PFAW gets firsthand experience with Fox's lack of balance

Written by Terry Krepel

Published

You already know that Fox News' “fair and balanced” mantra is, shall we say, counterfactual. People for the American Way got a firsthand lesson in just how counterfactual that slogan is.

PFAW's Right Wing Watch details how Fox News asked a PFAW representative to appear for a segment on America's Newsroom -- if you'll recall, that's one of the “news” shows that falls within the hours Fox News claims to air objective programming -- about the Texas schoolbook controversy. The segment was bumped from its original scheduled appearance on the May 19 edition of the show due to election coverage and rescheduled for the next day, a not-uncommon occurrence. PFAW continues:

But then, late on Wednesday, we were informed by Fox that the segment was being dropped entirely and that we wouldn't be appearing on the program to discuss this topic.

Again, that was perfectly understandable as these things happen.

But all of that took place behind the scenes at PFAW, leaving me was unaware that our participation in the segment had been canceled. As such, I tuned into Fox's “American's Newsroom” yesterday morning expecting to see our Senior Fellow Peter Montgomery on the program discussing this issue ... but instead, this is what I saw:

[video of segment]

Fox had dropped us from this segment and instead decided to just give “concerned parent” Terry Ann Kelly three minutes to explain how conservatives simply want to add some “balance” to the curriculum by teaching children about their religious freedoms.

[...]

So after asking us to come on to debate this issue, Fox canceled on us, telling us that they weren't going to run the segment ... and then proceeded to still run the segment, with only the conservative side represented.

PFAW adds that Kelly is much more than a “concerned parent” Fox portrayed her as -- she's an activist with “an expansive background in public speaking, radio and television.”

That snickering you hear in the background is the sound of a growing number of Americans who see Fox News' “fair and balanced” slogan for the farce that it is.