Thursday, July 20, 2006

News as always, unfair and biased

The Fox News Network has an afternoon news show hosted by Shepard Smith, although Fox is one of the news networks I watch I don’t often get a chance to catch Shepard Smith’s show, so it was with wonder that I tuned in this afternoon when I discovered he was televising his show live from Israel. I have a friend who hates Shepard Smith, he has never actually said why, but every time I mention Fox News, he immediately tosses in how much he hates Shepard Smith. I always assumed it was some kind of personality clash, or some form of rare “I hate Shepard Smith” disorder that I never heard about, that is until today when I watched his show, now I hate Shepard Smith.

I need to point out that he is a personable guy, appears to possess the typical news show charm, at least up to the point where he opens his mouth. I have heard many news people discuss their trade, the news and heard many an interview from the very news worthy down to the “I could care less” variety, but until today, I never watched a national newsperson make a complete and total ass of himself.

The show was your average news show, except it was broadcast live from Israel. I watched for a bit and had decided that my friend must truly have a few disorders as I saw nothing wrong with Shepard Smith. That was until he interviewed the Israeli pilot and he changed into the typical “I hate war and everything about it” with only a few sentences and I truly hated the man.

This poor Israeli pilot was standing stage right of Smith and he was actually wearing his helmet with the visor down. I am sure it was due to the glare off the sand and not wanting to destroy his vision prior to a flight, but it looked rather strange. Shepard Smith begins interviewing him and he actually asked the pilot if it bothered him knowing he killed innocent civilians. To the pilots credit he responded without missing a beat explaining his stance on the war and the protection of Israel.

Mr. Smith also asked the pilot if he actually knew he was killing innocent civilians, or something to that affect, I do not totally recall the exact wording as I was in the process of turning the channel over to the History Channel. In hindsight, I should have hit the DVR and recorded the show for later playback so I could get the questions right, but to be honest, I could care less at this point. I saw what I saw and that was enough to turn me off forever.

I swear that when it comes to people or people in or on the news I will never doubt my friend’s personal judgment ever again. I also swear that I will never watch that show again, not unless it is hosted by someone who is not biased and enters the interview with a fair and unbiased mind. You know, exactly what they advertise they already do when it comes to broadcasting the news and could really care less about.

The Ranter

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i always thought he supported the war. well, he IS cute ;)

desertwoman

The Old Ranter said...

Hi Desertwomen
Perhaps I caught hin on a bad day, or there is the chance he hates pilots, or how about, bad hair day? I don't know, but I am willing to give another chance in the event I misunderstood.
Thanks
Ranter