This morning, Fox and Friends praised producer Griff Jenkins for stalking and ambushing Columbia University professor Alan Brinkley to grill him on portions of his book Jenkins found objectionable. Jenkins — who perfected his harassment tactics as a minion of harassment expert Bill O’Reilly — appeared on Fox and Friends to defend his “worthy cause” of ambushing unwitting writers who write things he disagrees with:
STEVE DOOCY: We’ve been watching you badger some guy up at Columbia.
JENKINS: It’s because there’s inaccurate material in these textbooks! It’s a worthy cause.
DOOCY: Sure.
Watch it:
Jenkins claimed that the network invited Brinkley onto the program, but Fox News has been known to lie about inviting its perceived enemies on air. ThinkProgress contacted Brinkley and it turns out Fox extended an invitation to him only after stalking and ambushing him:
A Fox News crew was waiting for me when I left my home yesterday, followed me for two blocks with questions and accusations, and then left. Later that day, I was asked to come onto the show, which I declined to do. I did e-mail the person who invited me with responses to the two mistaken charges they made when I was being followed by the camera crew.
After being stalked and ambushed, Brinkley did release a statement to Fox refuting Jenkins’ claims — and forcing Jenkins to halfheartedly admit he had been wrong about one of his charges.
If Fox News had really wanted a statement from Brinkley, it appears they could have elicited one fairly easily. What Fox’s harassment machine is actually interested in is not the truth or facts but rather intimidating, embarrassing, and silencing its opponents. Please join our campaign to stop such “ambush journalism.”
Update:
Last night, Keith Olbermann named Bill O’Reilly his “worst person in the world.”