 "Photo: Sam Grenadier")
A vice president for Fox News Channel braved questions from a seemingly skeptical Texas Tech journalism audience Thursday evening.
Brian Wilson spoke at the Society of Professional Journalists meeting in the Mass Communications building.
Robert Wernsman, a journalism instructor, said Wilson contacted him after he showed his class the documentary "Outfoxed."
According to the Web site http://outfoxed.org, the documentary "examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a 'race to the bottom' in television news." The film explores the different ways in which news can be manipulated to get a certain message across.
"A student in my principles of journalism class contacted her father after we viewed the documentary," Wernsman said. "Her father happened to know Brian Wilson, and within 36 hours, Brian Wilson contacted me and said he would like to pay a visit and talk to my class."
Wernsman said he accepted Wilson's self-invitation in the spirit of being fair and balanced.
At the meeting, Wilson addressed "Outfoxed" issues and said he did not believe it was an example of journalism.
"They never, ever came to us to say, 'Hey, we're making this documentary about you, and we'd like to hear what your side of the story is,'" he said. "I don't know what you're definition of journalism is, but that doesn't match my definition at all; I think you owe it to the subject of your story to give them an opportunity to respond."
In the documentary, there are many people who claim to be Fox reporters who were told to slant their story to meet the channel's agenda.
"Some people in that documentary were said to be Fox reporters - sort of," he said. "Most of them were affiliates; I think there was one reporter who actually worked for the Fox News Channel. I worked for an affiliate for 12 years, and I can assure you (the network and its affiliates) are completely different organizations, and there is no interaction between them."
Wilson said he believes the reason Fox often receives criticism for being biased is because of the opinions of Fox hosts like Bill O'Reilly.
"Bill O' Reilly is not a journalist; it is an opinion-based program," he said. "I think we get unfairly smeared because of Bill O'Reilly, and it has a huge following. I don't agree with half of what he says, but that is what characterizes Fox News."
Another reason Wilson said he believes people criticize Fox News is because it is different from other network news channels.
"We don't follow the pack; we are absolutely willing to walk away and say, 'Let's not go over and that story; here's an interesting story,'" Wilson said. "When you have news organizations that have done things the same way for many, many, many years and somebody else comes along and looks at the world a little differently and says, 'There may some other viewpoints here, why don't we do this,' it's always going to be controversial."
Wilson said Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, has never contacted him.
"If Rupert Murdoch is the one pulling all the strings," he said, "don't you think he would have the phone number of the vice president of news in Washington, D.C., and don't you think I would get daily phone calls?"
Humberto Martinez, a senior journalism and photo-communication major from Houston, said he came into the meeting with pre-conceived notions about Fox News and 24-hour news in general.
"There is a very blurring line between opinion and news," he said. "These anchors are throwing their opinions in there."
Martinez said Wilson did not change his opinion on 24-hour news.
"I think he's completely sincere," he said, "but I think he's playing the role of a business leader. He's wording certain things the right way and avoiding others, as he should as a business leader."
While Wernsman said he believes it is possible Wilson's visit could be a propaganda technique by Fox, he does not believe that was the case.
"He has family in this area, he grew up in West Texas and he's getting to see his mom," he said of Wilson. "I don't think that he's on a campaign; it sounds like he tries to do something like this on an annual basis to be in touch with college students."
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