Apology Enough?

FOX News Apology Not Enough for Conyers
By Aysha Hussain
© DiversityInc 2007
Congressman John Conyers is fed up with FOX News.

In response to FOX News' on-air apology for showing his picture with a story about Congressman William J. Jefferson being indicted on bribery charges, Conyers said the FOX News was insincere and its inaccurate reporting should not be tolerated, especially when dealing with people of color.

"FOX News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair, nor balanced," said Conyers in a statement. "This type of disrespect for people of color should no longer be tolerated. I am personally offended by the network's complete disregard for accuracy in reporting and lackluster on-air apology."
Melanie Roussell, Conyers' press representative, said the congressman was doubly upset that the apology did not specifically state the nature of the mistake nor did they mention his name, according to an article in BusinessWeek. TPM Media posted a copy of the broadcasted apology on YouTube.
In the statement, Conyers' office also noted, "The network apologized on-air for airing the wrong video; however, they did not personally apologize to Mr. Conyers," reported by Rawstory.com.
However, FOX News' Washington, D.C., bureau chief, Brian Wilson, said he personally reached out to Conyers after making the error. Wilson told BusinessWeek he responded to an e-mail request sent by Jonathan Godfrey, communications director for the House Committee on the Judiciary, stating his regret for the error. Wilson also said he left a voicemail with Godfrey, asking what he could do to make amends, including an in-person apology. But Wilson said no one got back to him. According to Wilson, Godfrey's e-mail requested only an on-air correction indicating no need to speak with Conyers personally.
TVNewser reported that Godfrey did not receive Wilson's messages until several hours later. Wilson apparently had offered his apologies approximately two hours before the on-air apology broadcast.
The news organization blamed the on-air mistake on a 22-year-old production assistant who accidentally grabbed the wrong videotape.

DiversityInc's article on the airing of the FOX News' footage was so popular that hundreds of DiversityInc readers forwarded the story to other readers. (See also: Do They All Look Alike? FOX News Shows Wrong Black Congressman Indicted)
A handful of our readers objected to the story, saying it was unfair to criticize FOX News for this mistake. The comments all were similar to this one from Obie Amacker:
"I was appalled to read the following verbiage that opened one of today's articles, 'but the news channel apparently thinks all black Congressmen look alike.' What an inflammatory statement obviously geared at making a negative representation of FOX. This weekend alone I must have seen 4 or 5 other news/sports clips that identified the wrong individual. It happens ... purely unintentionally and with all races/nationalities/etc. It is sensationalized reporting like this that disillusions so many Americans and discredits the legitimacy of orgs such as yours."