Tami Birckner, the Fox Carolina reporter who ran the one-sided fluff piece on StormFront.org, a popular hub for white supremacists and anti-Semites, was an active participant in the website’s chat forums.
While her posts have not been racist, they have been highly sympathetic to the racists. But here’s the tell:
When asked why she didn’t include some voices that were critical of StormFront, she replied she did the story exactly as she was told to and that officials at the network were very pleased with her coverage.
Anyone with journalistic ethics (or sense) would not post on StrormFront after doing a story on them simply because it makes them appear biased. Her sympathies are obvious. As are those of the higher-ups at Fox. But this wouldn’t be the first time Fox has pandered to racists.
Contrast the Fox reporter’s action this to a community meeting I was at in Venice, CA a few days ago for a group trying to save Lincoln Place Apartments. Someone in the audience praised the coverage by a local reporter, Tibby Rothman of Venice Paper, and asked her to speak. She immediately said it was inapproriate for her to speak, or even to thank people for thanking her, because being a reporter means you should be unbiased. She seemed a bit pissed at being put in a position that could even appear to be compromised. That is how a real reporter acts. Not that Fox News cares about reporting, of course.
