Between “Fox & Friends,” “The Five” and the nighttime lineup, a lot of controversial things get said on Fox News. There are several websites that track many of the comments made on the pro-right network that offers more opinion than news during those shows.
Honestly, the commentary comes so fast and furious that it’s almost too much to track. Most days, I figure, why give the more outrageous remarks any oxygen? Why repeat something that many people didn’t see in the first place?
But, occasionally, someone on Fox says something that must be called out, or at least questioned.
Such is the case on Monday’s episode of “The Five,” when Greg Gutfeld, who also hosts a show in prime time, made comments about the Holocaust that are being condemned in many circles.
It all started over the topic about how Florida’s new education curriculum includes language about “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
That’s when panelist Jessica Tarlov, who typically takes a more liberal point of view, said, “’I’m not Black, but I’m Jewish. Would someone say about the Holocaust, for instance, that there were some benefits for Jews? That while they were hanging out in concentration camps, they learned a strong work ethic? That maybe you learned a new skill.”
That’s when Gutfeld interrupted to mention psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Frankl’s book talked about his time in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Gutfeld said, “Frankl talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills. You had to be useful. Utility! Utility kept you alive!”
Gutfeld’s remarks were widely condemned.
The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum put out a lengthy statement, which included, “While it is true that some Jews may have used their skills or usefulness to increase their chances of survival during the Holocaust, it is essential to contextualize this statement properly and understand that it does not represent the complex history of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany.”
It added, “Being skilled or useful did not spare (Jewish people) from the horrors of the gas chambers.”
It also said, “While it is accurate to acknowledge that some Jews may have survived temporarily due to their perceived usefulness, it is crucial to remember that the Holocaust was a systematic genocide with the ultimate aim of exterminating the entire Jewish population. It would be more appropriate to say that some Jews survived the Holocaust because they were considered temporarily useful, and the circumstances of the Nazi regime’s collapse prevented their murder.”
And it concluded with, “We should avoid such oversimplifications in talking about this complex tragic story.” (I encourage you to read the statement in its entirety.)
In a statement to CNN’s Oliver Darcy and several other news outlets, deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates called what Gutfeld said an “obscenity.”
Bates, who certainly is no fan of Fox News, added, “In defending a horrid, dangerous, extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered from the evil of enslavement, a Fox News host told another horrid, dangerous and extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered from the evils of the Holocaust. Let’s get something straight that the American people understand full well and that is not complicated: There was nothing good about slavery; there was nothing good about the Holocaust. Full stop. Americans deserve to be brought together, not torn apart with poison. And they deserve the truth and the freedom to learn, not book bans and lies.”
Meanwhile, an unnamed Fox News producer told The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona, “Obviously, it is a disgusting thing to say. … Just generally speaking, I’m amazed that FOX has any ability to retain employees from multicultural backgrounds. Our workplace is shockingly diverse given the vitriol that often makes it to the air. Understand that they’re likely here for the same reasons I am, these jobs are scarce, but I can’t help but feel awful for them because they undoubtedly see this nonsense and can’t do anything to stop it.”
The Anti-Defamation League also put out a statement, saying, “It is not clear from Gutfeld’s comments if he is arguing that Jews learned skills in the Holocaust, or that Jews who had skills had a better chance of staying alive. The latter is something that is well-documented, while the former is nonsense. That said, many millions of Jews, who, in Gutfeld’s words, had ‘utility,’ were still murdered.”
Whatever Gutfeld’s intentions were, it came out poorly and thoughtlessly. It probably would have been wisest to not have commented on Tarlov’s point at all. Even though he gets paid to talk, sometimes it’s OK for him to keep his mouth shut. In addition, it also was disappointing, although not surprising, that after all the criticism, Gutfeld did not feel the need to at least address the issue on Tuesday’s “The Five.”
Swisher blasts Musk
Twitter boss Elon Musk, shown here in January. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy, File)
News broke Tuesday that Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of basketball star LeBron James, suffered a cardiac arrest during a workout with the University of Southern California basketball team. After a brief stay in intensive care, he reportedly was in stable condition on Tuesday.
Conspiracy theorists immediately began trying to link the COVID-19 vaccines to James’ medical condition — with no proof of anything. Of course, leave it to Twitter — er, X — boss Elon Musk to jump on board.
He tweeted out the news report about James and wrote, “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”
The Daily Beast’s Josh Fiallo accurately pointed out, “To most experts, it’s not a question. The CDC has determined that cases of Myocarditis — the inflammation of the heart muscle — have ‘rarely been reported’ in connection to the vaccine and usually happen in the few days immediately after vaccination. Meanwhile, the American Heart Association says the condition is a more common (yet still exceedingly rare) side effect of the coronavirus itself than the vaccine.”
Yet there was Musk fanning the conspiracy flames while not even bothering to show concern for James.
Podcaster and tech journalist Kara Swisher, who knows Musk, blasted him in a tweet: “There’s never someone else’s terrible tragedy — a murder in SF, a group of kids trapped, an older man getting hit with a hammer by a lunatic — that this bottomless pit of attention addiction does not find a heinous way to insert himself in, frequently wrong but never in doubt.”
Ouch!
News from Santa Barbara
For this item, I turn it over to Poynter media business analyst Rick Edmonds.
The Santa Barbara News-Press has shut down, climaxing a two-decade decline under the eccentric ownership of Wendy McCaw, who bought it following a massive divorce settlement with cellular entrepreneur Craig McCaw.
A court filing last week indicates the paper’s parent company is seeking bankruptcy — the outright liquidation kind rather than reorganization. The company listed debts of $1 million to $10 million and said it did not have enough assets to pay its 200-plus creditors anything.
McCaw bought her hometown News-Press in 2000 from The New York Times Regional Media Group, since dissolved. Those were better times for the industry. With a wealthy populace and some distance from California’s big metros, coastal Santa Barbara seemed positioned as a prime market for both circulation and advertising.
But McCaw quickly plunged into what amounted to a clinic of turmoil and mismanagement. She installed her fiancé as her co-publisher. Editors and reporters began leaving. McCaw also alienated her staff by demanding coverage of her pet causes and otherwise meddling in news coverage decisions.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, the News-Press lost an unfair labor practices case in 2007. But roughly $3 million in back wages and other financial remedies owed will be among the liabilities going unpaid.
Santa Barbara residents will still have an independent weekly and several digital startups as news sources. The paper, more than 150 years old, was a Pulitzer Prize winner for an exposé of the right-wing John Birch Society in the 1960s.
In the last 20 years, benevolent wealthy local owners have bucked the worst of financial pressures and built strong local news organizations in cities like Minneapolis, New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina. But that relative success involves bringing onboard top professional talent. As McCaw demonstrated, survival in the difficult industry is not a do-it-yourself undertaking.
Poynter news
For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Josie Hollingsworth.
A piece of Poynter news: PolitiFact managing editor Katie Sanders was elected the president of the Florida Society of News Editors.
FSNE awards were also announced last week, with “Rising Threat” from the Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times winning first place in the Division A Enterprise Contest.
Florida news outlets have been major players in the political journalism world lately. In case you haven’t seen it, read this piece by my colleague Amaris Castillo about how the Sunshine State is at the center of Republican politics going into 2024.
Media tidbits
- Lots of juicy stuff here: Variety’s Tatiana Siegel with “Inside the Battle for CNN: Jeff Zucker, David Zaslav, Chris Licht and 18 Months of Crazy Backstabbing.”
- And here’s a pointed response to that Variety article from The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, who wrote a profile of Licht earlier this year — a profile that is mentioned in the Variety story.
- And Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, also blasted Siegel’s story, telling CNN’s Oliver Darcy, “The charges leveled by Tatiana Siegel in Variety against The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta are completely false. Siegel was informed by The Atlantic that the charges were completely false, but she nevertheless decided to smear Alberta. Siegel’s report is based on false assumptions and false information, and she provides no evidence to support her claims and characterizations.” A representative for former CNN boss Jeff Zucker called the Variety piece a “total joke.” Stay tuned for more on this brouhaha.
- The New Yorker’s Paige Williams with “A small-town paper lands a very big story.”
- For Nieman Reports, Vidya Krishnan with “A Billionaire, A TV Network, And The Fight for a Free Press in India.”
- My Poynter colleague Annie Aguiar writes this: Who needs Twitter when you have TikTok? Atlanta Journal-Constitution data reporter Stephanie Lamm recently posted a TikTok guide on how Atlanta residents can get in touch with her for a story, the difference between going on the record and off the record, as well as detailed information on how to share documents when concerned about anonymity and sharing sensitive details.
- The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel with “Why Elon Killed the Bird.”
Hot type
- Yeesh, Texas A&M can’t get out of its own way these days. Another solid piece of reporting from The Texas Tribune and reporters Kate McGee and James Barragán: “Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture.”
- The New York Times’ Jeffrey Gettleman with “How War Destroyed a ‘Long and Happy Marriage.’”
- This piece from New York Times Opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg is getting quite the buzz: “The Hunger Fed by ‘Barbie’ and Taylor Swift.”
More resources for journalists
- Bring Poynter to Your Newsroom, Classroom or Workplace.
- Executive Leadership Summit (Oct.) (Seminar) — Apply by Aug. 14.
- Covering Climate Change Science and Policy in a Polarized World (Seminar, Washington D.C.) — Apply Aug. 14.
- Power of Diverse Voices: Writing Workshop for Journalists of Color (Nov. 15-18) (Seminar) — Apply by Sept. 15.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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