John Gibson is the big-haired FOX host that, amongst few other distinctions, pimps the “War on Christmas” meme more than the rest. Now he’s finally got something to really hang his hat on: he’s the one FOX guy who will stand up to CNN’s “news guy snobbery.” Covering the “real” news is for nerds — elitist nerds! Like soulful, squinty, supernerd Anderson Cooper.
To explain. On his radio show the other day, Gibson defended FOX’s non-stop coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death. He said that the story supplies all the drama people love in TV and movies, except the facts are all real. He accused CNN’s Cooper of exemplifying the “news guy snobbery” that leads news outlets to shrink from stories like the Smith saga and to instead bore their viewers with Iraq coverage (presumably stuff like global warming, the minimum wage, and the impending war with Iran would also fall in this category; I think it’s safe to say John Gibson wouldn’t approve of MoJoBlog).
At one point in the show Gibson mocks Cooper, saying, “Oh, ‘There’s a war on! There’s a war on!’ Maybe, just maybe, people are a little weary, Mr. Cooper, of your war coverage, and they’d like a little something else.” But he doesn’t limit his criticism to Anderson Cooper. Also guilty? Basically any self-respecting journalist. Gibson rails against the “high-minded view of a lot of news professionals, people who think, you know, their news program is just another part of Foreign Affairs Quarterly.” He again evoked the s-word. “Those people are snobs.” Edward Murrow, Dan Rather, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite — please exit history, stage left. John Gibson has dismissed you.
[Audio of all the blathering here.]
Well, Mr. Gibson, I propose a deal. If you agree to never consider me a sexmonger because I don’t cover the Anna Nicole Smith story, I’ll agree to never consider you a journalist. I think that’s fair. I’m with ThinkProgress, who points out:
Since Smith’s death on Feb. 8, 42 U.S. soldiers have died fighting in Iraq. Approximately 969 Iraqis have been killed. Americans aren’t weary of the media’s war coverage, they’re weary of the war itself.