Fox Attacked! The Backstory

Denver, CO - As my partner, Caleb Howe, reported earlier, a Fox News crew was attacked by protesters during an otherwise peaceful march organized by Re-Create '68. We have a lot more to come on that event.

As luck would have it, I had spent about half an hour filming the same crew just before the march began. The reporter, Griff Jenkins, got into a little dustup with an independent journalist, Shreef Aleem.

Never one to miss an opportunity to provide fairness and balance, I spoke with Griff, and I followed them as they delivered on a promise to interview Shreef fairly and balancedly.

The fact that this crew was attacked is totally reprehensible. The protesters who did that should be ashamed of themselves, because they not only did something that was just plain wrong, they also marginalized the thousands of protesters who behaved themselves. They also obscured their message about Fox News.

First, here's the original encounter between Griff and Shreef. Off-camera, Griff had been trying to interview activist Ward Churchill, and had gotten a little too pushy. Again, strong language alert.





In the next clip, Griff is being interviewed by a student journalist. Note that later in the clip, he claims that the interview was arranged through media relations, even though he has no idea which media outlet she's from and is on a live shot that would be tough to peg ahead of time. Also note the producer giving me the stinkeye the whole time.



Now, we waited around a good long while for Griff to interview Shreef, and I filmed a lot of that, but here's the short version. Remember what Griff promised in his initial confrontation with Shreef.



There are a couple of things I love about this clip. I really like the lady who sticks her head in to tell us she's running for president, but the best thing is the knowing smile Shreef gives when Griff tells him that "technology" caused them not to broadcast the most important part of his response.



The whole episode served as an effective summation of what people like Shreef and myself think is wrong with Fox News.

The half-dozen or so protesters who later attacked the crew served to undercut that, and their own protest.
Chanting "Fuck Fox News!" was already really effective, guaranteeing that they couldn't use any of the shots they were getting. I can't figure out why someone would get physical with the Fox crew. Here's that clip one more time:



We will have more from the march later, but I think this shows why the old models of activism are less effective nowadays. At best, protesters have been labeled as zealots, and even the best stage craft will fall only on the eyes and ears of the choir.

At worst, some knucklehead crosses the line and makes them all look bad, and gives people like Caleb Howe the opportunity to trash all of the protesters as bloodthirsty Roman spectators.

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Tommy Christopher, a Democrat, and Caleb Howe, a Republican, are on the ground in Denver to bring you their dueling political perspectives throughout the Democratic National Convention. Check back to follow their feature, "Floor Fight."