Yesterday we wrote about an excellent, and in-depth, profile of Bryan Fischer by veteran reporter Jane Mayer in this week’s New Yorker. Fischer took to his radio show to respond to the piece, and let’s just say it seems to have hit a nerve. If you weren’t already planning on reading it, you’ll definitely want to after watching Fischer get so worked up about it (highlights below and full video here):
Fischer variably called the profile “shoddy,” “laughably bad,” “juvenile,” “poorly written,” “unprofessional,” “distorted, misleading, false, and deceptive,” “offensively bad,” and “an embarrassingly bad piece of journalism” that is “like something you would get in a middle school journalism class.” He said that Mayer “ought to be ashamed of herself” and is an “inexcusably bad journalist.”
Fischer, of course, doth protest too much. He threw around a lot of names and accusations but did nothing to call into question the veracity or quality of the article. And he seemed genuinely shocked that a reporter would take the time to speak with people he’s known throughout his life, and that some of those people might not agree with him or hold him in the same high esteem he holds himself. “This was my own life, she’s talking about my life here,” he complained.
“If I was a journalist,” said Fischer, “I’d be embarrassed frankly to be associated with a piece of tripe like this.” But I think it’s safe to say that he has a weak grasp on what journalism is. Regardless, Fischer says he’s going to take his ball and go home: “This is it. I am never ever gonna cooperate with an organ of the mainstream media for a profile on me ever again.”
