MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Lena Tam
510-590-0248
lena.tam@gmail.com
Caucus Asks Fox News to Stop Racist Programming
The Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County denounces the Fox News "The O'Reilly Factor " October 3rd segment as implicitly racist. The segment featured reporter Jesse Watters taking a trip to New York Chinatown to ask passersby a series of culturally insensitive and ignorant questions while playing stereotypic Asian music and intercutting the story with martial arts movie cuts.
"These kinds of nonsensical attempts at what program host Bill O'Reilly called 'gentle humor,' are neither "gentle" nor "humorous;" rather they feed into the "bully mentality" that has pervaded the American cultural landscape making it acceptable to denigrate people who are racially or culturally different," stated Lena Tam, president of the Asian Pacific Democratic Caucus of Alameda County.
Although the reporter was in Chinatown, his questions exposed his indifference to even bothering to differentiate between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures.
Americans of Asian and Pacific heritage represent 1/3rd of the population in Alameda County which is also home to KTVU Fox, the flagship station of the Fox network. Their diverse reporting staff consistently show a high level of professionalism in stark contrast to the Watter's World segment on "The O'Reilly Factor" program.
The Caucus urges Fox News and the O'Reilly Factor to take responsibility and apologize for purposely perpetuating stereotypes and marginalizing Asian American communities. The Caucus also asks KTVU-Fox management to join us in protesting racially and culturally insensitive programming from Fox.
Learn more about Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County