Conspiracy Theory

During the run-up to the election, it seemed that Fox News provided a more balanced coverage of the candidates than the many prominent network stations who boarded the Obama train early and enthusiastically and appeared to my untutored eyes to run all other trains off the tracks. When Barbara Walters was called out for her "isn't he sexy" query to her mostly female audience the day Obama sat on the couch, she later justified her comments and flirtatious conduct by clarifying that Obama had not yet been chosen by the Democratic party as the official nominee for President, a distinction that perhaps made her feel better, but didn't change her actions that day.

If it quacks like a duck, even though it hasn't been butchered and baked, it's still duck ala orange. Walters, and far too many other network talent, made it abundantly clear to the American voters that, in Oprah's words, "This man, this time." Since the media not only shapes but actually forms public opinion, once the media was on-message, the deal was done.

I commented earlier in blogs about my reaction to and concern about Obama's campaign, which firmly and finally squashed any, and I do mean any, negative comments about the candidate. Once negative news hit the airways, it was addressed either by the campaign or by the candidate, and then they were done: we have nothing more to say. Whatever it was, and it was many, was gone from the airways. If, god forbid, the issue was raised again on-air or the appearance of stifling freedom of speech was questioned, the station and/or on-air personality suffered.

Censorship is alive and well, and rapidly outgrowing its infancy.

Locally, a prominent politician and former mayor was arrested, tried, and acquitted of murder back in the 1980s. 'Tis true; no matter how much a political person would like a go back and do over, once it's part of the record, it's part of the record. So, a caller was on-air, talking about the politician and the charges, as well as the politician's public support for the position of the gay community about gay marriage, including the local boycotts. The on-air personalities responded to the caller, confirming the historical accuracy of the murder charges, as well as the sudden loss of the local network news affiliate's film of the politician averring support for the gay boycotts, in direct contrast to her recent public denial that she ever publicly stated her support.

After the broadcast, the on-air personalities were fired. It seems that the on-air hosts, who have been with the station for 10 years and are praised for their quick wit and aggressive challenges to the status quo, did not follow station policy regarding acceptable discussion topics.

Obviously on the list of no-no's is talking about the skeletons in a politician's closet, a lesson learned from the past 2 years on the political trail by the press covering the candidacy of America's first racially-mixed President-elect. There was a double standard applied to Obama, perhaps mindful of any appearance of racism, such as questioning the influence of Rev. Wright's overtly racist and hate-filled preaching to which the candidate was exposed for 20 formative years of his life. Had not both men been black, both the candidate and the preacher, there would have been a no-holds-barred aggressive investigation and face-to-face confrontation on the air and in the press. There are situations that never would have gone away if Obama were all-white, instead of part black, situations where the candidate said, "I've said all I'm going to say about that," and the press moved on to another candidates' hair-do.

Freedom of the press stops where the politician's race, religion, or, in the local case, gender and/or sexual orientation begins.

The on-air talent on the Fox Network prophesied that censorship is going to raise its ugly head again, much as it did during the era of McCarthy and the witchhunt for Communists, an issue addressed by Arthur Miller, the playwright who wrote The Crucible. When all was said and done in Salem, as well as in the media during the 1950s, it was an individual with a personal agenda who cried "witch" and sent the witch-hunters off to identify, accuse, and crucify alleged witches, while the villagers kept silent so they would not suffer the same fate. If we stand for nothing, we fall for anything, which may be trite, but is also true.

On-air talent is going to be targeted for unfavorable spin during the coming administration, but how well those setting up the targets do depends on whether the American people are brave enough to do what's right simply because it is the right thing to do. If we, the people allow persecution of the press, rather than support its freedom, George Orwell was, indeed, a man not only ahead of his time, but prescient about who, what, where, when -- and how.