On Thursday night, Fox News host Megyn Kelly led with a “vicious” stunt pulled on Instagram by an official with the Spanish-language network Univision – a network that plans to host a presidential debate next year. Alberto Ciurana, the network’s president of programming and content posted an image of Donald Trump next to Charleston racist mass murderer Dylann Roof.
Univision has vowed to cancel its airing of the Trump-owned Miss USA pageant over his recent comments on criminal elements among Mexico’s illegal immigrants. Kelly wanted the media as a whole to denounce this stunt, asking how it would be greeted if a Fox News programming executive did something like this with Hillary Clinton:
KELLY: And are we likely to see the rest of the media rise up Howie and say, 'inappropriate.' I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine what would happen if a senior executive at the Fox News Channel sent out a picture like that with Hillary Clinton on the other side? Do you think any news organization would stand for Fox News hosting a presidential forum or debate?
HOWARD KURTZ: No. But I hope that the media will rise up and say, that was so beyond the pale that it is just reprehensible. But look, if the folks at Univision wants to rip Donald Trump's comments on Mexican immigrants as being over the top and offensive. That's fair game. For the network to unilaterally break a contract to carry his beauty pageant because it doesn't like what he said, that's political retribution. If you're talking about the culture there, Jorge Ramos, the chief anchor openly crusades for immigration reform, and therefore this is a network, that I think doesn't like a lot of the Republican candidates, clearly punching back at Donald Trump. I can't imagine that they would now be allowed to host this Republican presidential debate.
KELLY: And yet this is what we're going to see, this is not the first attack. I mean, pretty vicious one really compared to a mass murderer. We've seen a Republican presidential candidate in the race, I mean, it's still June. It's still June, Marc.
THIESSEN: Yes. No. It's very early. And look, there's a clear bias against Republicans in the media. But Univision isn't just the media. It's basically a Hispanic MSNBC. It is a far left network. I mean, the Media Research Center did a review of their coverage and they found that they've lean very far left in their news coverage. They're three times likely to quote the liberals that they are conservatives. And as Donald Trump pointed out, the owner of their network has said that it's his dream to see Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, why would Republicans go to a debate hosted by a network that has liberal bias, whose president says that the republican -- one of the Republican candidates is comparable to a mass murderer and whose owner wants Hillary Clinton in the White House.
KELLY: And the likely moderator of that forum, it's not a debate but it's a forum, but likely moderator --
THIESSEN: Yes.
KELLY: -- apparently believes that Donald Trump is a clown. I mean, has come right out and said, the one other candidate is a clown. And yet Mr. Trump is ready to participate in that. He says, he's just going to have to try harder.
Howie in the past couple of weeks we saw the Ted Cruz with the gun to the head from the AP. Oh, it was an accident. The Marco Rubio thing, oh, he had some traffic tickets and he had a luxury boat. I mean, already it starts.
KURTZ: Well, I don't want to paint everyone with the same broad brush. And I think that some scrutiny of these Republican presidential candidates is mandatory. But the AP shot itself in the foot by running that picture of Ted Cruz with the gun behind him on the billboard pointed at his head. I don't know how any editor was willing to carry that. And "The New York Times," the piece was beyond absurd making an issue of the four traffic tickets over 17 years on the park of Marco Rubio. So, when these things happen. And now you have Univision and Donald Trump, and spat over Miss Universe pageant, it does reinforced the notion for those who believe the media are not fair to Republicans.
KELLY: You think?
KURTZ: Yes. Well, here's yet another example.
KELLY: Look at this one, he's just like a mass murderer. Come on! Whatever you think of Donald Trump and what he said, for the president of content at a network that's hosting a Republican presidential forum, inappropriate.
Trump told Kelly on air on Thursday night that if Univision hosts a Republican debate, he would show up to defend himself.
[ht for video to Katie Yoder]
