Are Fox News hosts and guests
being muzzled on Chandra Levy comparisons? When Sean Hannity asked Fox
commentator Newt Gingrich to evaluate Gary Condit's conduct, Hannity failed
to even bring up Gingrich's own experience having an adulterous affair with
a lower-level, much younger Congressional employee. I assumed it was
Hannity's denseness or hypocrisy.
But then "No-Spin Zone" maven Bill O'Reilly interviewed
Gingrich on the same subject and also was mute.
If O'Reilly was interviewing
a former bank robber about a current robbery, O'Reilly would certainly bring
up his guest's background and avail himself of the guest's expertise.
Since O'Reilly is not shy about getting in guest's faces, I was wondering if
he'd say something like "Mr. Speaker, you've had first-hand experience
having an affair with a younger government employee. What light can
you shed on Gary Condit's conduct in connection with Chandra Levy, and on
what must be going through his head?" O'Reilly's failure to do so was
bad journalism, and a disservice to his viewers. One could call it
"spinning" by omission.
Further: Fox guests sometimes
point out that affairs such as with Chandra Levy are not limited to
Democrats. But with only one exception I can recall, Gingrich's affair
-- one of the most recent and comparable such episodes -- is never among the
Republican examples the guests give.
Has Fox News head Roger Ailes
muzzled his hosts -- and maybe even Fox News guests -- with respect to the
Chandra Levy scandal in order to protect his commentator Newt Gingrich?
