On Thursday night, Fusion/Univision anchor Jorge Ramos met his match in Fox News Channel’s Kelly File host Megyn Kelly, who proceeded call out Ramos on his claim that journalists shouldn’t be neutral in their coverage of Donald Trump (following his lead of sparring with him) and wondered if he’d do the same for Hillary Clinton since many consider her to be a liar like some Latinos consider Trump a racist.
As MRC Latino and NewsBusters have chronicled for years, Ramos has been able to flaunt his far-left liberal bias for the world to see on issues such as illegal immigration to Trump’s candidacy. With his recent statements, however, he’s sunk to a new low.
Ramos was invited by Kelly to explain his rationale, but he was quickly interrupted when Ramos argued that “you did it in that first question, that first debate, when Donald Trump was confronted with the fact he had insulted women and you took a stand, that's exactly what I'm saying.”
Kelly immediately fired back that she was merely “asking a question” having “identified an issue” as opposed to telling the presidential candidate “here's what Megyn Kelly thinks of you, Donald Trump.”
Ramos equated Trump’s statements with figures carrying out human rights violations that deserve to be exposed and boasted of a poll result he loves to cite that while “[m]aybe Donald Trump does not consider himself a racist, but 73 percent of Latinos think that he is.”
Once again, Kelly put a full stop to this mind-numbing spin and brought up Hillary Clinton’s horrid honest/trustworthy ratings and wondered if, by Ramos’s own definition, Clinton should always be branded in every news story as a “liar”:
Okay. But 70 percent of the American public think that Hillary Clinton is a liar, so by that same token, what are we supposed to do? Every time we're supposed to do about Hillary saying something, should we be saying, by the way, she's a liar. She’s a liar. Liar, Hillary Clinton. I mean, you see you sort of go down the rabbit hole once you start injecting these judgments on the candidates as a journalist.
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The host of Fusion’s America offered a pedestrian and weak answer about journalists needing “to confront those in power,” so Kelly hammered again by invoking Ramos’s daughter as currently working for the Hillary Clinton campaign:
But your detractors have said you have a daughter, Paola, who’s working for the Hillary Clinton campaign, and did you disclose that in your opinion piece pushing for journalists to, quote, “take a stand,” and is this personal for you in that way?
With time running out, Ramos admitted that these concerns are “fair” and explained that he’s “disclosed that Paola works for the Hillary campaign many, many times” and specifically “[e]very time I've talked to Hillary Clinton, before I do that, I disclose that” plus being denoted on Univision’s website.
After the interview, Kelly brought on MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz for reaction and, predictably, Kurtz pointed out that neutrality “stopped being an option for him years ago, especially after he staged that confrontation with Donald Trump last year, when he started shouting at him” but wasn’t exactly rebuked by the media because many “publicly and privately” agreed with him.
Kurtz later added that he “feel[s] very strongly about” stories like this because Ramos’s behavior “does not feel or look or smell like journalism” and suggested that Ramos quit his job to “[g]o crusade against him, become an op-ed columnist, whatever” instead.
“Because once you do that, once you decide Trump must lose, he's bad, he’s racist, whatever, then what happens when something like Wikileaks documents come to you and you get all sorts of information on Hillary Clinton? Do you bury it,” Kelly concluded.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s The Kelly File on August 25 can be found below.
FNC’s The Kelly File
August 25, 2016
9:25 p.m. EasternMEGYN KELLY: We've been covering today's highly charged accusations of racism and bigotry in this White House race, and it comes as one of the country's leading Hispanic journalists has issued a controversial call. You may remember Jorge Ramos getting national attention after he was forcibly removed from a Trump event, exactly one year ago today. Now, he's getting national attention for calling on his fellow journalists to drop their impartiality when it comes to candidate Trump, writing: “It doesn't matter who you are — journalist, a politician, or a voter — we will all be judged by how we responded to Donald Trump.” Jorge Ramos is a news anchor with Univision and author of Take a Stand. Jorge, great to see you again. So what do you mean by that because you come out specifically and say neutrality is not an option, even for June lifts. Explain.
JORGE RAMOS: I think so. I think neutrality is not an option when you, as a journalist, are confronted with racism, corruption, public lies, dictatorships or violations of human rights. I think Walter Cronkite got it right. There are certain instances where you have to take a stand. I think, for instance, you did it in that first question, that first debate, when Donald Trump was confronted with the fact he had insulted women and you took a stand. That's exactly what I'm saying. I’m not saying that we should put aside objectivity, but what I’m saying —
KELLY: Well, but let me ask you about that because I didn't – let me ask you about that, Jorge.
RAMOS: — neutrality is not an option. Go ahead.
KELLY: But that was not me taking a stand. That was me asking a question. I identified an issue and thought it worthy of a question. It wasn't here's what Megyn Kelly thinks of you, Donald Trump. Is that what you're advocating, that we as journalists should inject our opinions and say, that's racist or that's sexist?
(....)
RAMOS: Maybe Donald Trump does not consider himself a racist, but 73 percent of Latinos think that he is.
KELLY: Okay. But 70 percent of the American public think that Hillary Clinton is a liar, so by that same token, what are we supposed to do? Every time we're supposed to do about Hillary saying something, should we be saying, by the way, she's a liar. She’s a liar. Liar, Hillary Clinton. I mean, you see you sort of go down the rabbit hole once you start injecting these judgments on the candidates as a journalist.
RAMOS: More than judgments, I think it is our social responsibility as journalists to confront those who are in power.
KELLY: But your detractors have said you have a daughter, Paola, who’s working for the Hillary Clinton campaign, and did you disclose that in your opinion piece pushing for journalists to, quote, “take a stand,” and is this personal for you in that way?
RAMOS: I think it's a fair question and I've disclosed that Paola works for the Hillary campaign many, many times. Every time I've talked to Hillary Clinton, before I do that, I disclose that. It's on Univision's Web page.
(....)
HOWARD KURTZ: Well, when Jorge Ramos says option is not — neutrality is not an option, excuse me, well, hey, it stopped being an option for him years ago, especially after he staged that confrontation with Donald Trump last year, when he started shouting at him, you can't build a wall, was still yelling as security escorted him out. The problem, Megyn, is there are a lot of American-born journalists publicly and privately who agree with Jorge Ramos when it comes to Donald Trump.
(....)
KELLY: Because once you do that, once you decide Trump must lose, he's bad, he’s racist, whatever, then what happens when something like Wikileaks documents come to you and you get all sorts of information on Hillary Clinton? Do you bury it? Do you say, I don't want to hurt her, so I'm not going to disclose this? You just — you start walking down a very dangerous, dangerous avenue.
