I’ve never taken any of the news networks too seriously, but Fox News Channel really blurred the line between news and entertainment not once but twice this week.
First, controversial conservative host Glenn Beck compared himself to a comedian and a cartoon when Today Show host Meredith Vieira pressed him on some harsh comments he made on his popular show. His response when asked if he regretted them: “Anything I said in jokes, no. Ask Jon Stewart [the same question.] Ask The Simpsons. Comedy is comedy.”
I’m not buying that Beck is any more of a comedian than Keith Olbermann, Beck’s blowhard counterpart on MSNBC. But if the “comedy is comedy” mantra is indeed true, why did Fox News Channel cancel the appearance this week of comedian Joan Rivers on its show Fox & Friends? Rivers was scheduled to appear with daughter Melissa on Thursday, but she was conveniently axed several days after saying that conservative personality Sarah Palin was responsible for the recent shootings in Arizona.
Fox News Channel denies the cause-and-effect relationship of the cancellation and claims Rivers was accidentally overbooked. Listen, we all know that FNC leans right and that MSNBC sways left, and I honestly couldn’t care less. But it crosses a line when these news people/networks start drifting into the world of entertainment. It wouldn’t bother me in the least if Joan Rivers went away forever, but she should have been able to make her appearance on Fox -– home of that great comedian Glenn Beck.