Media Research Center Founder Brent Bozell appeared on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Company Thursday, to discuss the latest developments in the Telemundo scene staging saga. On June 1, Bozell demanded that Telemundo apologize for the incident and fire the cameraman staging the shot. In response, Telemundo has offered nothing but excuses.
Bozell explained to Stuart Varney Telemundo’s reasoning for not acting to resolve the issue:
They said, first, that they hadn't aired this footage. But that's just because they didn't want to air it. I mean, it was on the cutting room floor. And the second one was that it wasn't one of their employees, it was a contract employee from Los Angeles that they hired for the day. But that really doesn't hold any water. They hired him, and he's got the Telemundo name on there.
“I don't understand how the press simply cannot make itself apologize when it does something wrong,” Bozell exclaimed, frustrated. Bozell went on the say, all Telemundo needed to do was say they apologize and will not hire that contractor again.
In addition, Bozell noted that what happened would never be the case at a conservative protest:
What if this were a Tea Party rally and you had two protesters who picked up an American flag and, by mistake, picked it up upside down? A reporter— a cameraman would rush, not to tell them to turn it around, but to cover it upside down to show what buffoons the Tea Party are.
Transcript below:
Fox Business Network
Varney & Company
June 2, 2016
10:18:14 AM EasternSTUART VARNEY: Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell brought us this story, he’s with us now. You say Telemundo should apologize. Well, have they?
BRENT BOZELL: No. No, we contacted them, and they came back with this statement. They said, first, that they hadn't aired this footage. But that's just because they didn't want to air it. I mean, it was on the cutting room floor. And the second one was that it wasn't one of their employees, it was a contract employee from Los Angeles that they hired for the day. But that really doesn't hold any water. They hired him, and he's got the Telemundo name on there. And so, what should they have done?
I don't understand this, Stuart. I don't understand how the press simply cannot make itself apologize when it does something wrong. They should have just simply said, “look, we didn't use the footage, but that doesn't change anything. The person we hired shouldn't have done that. We apologize, and we're never going to use that guy again.”
That would have been the end of it. But day after day it's now being reported. And it gives terrific fodder to Donald Trump in the wake of his press conference to say one big, “I told you so.”
VARNEY: And it was the Mexican flag displayed in front of an American presidential candidate in America. I keep saying this, I think the Mexican flag displayed like that is like a red rag to a bull. That's— Americans don't like this. Am I going wrong here, Brent? I don't think they like this one bit.
BOZELL: No, no. No. Here's -- remember, you and I talk about the role of the opposites. I just think about this, what if this were a Tea Party rally and you had two protesters who picked up an American flag and, by mistake, picked it up upside down? A reporter— a cameraman would rush, not to tell them to turn it around, but to cover it upside down to show what buffoons the Tea Party are.
VARNEY: Quickly, I said the other day that Donald Trump had won in his confrontation with the media at that news press conference he gave in New York. I said he'd won. In the view of ordinary people. What say you?
BOZELL: You're 100 percent right. Every time the media attack him, he's getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Look, the public has had it, has had it with these people in the press that are so haughty, so arrogant and so one-sided. And the way they're going after Donald Trump, the more they attack him, the stronger he gets. So yeah, this was a big plus for him.
VARNEY: Brent Bozell, always a pleasure. Thanks for joining us, Brent. We'll see you again real soon. Thank you.
BOZELL: Thank you, Stuart.
