"Jesse-gate" provides a window into the way that media bias operates: Liberals get the benefit of the doubt, conservatives get it in the neck. And of course, if it involves Fox News, well, whatever it is, whatever FNC does, it's just horrible. Got that? And that liberal litany holds true, even when Fox tries to be nice. As Clare Booth Luce said of such situations, "No good deed goes unpunished."
A case in point is the delicate way that FNC handled the Jesse Jackson "hot mic" story, which has blasted around the world, even to the Times of India!
On Tuesday, Fox discovered that it had a big story--Jackson trashing Barack Obama. That is, a former black presidential candidate--OK, more of a protest candidate, back in '84 and '88--was seen and heard trash-talking the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee, the first black man ever to win that honor. And Obama is a fellow Chicagoan, so the two men must know each other pretty well! It was quite a story, given that Jackson was an old-line radical, while Obama presents himself as a newstyle "post-partisan" centrist.
So by that reckoning, f anything, Fox should have played it bigger, not just playing the tape over and over again, but analyzing the politics of the general shift, and so on. And as we shall see, Fox might yet still play it bigger. More on that juicy possibility in a moment.
But for now, let's take a look at the high-pious tone adopted by NBC/MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro, writing collectively, for MSNBC "First Read," which appears on the website, and is also e-mailed out to subscribers. (TCG gets it. Why not, it's free, and is a pretty good source for the latest in liberal conventional wisdom.)
Here's the earnestly-toned Todd/Murray/Montanaro post:
Just asking: Why isn't there a debate about the ethics of the Fox decision to release the off-mic conversation?
Oh sure, "just asking." As if there's any doubt that an enormous number of "media ethicists" will weigh in heavily on this topic, in the weeks and months and years to come. Media institutes and journalism schools will ponder and maunder, and in the end, they will conclude that yes, Fox News is terrible. You can bet on it.
And did I mention that Todd/Murray/Montanaro work at MSNBC, which is attempting to set itself up as Fox's arch-rival cable news network?
Now of course, it wasn't always the case that liberal chin-pullers worried about "gotcha" quotes coming over open microphones. For example, nobody seemed to object to using the awkward "hot mic" comments made by George W. Bush to Dick Cheney back during the 2000 presidential campaign. But of course, those who follow the media know that if a conservative says something ugly in an unguarded moment, well, that's valuable news, because the careless talk provides a revealing window into who conservatives are. But if a liberal says something bad by accident, well, it's just that--an accident! And so it's probably wrong to even mention a liberal gaffe, certainly wrong to harp on it.
The Cable Gamer didn't have much reaction to Jesse Jackson's "hot mic" comments, in which he whispered to a fellow talking head that he, Jackson, didn't like the way Obama was speaking, about reforming the black family, and so he, Jackson, wanted to "cut his nuts off." (Gee, doesn't really sound like a model of Christian charity, does it, Reverend Jackson?)
But of course, it's always fun when people say what they really think. As the pundit Michael Kinsley observed, "In politics, 'a gaffe' is when someone blurts out the truth." And that's one of the fun things about news: You never know what's going to happen next--that's why you hafta watch.
As the LA Times' Matea Gold chronicled in a well-reported story, it took two days before an alert Fox techie noticed what JJ had said.
Gold highlighted the role played by Bill Shine, senior VP at FNC. Once Shine heard the tape, he handled the situation with above-and-beyond the call diplomacy: Rather than simply running with this scoop, he alerted both the Jackson and Obama camps--whereupon, as Gold also notes, Jackson immediately went on CNN to pre-emptively apologize, before the offending words had even been aired. "Thanks Jesse"--that must be what FNC is thinking--"we do you the favor of a courtesy heads-up call, and you sandbag us in return!"
Gold picks up the story again:
Whereupon [Bill] O'Reilly told viewers that the network had decided to air only portions of what Jackson had said, saying there was "more damaging" material.
Shine declined to comment on what else Jackson said, adding that news executives were in discussions about whether to air more of the tape.
In other words, Fox has more stuff on tape, even more harmful to Jackson, that it could use if it wanted to. So be careful, Jesse! If you do all your sucking up to CNN and the MSM, then FNC could yet open up.
But in the meantime, the predictable roar of anti-Fox outrage will continue in the MSM, as media types such as The Miami Herald's James Burnett crash down their liberal double-standard outrage on Fox.
But it could all be too late. Jackson "nut-cut" story has gone viral not only on TV, but online, way beyond the reach of the MSM.
That's The Cable Game for you, which, of course, has become The Convergence Game.
UPDATE: Rachel Maddow, subbing for Keith Olbermann on the same MSNBC tonight, is attempting to paint Fox as engaging in some cover-up of the Jackson material. Liberals don't want the material released, of course, but they love pummeling Fox for not releasing. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too!
