TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

16 Feb 2015 · 3 min

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2:34

A short live-stream commentary by TJ Walker recounting a Fox 5 San Diego broadcast error that briefly displayed President Obama's photo alongside a story about dropped rape charges. Walker situates the mistake against perceptions of News Corp/Fox ownership, argues the error likely was unintentional, and advises media outlets to apologize quickly and briefly to neutralize accusations of bias.

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And the media blunder of the day goes to the Fox 5 affiliate in San Diego, California for flashing up President Obama's picture implying he won't be charged in rape. Folks, mistakes happen in broadcast news, for that matter, in YouTube videos. I make mistakes here from time to time. But the mistake the other day in San Diego was particularly interesting given various biases, perceptions of a parent company's politics. Specifically, Fox 5 in San Diego is in part owned and affiliated with News Corp. Which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, same as the ownership of Fox News Channel. And that of course, most people associate with very, very conservative views and anti Obama, anti Democratic views. So it struck some people as a bit interest that the Fox 5 affiliate would flash up a picture saying a 20 year old won't be charged with rape, rape charges dropped, essentially, and they put up a picture of President Obama. Now, it wasn't a lengthy time and I don't really think there was some ideological agenda there, but you do have to be sensitive of people's perceptions of you. I think the appropriate thing to have done in Fox's situation is just to issue a very, very quick apology in the very next news segment. The producer could have told the anchor, hey, just tell people we apologize. We put President Obama's picture up and it was a mistake that would have neutralized us. But they didn't apologize, they didn't mention it in the broadcast. Put it this way, if MSNBC did a story on Nazi skinheads killing ethnic minorities in Central Europe somewhere and they put up a picture of Congressman Paul Ryan or Ronald Reagan to say, you know, charges were being dropped against a skinhead, believe me, there'd be plenty of people complaining that this was biased, that this was extreme, that this was a cheap shot. And it very well could have been a simple mistake, as I do believe the situation was in San Diego. The real lesson here is you make a mistake, especially if it's one where you think your enemies are going to perceive that your bias was really in play. Apologize quickly, briefly, and you neutralize the whole issue.