John Gibson (political commentator)

John Gibson, an American, is the host of the weekday show "The Big Story" on FOX News since 2000. Gibson is regarded as a social and political conservative. He was born in 1946 and has worked for numerous media outlets including MSNBC and a West Coast correspondent for NBC. He is an alumnus of UCLA. He has provided extensive coverage in the past on the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, the American involvement in Mogadishu and the events at the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas.

Gibson is the author of Hating American (2004) and The War on Christmas (2005). The War on Christmas argues that a "cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists and liberal, guilt-racked Christians" are trying to secularize Christmas.

Gibson has also filled in for commentator Bill O'Reilly on The Radio Factor.

Gibson vs. the BBC

An outspoken critic of the BBC, Gibson claims that the British Broadcasting Corporation is anti-American. He attacked the BBC in accusing it of having "a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest"[1][2]. He also claimed that reporter Andrew Gilligan, who was covering the 2003 Iraq War for BBC Radio 4 in Baghdad had "insisted on air that the Iraqi Army was heroically repulsing an incompetent American Military". ^[3]

Gibson's criticisms were rejected by Ofcom when it investigated viewer complaints of Gibson's item. ^[4] It was found that the words he attributed to Gilligan were false, and "the manner in which John Gibson delivered these lines and the fact that he indicated that Gilligan said it “on-air” gave the distinct impression that he was quoting Gilligan directly. It did not appear that he was summarising Gilligan’s reporting. Furthermore, Fox News failed to provide any evidence, except that it felt that Gilligan’s reporting of the US advance into Baghdad was incorrect, that supported this statement."

Controversial Statements

Media pundit John Gibson's controversial statements brought criticism when he referred to religions, other than his own one, as "wrong". [5]

• When London was chosen to host the 2012 Olympics, Gibson said that he regretted that Paris had not been chosen because it would have subjected that city to the threat of terrorism. ^[6] He also has stated that no one would care if France was a victim of a terrorist attack. [7]

• On the July 12 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, host John Gibson said that White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove should be given "a medal" for outing covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, adding that Plame "should have been outed by somebody." [8]

• In his book The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought, Gibson wrote, "The wagers of this war on Christmas are a cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wracked Christians—not just Jewish people." [9]

• On January 19, 2006 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, after the release of a tape by terrorist Osama Bin Laden Gibson stated, "(Bin Laden) is talking to America's far left and saying, "You know what. We're on the same side. So why don't you work on that hardhead George W. Bush? Bin Laden told us Thursday that our far left has been working for him. It's their poll results he quotes." [10]

• In his defense of ambassador John Bolton and repudiation of the United Nations and the Third World, referring to the Third World - That latter group includes a huge number of so-called nations, little more than spots on the map that would get invaded, taken over, subsumed, eliminated, except no-one wants to get stuck with their problems of poverty and disease and corruption.[11]

Quotations

• Eat a Big Mac and get over it. [12]
• The Euros don't have militaries. [13]
• I would think if somebody is going to be -- have to answer for following the wrong religion, they're not going to have to answer to me. We know who they're going to have to answer to. [14]
• Republicans stand for parents' right and life, and Democrats have sided for questionable husband and dying?[15]
• Because we're going after the people who outed her [ Valerie Plame ], do I conclude that the American people now want a government run by spooks whose secret identities are protected by law while they pull strings and make things happen in an otherwise open government? No, you don't want that. I didn't think so. [16]
• But in the meantime, as long as they're civil and behave, we tolerate the presence of other religions around us without causing trouble, and I think most Americans are fine with that tradition.[17]
• Gays can't have kids -- other than going to the abandoned kids store and getting one or two, or borrowing sperm from someone with more sperm than brains -- so by definition they're out of the marriage game.[18]
• It's when America has no problems that people vote Democrat, out of guilt. But when you want something done -- and done right, mind you -- America votes Republican. [19]

References

1. ^ Liar, liar. Editorial by John Gibson., published on FOXNews.com on January 29 2004.
2. ^ Standards Cases - Upheld Cases - The Big Story: My Word - Published in Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin Number 11 on June 14 2004.
3. ^ Fox News: Anti National Security - Published on OliverWillis.com on July 12 2005.
4. ^ Missed Opportunity Editorial by John Gibson, published on FOXNews.com on July 06 2005.

Bibliography

• Gibson, John (2005). The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. Sentinel. ISBN 1595230165.
• Gibson, John (2004). Hating America: The New World Sport. Regan Books. ISBN 0060580100.

External link

• Fox news biography
• John Gibson on Media Matters