# Fox 5 News Airs Apology for Depicting Obama as Rape Suspect **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851 "2015-02-16T20:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/1 "2015-02-16T20:26:23Z")
> **[Fox 5 News Airs Apology for Depicting Obama as Rape Suspect](https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2015/02/14/obama-depicted-as-rape-suspect-in-fox-5-friday-the-13th-error/)** > > In a stroke of Friday the 13th bad luck, Fox 5 San Diego briefly portrayed President Obama as a sex-assault suspect on its 10 o’clock news. I was not sure where to post this , so please move it if it’s in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/2 "2015-02-16T20:32:30Z")
“Wille said no calls were received during the newscast about the Obama picture.” Apparently nobody watches Fox news there either. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/3 "2015-02-16T20:46:54Z")
Or they watch it for entertainment only. Or they believed it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/4 "2015-02-16T21:53:38Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > I was not sure where to post this , so please move it if it’s in the wrong place. Judging by the utter lack of content in your OK, I’d suggest MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/5 "2015-02-16T22:58:56Z")
Some of us are able to ascertain content without having it spelled out in bulleted lists. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/6 "2015-02-16T23:05:20Z")
Or the immediate apology sated people’s outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/7 "2015-02-16T23:24:19Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > “Wille said no calls were received during the newscast about the Obama picture.” > > Apparently nobody watches Fox news there either. You do understand the difference between a local affiliate that is not owned by Fox that happens to carry Fox entertainment shows and “Fox News?” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/8 "2015-02-16T23:32:27Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You do understand the difference between a local affiliate that is not owned by Fox that happens to carry Fox entertainment shows and “Fox News?” This is true. Your local Fox News broadcast is really a very different organization from the cable news network featuring Fox and Friends, Bill O’Reilly, etc., etc. Living in san Diego, i can tell you that the particular local news broadcast referenced by the OP is, as far as i can tell, no more or less sensationalist, no more or less conservative, and no more or less incompetent than all of the other local news broadcasts we have. This particular mistake might look like political partisanship, but it’s far more likely to be the result of the same problems that have dogged local news for years: emphasis on entertainment over information, low levels of journalistic professionalism and integrity, unwillingness to spend money on proper investigative journalism or on sufficient quality control, and management that sees journalism not as a profession or a calling, but simply as another revenue stream. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/9 "2015-02-16T23:35:24Z")
What’s the problem? The picture said “No charges”. Apparently Obama has not in fact been charged with rape at SDSU, so the image was accurate. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/10 "2015-02-16T23:43:42Z")
Has not been charged _yet_! ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/11 "2015-02-16T23:53:05Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > emphasis on entertainment over information, low levels of journalistic professionalism and integrity, unwillingness to spend money on proper investigative journalism or on sufficient quality control, and management that sees journalism not as a profession or a calling, but simply as another revenue stream. So, you’re saying Ron Burgundy is closer to the truth of San Diego local news teams than we were led to believe? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/12 "2015-02-17T01:16:09Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > So, you’re saying Ron Burgundy is closer to the truth of San Diego local news teams than we were led to believe? It took ten replies for a report of incompetence in a newscast in San Diego itself, to bring up _Anchorman_? Y’all are slowing down, Dopers… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/13 "2015-02-17T01:33:50Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > It took ten replies for a report of incompetence in a newscast in San Diego itself, to bring up _Anchorman_? Y’all are slowing down, Dopers… We got distracted by all the whale vaginas. It’s just so obviously an example of sheer incompetence that, even if it was deliberate, it’s more laughable than anything else. It belongs on one of those news blooper compilations on YouTube, alongside anchors bitching out producers and drunken idiots charging mobile units. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/14 "2015-02-17T01:35:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Has not been charged _yet_! Fuckin’ A. And I haven’t heard him deny it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/15 "2015-02-17T02:23:35Z")
If he did, he’d be praying the law gets him before his lady does. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/16 "2015-02-17T17:10:06Z")
Can the anchor see what the “over the shoulder” image is, as it’s going out live? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/17 "2015-02-17T18:02:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Has not been charged _yet_! On the other hand in Kenya… ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/18 "2015-02-17T18:26:18Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Can the anchor see what the “over the shoulder” image is, as it’s going out live? I haven’t been in TV news for more than 15 years, but back then the answer was definitely yes, an anchor could look at a live shot on a monitor on the floor of the studio in front of the anchor desk. There was a great value to that, because if there was a mess up, the anchor (at least a moderately intelligent or quick-thinking one – definitely a minority, eh?) would be able to throw in a quick “Sorry, that’s the wrong image we are showing you” when that happened. So, I’m assuming that most TV news outlets have a monitor for the anchors. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/19 "2015-02-17T19:48:10Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > This is true. > > Your local Fox News broadcast is really a very different organization from the cable news network featuring Fox and Friends, Bill O’Reilly, etc., etc. > > Living in san Diego, i can tell you that the particular local news broadcast referenced by the OP is, as far as i can tell, no more or less sensationalist, no more or less conservative, and no more or less incompetent than all of the other local news broadcasts we have. > > This particular mistake might look like political partisanship, but it’s far more likely to be the result of the same problems that have dogged local news for years: emphasis on entertainment over information, low levels of journalistic professionalism and integrity, unwillingness to spend money on proper investigative journalism or on sufficient quality control, and management that sees journalism not as a profession or a calling, but simply as another revenue stream. … so how is that different from Fox News again? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851/20 "2015-02-17T20:13:28Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > … so how is that different from Fox News again? Well, in reporting the news they might not be too different, but there are some very significant differences between the Fox News cable channel, on the one hand, and local Fox affiliate news broadcasts, on the other. Fox News (the cable channel) is more than just a news broadcast. It devotes significant time to what might most charitably be called editorializing. Bill O’Reilly doesn’t report the news; he bloviates conservative talking points about issues that are in the news. Shows like Fox and Friends are also about morons sitting around spouting opinions about things that they don’t know very much about. The local news broadcasts on the Fox affiliate, by contrast, suffer not from the sort of political bias and opinionating as Fox News; rather, they suffer from plain old poor journalistic values. They don’t editorialize very much; they just do a bad job of being journalists and of reporting actual, important issues in a way that reflects professional journalistic standards. The only place i ever see any of the cable news networks (Fox; CNN; MSNBC) is when i’m at the gym. Sometimes when i’m on the cardio machines i’ll flick between them just to see what they’re doing. To be honest, when you move beyond the editorialists like O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow and look at the shows that are focused mainly on actual news reporting, i don’t think that Fox News is any worse than the other two. They’re all pretty fucking awful, and they’re all (much like local news) more focused on sensationalism, on flogging the big dramatic stories to death, and on creating more news by interviewing “experts,” than they are in good, solid reporting of the issues. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-5-news-airs-apology-for-depicting-obama-as-rape-suspect/712851.md?page=2)