“Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance” - Albert Maysles.
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” -Unknown.
These two quotes are incredibly insightful into the plight of man. They deal with the moral ambiguity regarding the actions of people within a societal construct, in which there is a positive and negative value placed on each and every outcome. Both are insidious, both are sinister, and both claim to understand the root of evil. The term ‘evil’ can be taken into many contexts, but for this paper let’s stray away from any type of absolution or religious affiliation, and let’s replace the word evil with injustice, for injustice is synonymous with what most definitions would categorize as evil. ‘Oppression’ is categorized as a synonym for ‘tyranny’, and ‘injustice’ is synonymous with ‘oppression’. Therefore Injustice is inherent in both of these negative connotations. In this paper I will attempt to convey to you the fact that, although Fox News may have “good intentions” (i.e their slogan of “Fair and Balanced News”), they have deliberately removed nuance from their portrayal, or lack thereof, of systemic racism. This can be seen most clearly in their coverage of the events which took place in Ferguson nearly a year ago.
The story of Ferguson Missouri does not begin with the shooting of Michael Brown, but that was the spark that ignited the media frenzy which captured the attention of the nation. The unarmed, African American, Michael Brown was shot on August 9, 2014 by white police officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson police department. Michael Brown had robbed local convenience store ‘Ferguson Market and Liquor’, and was walking down the street with his friend Dorian Johnson when they were confronted by the vehicle of Officer Wilson. He pulled up in front of them, attempted to arrest them, and wound up shooting Michael Brown at least six times. Witness testimony ranged from Mr. Brown attacking the officer, and reaching for his gun, to standing compliantly with his hands up while he was gunned down. The two points of interest which sparked these riots were; the races of the two gentlemen involved, and the fact that Mr. Brown was unarmed. The term “hands up, don’t shoot!” became a rally cry for the groups of people who formed protests in the days that followed, a call back to the fact that many believed Michael Brown to have his hands up in the air at the time of his murder. A depiction of two solid black hands being raised in the air became the logo of this soon to be national movement, and could be seen on signs and spray painted onto the sides of buildings.
As these public protests waged on, Officer Wilson awaited his verdict and the Ferguson Police Force began exerting the use of tear gas and pepper spray upon protesters they deemed out of line. He received it on November 24th, and the jury of 12 (9 white and 3 black) decided not to indict him. This raised controversy due to the fact that an indictment would hinge upon the agreement of 9 jurors. The news of this verdict spread quickly, and outrage within the community transformed what were once peaceful protests into violent riots. Buildings were burnt, and looted, and police cars were ransacked within the community. These continued for weeks, and were eventually somewhat quelled by the announcement that the Department of Justice would be investigating the Ferguson Police Department. This investigation was headed up by Eric Houlder, and according to the New York Times the “Justice Department called on Ferguson to overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city had engaged in so many constitutional violations that they could be corrected only by abandoning its entire approach to policing, retraining its employees and establishing new oversight.”
This report shall become the main contextual focus of this paper, and shall be contrasted with the coverage presented by Fox News. This is because because this report allowed a light to shine on, what Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. called “the root of the rage that brought people into the streets.”. In reference to the riots Mr. Holder said “Seen in this context — amid a highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, and spurred by illegal and misguided practices — it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg,”. This report detailed many disturbing facts.
The population was 67% black, and yet there were only two black police officers within the Ferguson Police Department. There was an overall unequal proportion of African Americans being booked for crimes as well. Here are the statistics, according to the Department of Justice Report conducted on the Ferguson Police Department, on the percentage of black people being accused confronted by police officers for each occurrence: 87% black for use of force, 85% black for vehicle stops, 92% black for cases with warrants, 93% black for arrests, and 95% black were jailed for more than two days. The city of Ferguson also put pressure on their police officers to increase municipal fines and fees each year, and at the time of the report the percentage of general fund revenue from fines and forfeitures was at 24% for the city. “City and police leadership pressure officers to write citations, independent of any public safety need, and rely on citation productivity to fund the City budget,” the report states.
Black motorists in Ferguson were twice as likely to be searched as whites. Many other notable injustices had been carried out on the African American community within the last few years that were referenced by the report.“These disparities occur, at least in part, because Ferguson law enforcement practices are directly shaped and perpetuated by racial bias,” the Justice Department concluded. Many police officers “appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominately African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue,” in part due to city policies, according to the report. This could be seen in emails written by the police officers that were horribly racist and slanderous to all people of color.
This is where Fox News comes into play. Fox News claims to be “Fair and Balanced”, and is considered by many within the United States to be a reputable news source. Fox News is always within the top five most watched news stations on cable, and Fox News: The network had the top five programs in cable news in both total viewers and In prime-time for the year of 2014, Fox News scored highest in total viewers, behind ESPN), among all ad-supported basic cable networks. “among all cablers in total viewers, Fox News Channel was the most-watched network from 9 to 11 a.m. ET (America's Newsroom), 5-6 p.m. ET (The Five), 6-7 p.m. ET (Special Report with Bret Baier) and 8-9 p.m. ET (The O'Reilly Factor). So, as one would predict of a news conglomerate such as Fox News would do, they began coverage of the Ferguson events as soon as word broke. They began speculation on who was to blame for the incident, and most frequently sided with the police officer, justifying his actions before he had been exonerated.
“We need to look at this from the point of view of the police officer” said Sean Hannity, on his show, Hannity, days after the event had taken place. The problem lies within the ethics of Fox’s coverage of the event. They violated the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics on almost every measure. It advocates for equal representation of all, where Hannity advocates for the police officer, refusing to call him a murderer since had not been indicted, then turns around and viciously refers to the people Ferguson as “troublemakers and “looters” on his same show, although there was no government sanctioned evidence solidifying these claims. Fox News took a very unbalanced stance against the protesters in Ferguson claiming that a victim mentality sparked the riots. There was no speculation that there may have been great injustices being experienced by the African American people of Ferguson, and the entire spotlight of negativity shown on the citizens of Ferguson.
Head of Fox news Rodger Ales said, in reference to the events of Ferguson, “If you see yourself as a victim you will become a victim, but if you see yourself as a winner, you will eventually win.”. This is a slap in the face to the Society of Professional Journalists claim that the news should “Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give a voice to the voiceless”. Another fox News anchor, two days after the shooting a Fox News Anchor claimed “Black people have been convinced, by a network of shrewd propagandists, that they are somehow victim, and that is wrong to agitate a population and stoke these people into a resentful frenzy. Fox News feels that’s just damaging to this great country and tears at our very fabric”. This was once again in dramatic contrast with the report that would soon be released, due to preconceived notions. These misportrayals of Ferguson continued deep into the riots, when things became violent. Sean Hannity said, the night that the verdict was released, “Ferguson burns because of, in part, a mindset was created by Al Sharpton, by Eric Holder, and by the President” (Fox News, 2014).
Fox News did not hesitate to place a strong blame on civil rights leader Al Sharpton, Attorney General Eric holder, and president Barack Obama, all of which are men of color. Bill O’Reilly, on his show The O’Reilly Factor, claimed that Al Sharpton was “agitating the situation” upon his arrival to Ferguson, Missouri by bringing more attention to what they claimed was should not receive it. Sean Hannity called Al Sharpton a hypocrite on July 23rd for not putting his energy towards black on black violence in Chicago, without one mention of the fact that he held an anti-violence summit of national civil rights leaders July 10th.
This type of finger pointing continued, and was drastically amplified after the acquittal of the police officer in question, but did not stop upon the release of the report showing the leaders in question were justified. Three days after the release of the report release Sean Hannity said “Obama, Sharpton, they should be held responsible for their incendiary rhetoric”, and proceeded to accuse them of “Fanning the flames, rushing to judgement”, finishing with the assertion that they had“Blood on their hands.” Hannity, five days after the report was released, was not afraid to continue placing blame on his show when he said “We saw members of congress saying ‘hands up, don’t shoot’, and if one of them has apologized for so far misleading America, we haven’t heard it.”. Two days after this information was released a pundit from Fox News asked “why isn’t the media, which peddled that [about the police corruption in Ferguson Mo.] information, apologizing?”
What many would argue to be the most damaging aspect of Fox News’s coverage of the Ferguson Event was the fact that they continually asserted that the protests and riots had nothing to do with race. The term systemic injustice was only mentioned in the context of it not existing within the vast majority of the coverage of the Ferguson ordeal, and the Headline “Ferguson Shooting Reaction: The Colorblind Side” was run in the days following the release of the report. Many pundits chimed in on this, in agreement, and here are some examples of this: “A lot of people are trying to make this about race”,“This is part of this effort to make everything about race”, “I think it is playing the race card, and I think it is disgraceful”,“The only racial divide that is being created here is being created by race-baters”, “You know who talks about race? Racists.”, “This is not a civil rights issue”, “This is not a black white situation, it’s a thug-police officer situation”, “Michael Brown was the bad guy in this case, and please America, let’s not turn him into some civil rights martyr, because that he is not”, “Ferguson Missouri is not Selma Alabama”.
It is clear that Fox News believed that the shooting of Michael Brown was not motivated by race. They are entitled to their belief, and most would even say justified in holding it. But to claim that race had nothing to do with the protests and riots which followed its fall out is lunacy when looking at the reports of the injustices carried out regularly by the Ferguson police department. They may have had good intentions when attempting to dissuade the race issue from the event, but the fact of the matter is: the protests and riots were fueled, almost entirely, by the racial injustices which had been prevalent within the community for years. This is why I assert that Fox News however well-intentioned they were, paved the road to media hell (unethical coverage) through the deliberate removal of nuance.
