On Tuesday, we received a media request from Fox News, asking if someone from People For the American Way would be willing to appear on their program “America’s Newsroom” the following morning to discuss what they are calling “Texas Textbook Wars.”
As we have been following the issue closely, we felt prepared to discuss it while being fully aware that Fox’s coverage of the issue has been, top date, somewhat less than objective. Nonetheless, we agreed to appear on this segment, only to be informed shortly thereafter that the segment would have to be bumped from Wednesday’s program, due to the need to cover the results of Tuesday’s various primary elections.
That seemed entirely reasonable and when Fox asked if we’d be willing to re-schedule the segment for the same time on Thursday, we agreed. But then, late on Wednesday, we were informed by Fox that the segment was being dropped entirely and that we wouldn’t be appearing on the program to discuss this topic.
Again, that was perfectly understandable as these things happen.
But all of that took place behind the scenes at PFAW, leaving me was unaware that our participation in the segment had been canceled. As such, I tuned into Fox’s “American’s Newsroom” yesterday morning expecting to see our Senior Fellow Peter Montgomery on the program discussing this issue … but instead, this is what I saw:
Fox had dropped us from this segment and instead decided to just give “concerned parent” Terry Ann Kelly three minutes to explain how conservatives simply want to add some “balance” to the curriculum by teaching children about their religious freedoms.
Of course, Kelly is a bit more than just some “concerned parent”:
Terry Ann Kelly has an expansive background in public speaking, radio and television. Over the past twenty years she has been the host for numerous local, regional and nationally syndicated radio programs. She has taught public speaking and Business Communication classes at the university level for Baylor and Dallas Baptist University.
Inspiring audiences to impact their world, Terry Ann enjoys speaking to organizations and women’s events across the country on topics varying from home and family life to moral and social issues. She has appeared on programs such as Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, seen by over 5 million viewers. She is the co-author of the book, The Power of a Positive Friend (Howard Publishing) and writes articles for magazines and newspapers. She founded Students Standing Strong in 2004.
So after asking us to come on to debate this issue, Fox canceled on us, telling us that they weren’t going to run the segment … and then proceeded to still run the segment, with only the conservative side represented.
