set priorities and a willingness to stick by them no matter the interests of their viewers. Conversely, the three top-rated programs on MSNBC, a channel billed with the slogan "The Place for Politics," each dedicated at least a half an hour of programming to Haiti on the day Beck could not give it two minutes. It only further supports the idea that MSNBC does a far better job of covering news than FOX and explains why Anita Dunn referred to FOX as "the communications arm of the Republican Party."

Millions of Haitians suffer from a natural disaster and the world wants to know about it. So many of the personalities on FOX News, though, could not take their eyes off the conservative agenda long enough to show some compassion or at least do some journalism. More reason to turn away from the unbalanced reporting -- and to Turn Off FOX.

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Originally posted at Turn Off FOX.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT