MRC Press Release: Newsday Should Apologize to Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly

Photo of Seton Motley.

NewsBusters.org | Media Research Center
Spreading the Word
NewsBusters.org's parent company, the Media Research Center, today released the following statement (related to this NewsBusters post) from President L. Brent Bozell, III.

BOZELL: NEWSDAY SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO
LIMBAUGH, HANNITY AND O'REILLY

Columnist suggested radio hosts responsible for Tennessee church murders

ALEXANDRIA, VA - Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell today sent a letter to Newsday Publisher Tim Knight demanding an apology for the August 13 column by Jenna Kern-Rugile entitled "Does shock jock hate speech lead to violence?" in which she inexplicably and noxiously links the contemptible July 27 murders committed in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.

Bozell also insisted that Ms. Rugile never again appear on the pages of Newsday.

MRC President L. Brent Bozell:

"Yesterday's Newsday column was absolutely despicable, and they should be ashamed and embarrassed for having printed it.

"Jenna Kern-Rugile's wretched words were nothing more than an in-print character assassination of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, a foray into absurd Leftist delusions of links between them and the vile murderer in a Tennessee church this past July 27.

"This is not a freedom of speech issue. This is Newsday giving this woman a license to assault these fine men in print, accusing them of complicity in murder.

"Newsday should immediately publish a full retraction, and an abject and absolute apology to those defamed by this woman's wretched words. And Ms. Rugile should never again appear in their pages."

—Seton Motley is Director of Communications for the Media Research Center.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Apology Nation

Don't take this as a specific criticism of Bozell and MRC for their efforts here because I think they largely want to call attention to something that doesn't get much attention, BUT...

I am generally getting tired of everybody calling for apologies in this country. One politician criticizes another's policies and the first one calls for an apology. Hey folks, that is how politics is played. Obama seems to be the king of this with any critique of his wife or pastor, etc. requiring a specific apology.

Everybody is apologizing for everything.

First, it indicates that people in this nation are becoming intensely wussified thinking that they are owed an apology for the slightest of slights.

Second, apologies almost seem routine and superficial now, and this denigrates the a sincere apology when one is required.

If this offended anybody, I'm sorry. :-\

<insert witty signature here>

The point of the apology

I agree with your sentiment in general, Dr_Liberty, but calling for an apology in this context is just a social device. No one really imagines Bozell and Limbaugh weeping about the indignity of being insulted like this. Somehow I can't imagine any of these four guys getting emotional about it. I'm sure they get a thousand hate emails a day, and like most public figures (especially those who make their living by opinions), they brush them off -- or send the threatening ones to the FBI.

The real intent of "calling for an apology" is simply to force the speaker (and those who publish/broadcast what the speakers say) to take responsibility for their words. It's a public challenge to their integrity. And when a public figure like Bozell does it, it puts the publisher on the spot to either cave or defend the words they published.

  • If they just ignore it, Bozell then has every right to proclaim to the public that the publisher and the writer don't take responsibility for what they write.
    • The irony here, of course, is that the original writer (and Newsday, by publishing it) have accused the conservatives of being irresponsible in their words. It would be the height of hypocrisy for these same accusers to ignore calls to be responsible themselves.
  • And if they want to defend themselves on the details of what they accused, bring it on. I'm sure Bozell, Limbaugh, the others (and the whole conservative world for that matter -- I'll be happy to join) are itching for that fight, in public, as loud as possible.

More than likely, Newsday will weasel out and issue a "we stand by our columnist" statement, with which they give the appearance of being brave without any of the risk.

____________

 

On the other hand, Bozell is probably just giving them a rhetorical finger. Either explanation is fine with me.

Good call; however, I'm

Good call; however, I'm sure the letter just got sorted with the junk mail and tossed out.

Maybe it was just too tough getting convictions using the GTA video game excuse, so "shock jock" personalities are the next best catalyst to blame.  Bloggers might not be too far behind, so we should probably watch what we say.

Here Here

I wholeheartedly agree.  This kind of junk reporting has to be put down and this woman needs to lose her job.

As much as I agree with the

As much as I agree with the letter, I'm afraid that Brent's efforts will fall on deaf ears.  But, if someone were to accuse Al Franken or Bill Maher of the same thing, yes, they would find themselves in the cheese line the next day.

Sad, but true.

Wrong Person

Brent sent the letter to the wrong person.

Newsday was sold to Cablevision which is owned by the Dolans. The letter should have been sent to them. Knight is a "numbers" person - not a real newspaper publisher.

Just prior to its sale to the Dolans, Newsday took a very sharp left turn. Their national and interational news is almost entirely from the AP; their columnists are all liberals with thelone exception being Charles Krauthammer only on Fridays. They have dropped all pretense of objectivity or journalistic integrity. Newsday is a unashamed supporter of Obama.

 

 

here on Long .island ,ny

we have only one local daily newspaper to serve about 1.5 mill people[not subscribers] . newsday has turned into a very negative, leftist publication,it probably would make the ny slimes appear as a centrist publication.it can only get worse under the dolan's.

Liberals, especially the

Liberals, especially the ones in the media, have lost all sense of shame and seriousness. They have elevated the most radical smart alecks and bomb throwers to the front ranks and they won't apologize for whatever they say or write.

McNotObama '08

Agreed, just as making on

Agreed, just as making Olbie's "Worst Person" list is a badge of honor for any sane person, Libs will view this as an award.

Has everybody here actually

Has everybody here actually read the op/ed in question? It's really not that outrageous. It does not in any way suggest that those talk-show hosts had any literal link to the Tennessee shooting. To claim that Kern-Rugile even implied this is highly irresponsible.

While I do not fully agree with the tenor, target, or rhetorical strategies of her essay, it is a perfectly legitimate critique and assessment of the social impact of the occasionally hateful - yes, hateful - things that those pundits say.

O'Reilly, Savage, and Hannity should not by any means be censored or held accountable for this shooting. But the intersection between the shooter's professed motives, the rhetoric of the aforementioned commentators' daily diatribes, and the fact that the shooter was apparently an acolyte of all three is certainly worth discussing.

Demanding an apology and giving ultimatums to the publisher of this essay are not, in my opinion, reasonable reactions.

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

Do you just fart your thoughts

Has everybody here actually read the op/ed in question? It's really not that outrageous.

______________________________________________

No, no one here has read the piece, not even Brent Bozell, only YOU have read it. Mr. Bozell owes you an apology immediately. Shame on him for finding it outrageous and in doing so failing to even read the piece.

P.S. Do you just fart your thoughts or is their some effort behind them?

The answer to terrorism IS war. Next Please!

Well Guy, the prevailing

Well Guy, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that the author directly blamed Limaugh et al. for the killings, and/or suggested that they ought to be censored. She did no such thing. Thus, my question. Will that be all?

"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."

No, he just carelessly

No, he just carelessly wonders if they inspire the hate that then motivates a person to kill. Sorry but your arguement is pathetic. A person does not have to say Limbaugh made the guy pull the trigger. Its the fact that he thinks Limbaugh is so rabid that his mere show creates an atmosphere that encourages people to kill. The fact is that the very premise is totally wrong. Limbaugh does not spew hate or intollerance. Watch Keith O. for 5 minutes and listen to Limbaugh and you say with a straight face that Limbaugh spews hate.

You say the author doesn't suggest he be sensored. So? Do you have to ask someone to be sensored to lie about them or say outrageous things about them? I fail to see your point. What if I say "JasonC rapes children." I never tried to sensor you, so its ok right?

If the author doesn't blame him for the killing why mention them in the story? What relevance if the talk shows bear no responsibility? I think I can answer its because the link is made to blame them. Come on.

You don't think Rush

You don't think Rush promotes intolerance of liberals? 

Rush is intolerant of liberalism, not liberals

Rush promotes intolerance of liberal ideas and policies.  There's a difference.  A fair minded person who listens to Rush or Hannity could not conclude otherwise.  (Savage is not on in my area, so I can't comment.)

None of the MSM ever speculates if their attacks on evangelical Christian leaders leads to all the church shootings.  Also, Christian students were often singled out during the wave of school shootings a few years ago.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

when did attacking people

when did attacking people politically = encourage murder?

 

Sorry bal but that's pathetic.

Bal that is such a

Bal that is such a distortion that it's outrageous. If you're saying that Rush suggests that, because he thinks liberals are bad for the country, it's OK to kill them en masse, I hope you have some examples.

 

mb... He doesn't....that

mb...

He doesn't....that is an impossibilty...as you already know.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

I never said anything about

I never said anything about killing people. I think Rush promotes the idea that you can't just be opposed to a liberal idea; you have to be opposed to anything and everything they stand for. Liberals are the enemies and have nothing worthy to contribute.

Now, it is absurd to think that means Rush wants conservatives to kill liberals. 

LOL boa... Liberals are

LOL boa...

Liberals are the enemies and have nothing worthy to contribute.

Sounds about right to me.

Just what are they good for? 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Online cursing.

Online cursing.

That's suppose to be some

That's suppose to be some contribution?

...that's it?

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Well you're not going to

Well you're not going to believe anything else I post, so...

Oh come on boa... You

Oh come on boa...

You know better than that...we have been posting back and forth for years now...

You just haven't thought up any good reason yet....because ther isn't one...(btw...I'm waiting for your brethren to jump in with one good thing liberals are good for...and balance of anything does not count) 

Your playing for time...

Whats the matter...google not helping out?

LOL....

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

If you need someone to point

If you need someone to point out for you what's good about nearly half the population...

That's the probelm balboa - we are not takling about individuals

we are talking about the failed ideology. So is Rush. We all have liberal friends and colleagues that are smart and talented at what they do. That isn't the point.  You guys just want to take it personal.

Oh, my bad. When you said

Oh, my bad. When you said "Just what are they good for," I thought you meant liberals, not liberal ideology.

balboa - When we say "liberals" here

95% of the time we are talking about the liberal intelligentsia.

If you need someone to

If you need someone to point out for you what's good about nearly half the population...

...ah yeah I do boa...and I'm still waiting for an answer...

...this is the longest I've seen you not come up with a good one.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Womans rights

Democrats helped womans rights and to help do away with the glass ceiling.

President John Kennedy establishes the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appoints Eleanor Roosevelt
as chairwoman. The report issued by the Commission in 1963 documents
substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes
specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring
practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care.

Real life video games are cool

congratulations Shawn - this is a post much more worthy

of praise. I don't agree completely but you did make a good point.

 

Wow Dee

This was an unexpected pleasant surprise. Thank you.

Real life video games are cool

Shawn - I don't just disagree to disagree

I know you and others think I do but I'm not like that. You were the only one who tried to attack it with something substantial rather than just whining about unfair stereotypes. I was especially impressed because your reply was to BT and you didn't just try to start something with her.
I know that a lot has been said between all of us and it would be hard to ever have any kind of trust, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to argue political points without getting nasty. As I've told you before (and you won't believe me) when I disagree with your political points it's not personal.

Your right Dee

It is unfortunate that you and I, who used to be pretty friendly have let it get to where it has between us. Your right, it does not need to be so nasty and personal. I apologize for any hurtful things I have said to you.  I will try to let bygones be bygones if you do the same...deal?

Real life video games are cool

Edit

See I'm learning. :-)  I have a wacky sense of humor and I will always use double entendre's and weird references and will think nothing of it. If you are ever offended with what I say and you feel  that it  is not approriate, just ask me and I will stop.

I'll try Shawn

I do appreciate the apology and I guess I'm sorry too but it doesn't change the fact that I'm going to aggressively stick up for conservative posters (except for a few trouble makers) and NB contributors no matter who it is attacking them.
All we can do is try I guess.

you are learning Shawn

I like that. : )

Great movie

I'm gettin' all misty eyed.

    I ♣ my seal

Women had been doing all

Women had been doing all that on their own for decades, to put it mildly....by their own determination...without govt. help or special laws.

...everything you have mentioned has just been the aid thru govt. of the down fall of the family...which was their intention to begin with...still is. 

Big whoop...

...still waiting for boa. 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Uh huh...

If you need someone to point out for you what's good about nearly half the population... - balboabrain

Hey mindless liberal, why do you waste your time on a Conservative blog? What is your purpose here other than the fact you just can't stand that Conservatives have blogs and like a good little mindless overemotional liberal, you have to butt in? Second, if you think half this nation is a bunch of mindless liberals, why do your heros like The Messiah and Shrillary have to shift center to gain votes? I like how your boy shifted to tough talk on Russia after McCain did. Go wet your bed.

 

Shhh. We're trying to have a

Shhh. We're trying to have a discussion here. 

Then why did you post your

Then why did you post your intolerance crack in response to Ryan's

If the author doesn't blame him for the killing why mention them [sic] in the
story? What relevance if the talk shows bear no responsibility?

We're talking about whether Rush promotes an atmosphere in which killing liberals would be OK, and you toss out "Rush doesn't promote intolerance to liberals?????" so what is anyone supposed to think?

But as usual, you want to start your own tangent discussion.

 

My post was in response to

My post was in response to this statement:

Limbaugh does not spew hate or intollerance.

I don't think Rush spews hate. But I think he's made liberals to be the enemy and answer for all of America's woes.

So you would say that

So you would say that liberals are intolerant of conservatives and conservative ideas?

Limbaugh espouses strong opposition to liberal ideas That's not intolerance.

I don't think Rush spews hate. But I think he's made liberals to be the enemy and answer for all of America's woes. - balboa

Once again, you're trying to change the premise of your argument.

Even blaming liberals for all America's woes is not intolerance.

Intolerance usually involves trying to shut the other side up; claiming that they have no right to be heard. That's a liberal practice.

When was the last time you heard of conservatives shouting down a liberal speaker, or throwing pies at a liberal speaker, or attempting to prevent a liberal speaker from even having a stage and a venue to speak? There are abundant examples, just on college campuses, of liberals attempting to drive away or silence conservatives.

So you would say that

So you would say that liberals are intolerant of conservatives and conservative ideas?

I don't think Rush's liberal equivalent is. 

Who is Rush's liberal

Who is Rush's liberal equivalent?

And my point was that strong opposition doesn't equal intolerance. If you're going to claim that Rush's strong opposition to liberals equals intolerance, you'll have to say that his liberal equivalent's strong opposition to conservatives also equals intolerance.

Sauce for the gander.

And are you denying that liberals try to shut up conservatives in public forums and say that they are hateful and have no right to be heard?

But I don't think it's

But I don't think it's simply opposition. It's opposition with a zeal, and a disdain for liberals that leads people to believe that liberals are responsible for all of societies ills and are not valuable assets.

And liberals don't have the

And liberals don't have the "zeal" in their opposition?

Shouting down speakers, throwing pies, rushing the stage, blocking speakers from entering the hall....that's not opposition with a zeal?

Neither Rush, nor Hannity nor O'Reilly have ever said the we'd be better off if a certain person were not allowed to speak, or even worse, dead. That's more than can be said for some liberals.

Now that's intolerance. 

If you can't see that, it's because either you choose not to, or just enjoy taking the opposite side of any discussion.

Normally I'd keep going, but today I spent most of the day driving and carrying things up three flights of stairs to my daughter's dorm room, so I'm out of energy for it tonight. 

 

 

MB

I never said liberals don't have "zeal." But those pie-throwers aren't the on-air liberals. We were talking about Rush. Rush does it the best of anyone so far. He doesn't come off as a loon. He's very smart. He's built a loyal following that want to hear what he says.

Right MB and I've listed them somewhere here today

Franken, Maher, Olberman, Letterman, Stewart, Rosie O'Donnell, Joy Behar, Kane West are just a few.

SOME liberals try to shut up

SOME liberals try to shut up conservatives in public forums. SOME. Those liberals don't speak for me. They don't represent me.

Geez, I keep leaving

Geez, I keep leaving responses out. Rush's liberal equivalent would be Air America, which is pretty antagonistic whenever I've listened to it. (Is it still even around?)

So you are saying that Air

So you are saying that Air America is NOT intolerant to conservatives???

Holy Cow!

Now I know it's time to end this discussion; I have to go find my duct tape quick!

Sorry sorry sorry. I don't

Sorry sorry sorry. I don't think Air America is _tolerant_ of conservatives. 

They're gone bal

I think their last hit was "Making Love out of Nothing at all on A Horse With No Name"

    I ♣ my seal

Bravo, Cool Arrow.

Bravo, Cool Arrow. That...was good stuff. :-) 

We would have also accepted "Sister Golden Hair is Every Woman in the World." 

Thank you

Or maybe
"I'm All Out of Muskrat Love

Oh! Too good!  

Oh! Too good!

 

Rush's liberal equivalent

Rush's liberal equivalent is Air America? Rush Limbaugh himself is the conservative equivalent to ALL of the talk show hosts on Air America?

Sheesh! Why would he need to puff up his own ego when he's got you! ;-)

Liberals

promote intolerance for liberals....keep yapping and flapping the stupidity, of course conservatives are going to get sick of the idiotic blather.

Rush just puts a point on it, bal.

If the liberals would quit saying and doing such stupid stuff, well, now, what would Rush have to say?

Another nice stab at nothingness, tho, bal.  One of your better tries. 

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

Right Blonde - and he ignores that most of the hate speech

comes from liberals. Remember all the burning effigies at the protests and other crude things? Remember Franken throwing the chair at a Republican as a promo for his book? Remember Franken saying Bush and Cheney should be executed? I could go on and on. The proof is in the way their supporters carry on at the DU and other liberal web sites.

Quite so, Dee

With liberals, it's always just blatant generalizations thrown up against the wall...like checking whether the spaghetti is done al dente.

I just love how the liberals ascribe things to Rush that he never, ever, said.  Rush always makes serious omelets out of these broken eggs (remember the Harry Reid letter, LOL?).

Sorry...multi-tasking tonite, watching swimming, & Burn Notice (have you seen it....great show...they film it down here, they did the season finale last year in my back yard!!!) and reading.

 

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

Yeah Blonde - everything they know about Rush they learn from

sound bites. Even as a conservative I used to say that he was too extreme until I actually listened to him. Much of what he says is tongue and cheek and his vilification is a product of the liberal media bias.

If it were not for Sept 11, I don't think I ever would have realized the truth about him. I used to have on WLS radio all the time in my car or while working from home because I wanted to know what was going on. I only began listening to him by accident and found he was quite different than portrayed. There are a lot of inside jokes and you have to listen for a while to get them.
I never heard of Burn Notice - I'll have to look it up.

JasonC rules of libel.1.

JasonC rules of libel.

1. You must directly accuse one of murder to libel someone. Insinuation doesn't count.

2. If you don't try to sensor someone, you may say anything no matter how false or outrageous.

Will that be all?

So if you read someone's


So if you read someone's book the philosophy is wrong by association? Obama befriends a terrorist and who is not sorry for murdering people in his past. That is ok, we shouldn't discuss that. However writing a book that is bought by millions, one of those who then kills people should lead to a discussion of why the author should be condemned. Do we ask this question about any other killer? Do we ask this question about murders who read the NYTs? I'd imagine there are several killers who read the NYTs. Do we see stories like this about them? The NYTs say Republicans are war criminals and torture. That couldn't inspire violence though could it? Funny we only see these stories about conservative authors. Why is it that felons vote overwelmingly Democrat? So the majority of murderers are Democrats but Limbaugh should be tied to murder based on a single person that read his book. Why should we be outraged at such a story? Geeze, major over-reaction.

Hear...Hear Mr.

Hear...Hear Mr. Bozell....

If this was reversed and a conservative writing for a newsrag/mag said such rhetoric about any one on Air America or say Stephanie Miller ect. we would never hear the end of the outrage from the msm....

Demanding an apology, let alone the end of their careers.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

While I agree with the idea

I'm of the opinion that Newsday should just plain apologize for being a news(?)paper. Add to that they should then apologize to the enviros for wasting trees and their carbon footprint while trying to pass off their "'effots" at journalism.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

As a person that grew up

As a person that grew up reading newsday, this paper could not be anymore to the left. I stopped buying the paper 10 years ago but i do occasional read the online version when something local happens to see their take on a big local  news story.

about a year ago there was a tragic residential house fire. newsdays take was house fire kills tenant in basement apartment.

the real story was single family house packed (30) illegals terrorizes neighborhood. many previous complaints to local and town officials of criminal activity from the residence.

 

 

I'm a refugee from the Democratic Party.

 

Naked hate from the libs

Michelle Malkin has a related story on her blog today.  For some lefties, the hate is right out front.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

We gotta get ‘em, get

We gotta get ‘em, get ‘em.
We gotta chill ‘em, chill e’m.
We gotta get ‘em, get ‘em.
We gotta kill ‘em, kill ‘em.

Hate dominates like the Celts in the East
Michelle Malkin wants to snitch
Like you tell the police
She ought to be shot
They gotta be stopped

…We gotta shut down Fox News
That’s the way it has to be…

Oh, yeah, but it's conservatives who foster a "murder is OK" attitude.

This makes me ill. And they get away with accusing conservatives of hate.

What? It's only rap. It's

What? It's only rap. It's just a form of artistic expression, like a Greek sculpture of Zeus. Of course, if somebody who listened to the music actually went out and did it, it would just be a misinterpretation of the lyrics, and not necessarily the artist's fault.

(No, really?)

mb.... Says it all

mb....

Says it all doesn't it?

Sickening.

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

We have often used the

We have often used the term, “pendulum,” in order to describe the political ups and downs.  The pendulum has moved through decades and each time, we notice how close to the ground the left side settles—and becomes heavier.  The negative effects of this settling have spread across the country more surely and real than there ever was a truly open mind by people like say, Billy Ayers or David Shuster or Barrack Obama.  Now it is normal to feel entitled.  It is normal to kill babies.  It is normal to lie. 

Liberalism is a convenient lie.