FOX FORBIDDING HANNITY TAPING AT TEA PARTY EVENT WAS RIGHT DECISION

Fox News' recent decision to forbid Sean Hannity from taping his popular nightly show from a Cincinatti tea party event, after learning that the event's organizers were charging attendees for a chance to be closer to the Fox News talking head during the taping, is a good one in my opinion. According to various reports, attendees were being charged between $5 and $20, depending upon how close to the Fox star they wanted to be, for the opportunity. Media Matters, a liberal media outlet, cited that Hannity was also directing supporters through his own personal website to a link where they could buy tickets to attend the rally.

Even Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., which also owns the Fox News channel, got in on the discussion, telling reporters that he felt it was not appropriate for Fox News to be associated with any current movement.

That assertion makes perfect sense to me. News media is there to cover an event. Not to drive one. If anyone need any proof of this, one need look no further than nearly the entire coverage by liberal media circles of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

Fox News prides itself on being fair and balanced, and while there are plenty of people on the left who like to try and portray Fox as an "arm of the republican party," as had been strongly suggested by the Obama administration back when the big war with Fox was underway, it is simply not true. Anita Dunn, on the White House communications team, practically was made famous by making this very claim—we won't even get into the Chairman Mao comment, but it clearly erases any credibility on her part if you ask me.

It is important, in my view, that media remain as biased as it possibly can. Wherever there are people involved, you will always have some ideology injected into the discussion, and into the news coverage. That's undeniable. And clearly guys like Sean Hannity are no strangers to being involved with a particular political party—certainly that will have some bearing on their commentary. But they also clearly label themselves for what they are. Commentators. Not journalists.

But having Hannity directly associated with the tea party movement via Fox News pushes the envelope. And if you think about, I'm inclined to even offer Hannity a little bit of a shame on you for this one. Don't you think MSNBC and all the other left wing loons like Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are going to eat it right up if they actually tape a television show at a conservative event?

Quite frankly, I'm thinking as well that if MSNBC were to tape a show from an obvious left wing group, no matter what it was, Fox News would as well find that to be an affirmation of bias. Why would we want to be associated in the same light?

MORE OPINION BY SPRINGBOARD:
TOYOTA AND TIGER HAVE A LOT IN COMMON
Religion Is Not Necessary
Just Say No To NoKo