Two Amman-based Jordanian freelance producers have declared they will no longer work for Fox News Channel in a message that denounces the network as an “instrument of the Bush White House and Israeli propaganda.”
Serene Sabbagh and Jomana Karadsheh‘s letter, dated July 31, was forwarded to scores of reporters and others. In the letter, they write: “We base our decision on moral issues. We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that.”
The two women say the network has a responsibility to report fairily for the “sake of your very naive viewers.” They say they hoped the network would “develop a degree of respect to people in this part of the world.” But: “The disdain and blatant one-sided coverage of all Mideast conflicts only highlights your total lack of humanity and bias toward Israel.”
They also criticize “inexperienced anchors” and their “racist comments,” calling them a “shameful scar on the American Media,” and comparing them to the “state run Television networks in countries you despise in the Middle East.”
Sabbagh appeared on FNC, including The O’Reilly Factor, last November after the Jordanian hotel blasts. This April blog entry on FOXNews.com identifies Karadsheh as a “Jordanian producer for Fox.” Update: 6:56pm: “Karadsheh has been Fox’s producer inside the Saddam trial,” a tipster adds. Karadsheh has also worked for CNN, as recently as last week in Baghdad. To read the full letter, click continued…
The text of the letter:
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006
Dear All,
We would like to announce our resignation from Fox News in Amman. Although we never actually worked for your organization, we helped for the past three years in facilitating your work in the Middle East.
We base our decision on moral issues. We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that. Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism. You have crossed all borders and red lines. An Arab mother cries over the death of her child very much like an American and Israeli mother.
Arab blood is not cheap, and we are not barbarians. You ought to be more responsible and have more decency when you take one side against the other. You have a role to play and a responsibility to shoulder for the sake of your very naive viewers.
Throughout the three years we worked with you, and helped you, we thought you would develop a degree of respect to people in this part of the world. But the disdain and blatant one-sided coverage of all Mideast conflicts only highlights your total lack of humanity and bias toward Israel. Your lack of professionalism has made you a tool of ridicule throughout the world. Your inexperienced anchors with their racist comments are not only a shameful scar on the American Media, they simply represent state run Television networks in countries you despise in the Middle East.
Finally, our decision again is based on moral and professional basis and from now on we will no longer help in any Fox related matters.
Serene Sabbagh
Jomana Karadsheh