Fox News, MSNBC, and the Gun Debate

Viewers were told they could watch the rest online if they wanted to. Then the hosts of “The Five,” the channel’s 5 p.m. talk show, resumed their conversation about liberal media bias.

The decision not to show the president’s angry rejoinder to the Senate vote — or to cover the vote in any real detail an hour earlier — was the latest example of Fox’s evident lack of interest in the gun violence debate that has captivated so many other media outlets. The channel, a favorite of conservatives, has refrained from extensive coverage while MSNBC, a favorite of progressives, has taken every conceivable opportunity to talk about it.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” have openly campaigned for legislative reforms in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in December, which left 20 children dead. On “Joe” last week, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. complimented Mr. Scarborough for affecting the gun debate, adding, “The two guys that deserve, if anything gets done, an award here are you and Michael Bloomberg,” referring to the New York mayor’s campaign for gun legislation.

On Thursday, Mr. Scarborough, a registered Republican who promotes his conservative credentials as well as his independent streak, was stone-faced as he assailed the lawmakers who voted against the background check legislation. Citing the failed Senate vote as evidence, Mr. Scarborough said, “This party is moving toward extinction.”

That would come as news to Fox fans, who have heard comparatively little about the subject. While most of “Joe” was dedicated to guns on Thursday, Fox’s morning show, “Fox Friends,” didn’t mention the word once; it focused instead on news about a Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

Competitors were quick to pounce. Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, noted that the networks ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast special reports because they deemed the president’s remarks that important. He called Fox’s decision to skip it “a disgrace.

Michael Clemente, Fox’s executive vice president of news, said in a statement: “Fox News has reported all sides of the gun debate — at length since well before the tragedy in Newtown, and we will continue to do so. Yesterday’s decision not carry the president’s statement live, was made when we received the following from the White House press office: ‘THE PRESIDENT delivers a statement on common sense measures to reduce gun violence.’ We’ve carried and reported on numerous presidential speeches and ideas for reducing gun violence, as well as those from influentials on the other side of the issue.”

Fox’s apparent restraint dates back at least to December, in the immediate wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Media observers noticed that the channel was the last to start covering the Dec. 21 media event by the National Rifle Association’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, and the first to move on to another story. It cut away while Mr. LaPierre was still speaking, an unusual step for a cable news channel.

Since then Fox reporters have covered gun safety proposals and Fox commentators have reliably defended Second Amendment rights. Several hosts, including Sean Hannity, have criticized President Obama’s alliance with the families of some Sandy Hook victims; Mr. Hannity at one point called the families “props for his agenda.”

Debra DeShong Reed, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Fox’s calls to her group had been rare and, on those occasions, adversarial.

“The requests always come from a position of, ‘Hey, we found a study that says you’re completely wrong! Want to talk about it?’ Or they want us to come on with a guest from the opposite fringe of the other side.”

MSNBC hosts at almost every hour of the day have repeatedly argued for tighter gun restrictions in the four months since Sandy Hook, suggesting that the subject is a way to rally progressives — or at least progressive-minded cable TV viewers. On Wednesday night the channel’s 10 p.m. host, Lawrence O’Donnell, asserted that the federal investigation into Monday’s twin bombings in Boston could be hampered by the N.R.A.’s past lobbying against “tracing of the purchase of gunpowder.” (News reports have said that the bombs contained black powder, but the authorities have not confirmed that publicly.)

“This is one of the critical issues of the day, and MSNBC’s been on it,” said Mr. Griffin.

Fox’s distance from the subject is all the more notable because Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive of the channel’s parent, the News Corporation, has pressed for stricter gun control. After the shooting at Sandy Hook, Mr. Murdoch wrote on Twitter, “When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons?” But Mr. Murdoch’s views are not always reflected on Fox. The chief executive of Fox News, Roger Ailes, has almost complete autonomy. Mr. Ailes reportedly has a license to carry a concealed handgun in New York City, where Fox News is headquartered.

Earlier on “The Five” on Wednesday, during a conversation about media bias as it related to bombing coverage, the lone liberal among the five commentators, Bob Beckel, asked co-host Greg Gutfeld, “Can I talk about guns here, or do we have to stick with your topic?”

“You do whatever you want, Bob,” Mr. Gutfeld said.

“No guns? No guns, right. Of course not,” Mr. Beckel said, shrugging and looking straight into the camera, as if speaking to the producers in the control room. “Let’s let the N.R.A. run this, too.”

Mr. Gutfeld argued that “if we were pro-N.R.A., wouldn’t we talk about it, Bob?” When the Obama statement was cut off after a few seconds, Mr. Gutfeld appeared surprised by the control room’s decision. “I want to apologize,” he said at the end of the hour. “I think that should have been handled better.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/business/media/fox-news-msnbc-and-the-gun-debate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss