Right-wing media has received a great deal of national criticism in the past month, resulting in serious damage to the character of the Republican Party. Conservative talk-show personalities such as Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have been caught making extremely ignorant comments regarding minorities and women on-air.

Although it’s true that liberal media is biased, Democratic news platforms seem to hold a different standard for their anchors. Left-leaning news outlets don’t tolerate intense bigotry and have admitted when they are in the wrong. Right-wing media’s insolence speaks on behalf of the Republican Party as a whole.

Last month, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly announced that he “does not, does not, does not, believe in white privilege.”

Although he admitted that it is more difficult for African Americans to succeed in America, he refused to acknowledge it was on the grounds of skin color. O’Reilly argued that too many African Americans use it as an excuse to not take responsibility for themselves. The white and affluent O’Reilly seems to have absolutely no awareness on the issues that African Americans face in this country.

It isn’t only minorities who are being insulted by right-wing media.  Last week, after Ohio State University’s new policies on sexual assault, Republican talk-show host Rush Limbaugh decided to weigh-in on what constitutes rape. Limbaugh declared that he’s tired of the “modern” definition of consent and that, actually, sometimes “no” really means “yes.”

Limbaugh also brought forth offensive opinions on domestic abuse, ranging from victim blaming to absurd suggestions that an abuser might not be at fault if the woman “started it.” This topic surfaced when the video of Ray Rice beating up his then-fiance, now wife, in an elevator was released.  

A.J. Delgado also weighed in on this topic on Fox’s show Hannity, saying things like “Some might even say watching that video that Ray Rice is the bigger victim of domestic violence here.” Delgado made the claim that Rice’s wife is being encouraged by liberals to name herself a victim when she knows that she isn’t. It is completely obscene for a man to justify another man knocking a woman unconscious.

I understand that changing the chauvinistic attitudes O’Reilly, Delgado and Limbaugh have is a lost cause. What I don’t understand is why Fox Network is so determined to defend any incident where a minority or woman is targeted. Even if you are a totally unethical, immoral person trying to argue for this, who are they trying to reach? Those who agree with the extremist views of right-wing media are already tuning in.

Making loathsome and chauvinistic statements in order to gain attention is not acceptable, especially when it comes to issues such as race, rape and domestic violence. Fox knows it will be chastised by national press after making these hateful comments. You would think that right-wing media would do its best to shine a positive light on its party, but clearly, it’s not.

Jillian Lynch is a sophomore broadcast journalism and political philosophy major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @jillianm_lynch.

Published on September 25, 2014 at 12:45 am