For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than the citizens of America.
John Gibson joins a special pantheon of BuzzFlash Media
Putzes -- along with Chris Matthews, he has become a two-time
winner of
this recognition for gutter "journalism."
Gibson, who claims to champion the spirit of Christmas and Christian values,
mocked the death of Heath Ledger in such a reprehensible way that it even
got Joe Scarborough expressing disgust.
According to Media
Matters:
On the January 24 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough,
Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist characterized as "unbelievable," "grossly
inappropriate," and "hateful" comments, highlighted by the
blog Think Progress, that Fox News host John Gibson and others made during
the January 22 broadcast of his Fox News Radio talk show regarding the death
of actor Heath Ledger. The Morning Joe hosts also described the radio broadcast
and its participants as "callous," "very insensitive," "not
funny," "sick," "absolutely, totally out of line," "stunning," "mean-spirited," and "incomprehensible." In
addition, Brzezinski asserted: "I don't know how you stay on the air
after doing something like that, quite frankly," later adding, "I
don't know how you stay on the air ... after doing that. I don't know who
would listen to you."
What did Gibson say?
As Media Matters recounts, it went like this:
Gibson began the segment by airing a montage of quotes from Brokeback
Mountain, while funeral music played in the background. In the audio clip,
Jack Twist, played by actor Jake Gyllenhaal, says to his lover, Ennis Del
Mar, played by Heath Ledger, "I wish I knew how to quit you." Gibson
then broke in and said: "Well, he found out how to quit you," and
went on to announce, "Actor Heath Ledger found dead today in his New
York City apartment." Gibson later said: "You're 28 years old,
and you're thinking about death? Give me a break." He later added: "Maybe
he [Ledger] was a weirdo." Gibson then aired another clip from the film,
in which Ledger's character says: "We're dead." Gibson, adopting
a cowboy accent, repeated: "We're dead." Gibson then asserted: "Nah,
it's a terrible thing. ... [I]t is terrible. I don't know why a 28-year-old
guy is thinking about death. He should be thinking about all the great things
that he's going to do in the 50, 60 years he's got left." Later in the
broadcast, Gibson again discussed Ledger's death, saying: "You know,
there is new news coming out right now that apparently Heath Ledger was
suicidal, and his friends saw it coming. I think he watched the Clinton-Obama
debate
last night. I think he was an Edwards guy, 'cause he saw his Edwards guy
was just completely irrelevant -- good looking, wears a suit well -- but
should just leave the stage."
As BuzzFlash reader Allison of Rahway, New Jersey, noted in outrage: "John
Gibson actually MOCKED the tragic death of Heath Ledger! He opened a segment
of his radio show with funeral music and joked that maybe the poor man
killed himself because the stock market dropped or maybe because John Edwards
wasn't
doing well in the debates. Is this guy for real? This is worse than what
Imus said about the Rutgers women's basketball team!!"
Why is that the guys on FOX "News" are the sort of creepy men
that your parents warned you not to get in a car with?
We wish John Gibson a long life -- off the airwaves of course. But when
he does pass from the Earth, perhaps they should just play the Rolling
Stones
tune "Sympathy for the Devil" and forget about a eulogy. Oh,
and don't forget to stick this week's second BuzzFlash Media Putz Award
in his
casket. John Gibson previously won the Media PUTZ of the week on November 29, 2007.
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