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In most news organizations, Tim Rutten writes in his Times media column, the allegations about a network star like Bill O'Reilly—accused of sexually harassing a younger, junior network producer—would prompt many internal questions. But not at Fox:
Does Fox owe its viewers any public explanation of how it has decided these issues and why?Probably not, since as far as any reasonable observer can determine, being Fox means never having to say you're sorry. All their spokeswoman is willing to say is that O'Reilly will remain on the air.
One of the reasons organizations like Rupert Murdoch's Fox and the right-wing Sinclair family's broadcasting chain so assiduously promote the notion that the mainstream news media is suffused with a liberal bias is that it's the perfect alibi for their own conduct. So if Fox's commentators behave like a Republican cheering section, it's because CNN, CBS, ABC, the Los Angeles Times and everybody else are out to get the GOP. If Sinclair executives decide to order all their stations to air an anti-John Kerry agitprop film in prime time, it's not because they have the ethics of streetwalkers but because everybody else is out to get the incumbent.
For instance, Rutten asks, was it an abuse of his star position for O'Reilly to attack his accuser and her allegations on his show? "It's hard for me to say that anything he did was more of an abuse of his position than what he normally does on that show," said Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota.