Definition: A "Kinsley gaffe." The term comes from journalist Michael Kinsley, who said, "A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say." The Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier recently did one of these, although the people involved are not precisely politicians.
A couple of days ago, after covering the riots, Bret Baier as he often does turned to a Fox Business talking head and asked how the markets were doing. She answered that despite the riots and looting, the markets were up. Then she segued to a graphic which showed the market up after each of four events, the deaths of George Floyd, of MLK, of Michael Brown, and the acquittal of Rodney King's assailants. See a screen capture of the offending graphic.
Nobody argues the graphic was inaccurate, but it would clearly inflame those already upset about the brutal treatment of George Floyd. It was, in other words, truth that should have remained unspoken.
Tonight Baier did a full-on, no-holds-barred groveling mea culpa apology, taking full responsibility for the graphic being shown and the whole screw-up. I judge he was told to give it a try and, if the bosses believe it worked, he may be able to keep his job.
Historically, Baier concludes his program with "Fair, balanced, and still unafraid." He was afraid tonight and it showed. He needs a new sign-off line, because every time I hear him say "still unafraid" I am going to snarl "you mean 'and formerly unafraid.'" Tonight we watched him turn tail and run.
The giant irony was that coincidentally tonight Baier reported the ouster of editors at The New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer for similar offenses. Both of them apologized too, for all the good it did them.
