Brit Hume 'Balanced And Fair' at ABC but 'Edgy And Opinionated' at Fox News

Change font size:  A |  A

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz today offers up an analysis of why Vice President Cheney chose Brit Hume -- and only Brit Hume -- to go public with the details of his hunting accident. This, of course, will be the next phase of the media's assault on the Vice President's character, which is about to become an assault on the character of Fox News as well; why would the Vice President forgo a press conference for an in-depth interview with just one person.

Former Clinton spokesman, Mike McCurry said this of Hume:

Hume was "impartial and balanced and fair" as an ABC correspondent covering Clinton, but that "he's in advocacy journalism now."

Unfortunately, calling Hume and "advocacy journalist" tells us nothing of what Mr. McCurry thought regarding the substance of the interview, which took place yesterday. Kurtz also writes that:

"Fox News is widely viewed as more sympathetic to the Bush administration than the other networks, particularly through its high-profile talk show hosts."

There are other quotes, but the pattern is very similar. The underlying tone of the article is that Fox News in general and Brit Hume in particular were chosen because mainstream journalists see Fox as "friendly" to the administration. This, of course, is primarily an opinion which flows from the fact that Fox News is willing to say anything positive regarding the Bush Administration at all.

The mainstream media's coverage of the Bush Administration in general and this incident in particular has been unendingly harsh. But does Kurtz mention at all the fact that Fox News too has offered up its own critiques of the way Vice President Cheney handled this incident? Does Kurtz even mention that, along with the video and a transcript of the interview with the Vice President, there is also a video excerpt of a response by Terry McAuliffe, the former Chairman of the DNC?

The answers are, of course, "No," and "No."