New Nightline: Bashir Is “Oily, Obsequious…Creepy,” Friedman Says

“Congratulations, David Westin,” FOXNews.com’s Roger Friedman mocks: “You’ve replaced serious, competent, respected Ted Koppel with the oily, obsequious Martin Bashir on Nightline. My only question is, was Jerry Springer not available?”

Perhaps Westin, the head of ABC News, has not seen the ‘outtakes’ of Bashir’s interviews with Michael Jackson from his original ‘documentary.’ But I’ve seen it and so have the many other journalists who were in the Santa Maria courtroom where Jackson was tried for child molestation last spring.

I have no doubt most of them had the same reaction as I when they heard today that Bashir had been given a co-hosting job at Nightline. Yikes! was probably the first word that crossed their minds.

In the outtakes, as in the main doc, Bashir is, for lack of a better word, creepy. He baits Jackson, praising his strangest qualities during breaks in the filming. Jackson is flattered and pleased, but when filming resumes, Bashir then attacks the singer for the traits he only seconds earlier complimented.” More…