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September 17, 2005

Equal time follies

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Fox News is often mocked for its slogan "fair and balanced — we report you decide."  In the skewed world of news reporting that is mockable because for so long  news was generally presented through a liberal haze —— the opposing side, if given attention, was set up as a straw figure.
 
C—SPAN, the cable channel devoted mainly to public affairs, took a similar equal time philosophy to bizarre lengths recently when they decided to devote equal  exposure not only to respected Holocaust historian Professor Deborah Lipstadt  of Emory University but to racist propagandist David Irving.  Lipstadt was to discuss her book detailing her victory in a British court against Holocuast denier Irving.  In C—SPAN's distorted world, Irving deserved equal time.
 
Equal time, equal balance  to Bush v Kerry——of course. (Oh, that it should have been!)
 
Equal time, equal balance to Lipstadt and Irving.  Of course not —— truth and racism are not morally equivalent. Lipstadt proved in a British courtroom that Irving distored history.
 
Tell that to the usually bright folks at C—SPAN, booktv@c—span.org.
 
Ethel C. Fenig   3 22 05