Photo deserved Fox attention

In one corner was Matt Drudge, the internet maverick who has had his share of "oops" moments when he has reported things that weren't quite right. He also likes to use innuendo and raised eyebrows in place of real reporting.

In the other corner was Fox News, a division of a far-flung media empire that has no qualms about printing photos of nude women in daily newspapers or airing TV specials about alien autopsies.

The conflict involved a photo Drudge wanted to show on his Fox News cable TV show but which news editors nixed. First, Drudge threatened to quit his show. Then Fox threatened to sue him. Finally, they parted ways while blowing press release kisses at each other.

Special photo

Like those, the photo at the center of the Drudge-Fox tug o' war captures a crucial moment at a specific time, a moment that has universal meaning. It shows a Georgia woman's womb that has been exposed so that a surgeon can work on her unborn baby to repair its spina bifida. What is unforgettable is that the child -- 21 weeks into gestation and named Samuel -- has reached a hand through the small incision to grasp the doctor's gloved finger.

The picture is worth a thousand words about life before birth.

Commentary

Fox news editors said that Drudge would confuse the issue by implying that the photo of fetal surgery was an abortion and therefore would not allow him to show it.

When he heard that, Drudge refused to do his show. Ironically, Fox later showed the photo anyway, in connection with a story about spina bifida.

Hidden agenda

CBS News has done it for years through such shows as "60 Minutes." The New York Times has done it not only through editorials, where such advocacy belongs, but also through news stories, which are supposed to be objective. When independent critics at the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post examined how the media treat this issue, they concluded that a definite prejudice against the pro-life point of view exists in the major media.

The Drudge-Fox contretemps is but the latest example. Fox News -- which had no problem with endless and frank discussions of President Clinton's cigar or which regularly airs talk shows about sexual habits -- suddenly got nervous over a photo of a baby. Out of the blue, something was too controversial for a conglomerate noted for blinking at nothing, including a lesbian kiss on "Ally McBeal" and people getting mauled in specials that show videotapes of animal attacks.

That unborn baby's hand should have been shown on Drudge's show. Fox showed its hand when it said no.

(12-02-99)