NPR host Scott Simon made headlines over the weekend for “Asking Bill Cosby About Rape Allegations” (Salon, 11/17/14). “Bill Cosby Refuses to Answer Sexual Assault Questions on NPR,” the Huffington Post (11/15/14) reported; “Bill Cosby Silent in Face of Questions About Sexual Assault Allegations” was how the Guardian (11/15/14) put it. USA Today (11/17/14) even had a headline announcing that the “NPR Host Tweets About Cosby Silence on Rape Question.”
Bill Cosby (cc photo: Kate Haskell)
One problem: Simon didn’t ask Cosby about the sexual assault allegations made against him by numerous women. There was no “rape question.”
Here’s the question Simon actually asked the comedy star:
This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.
When Cosby didn’t say anything, the host noted:
You’re shaking your head no. I’m in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?
After continued silence, Simon went on:
Shaking your head no. There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.
With no response from his guest, Simon wrapped up the interview.
Notice that at no point does Simon use the words “rape” or “sexual assault”—the most specific he gets is “serious allegations,” then makes an even vaguer reference to “those charges,” and finally ends up referring to “this.”
You have to wonder: If Simon found it too uncomfortable to bring up the subject, what made him think that Cosby would be willing to do it for him?
Now, Cosby surely knew what Simon was referring to—as did media writers who reported on the interview. But you know who likely didn’t know what Simon was talking about? Most of his audience, given that the rape allegations have received remarkably little coverage since they first emerged almost a decade ago.
Simon’s unwillingness to acknowledge what he was talking about is reminiscent of another NPR report that Peter Hart wrote about today (FAIR Blog, 11/17/14). Covering the fight over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, NPR‘s Ron Elving (Weekend Edition, 11/15/14) said that “opponents see it as the encouraging development of remote and lower-grade sources.”
Now, if you’ve been following the issue closely, you know that the reference to “remote and lower-grade sources” means that Keystone, by allowing the exploitation of large amounts of dirty, hard-to-get-at oil, will have a devastating impact on the global climate. But those who are following the issue closely don’t need an explanation; the people who need to have it explained remained in the dark.
But at least NPR‘s energy-related corporate sponsors weren’t offended by a forthright reference to what the debate is really about.
“I’m in the news business,” Simon asserted to Cosby. He should have acted like it.
News Business, bwahahahahahaha. You are in the entertainment business now buddy. That was the lamest interview I’ve ever heard.
I’ve been concerned about NPR’s self censorship for decades. I wrote to the network’s ombudsman over a dozen years ago, distressed to hear every dead Palestinian boy and old man referred to as a “gunman,” parroting the Likud party line.
Its correspondents, who are vastly better than the commercial pap we hear all day and night, still worry that they’re going to offend some dipshit congressman and lose that small contribution it receives from
the federal treasury.
PBS is no different, worse, perhaps. They spiked an excellent documentary on the Koch brothers and the congress and state legislatures the boys had bought.
But even our favorites, say Free Speech T.V. or Democracy Now, have their own problems. I’ll believe they’re objective the day they drop the P.C. position that Mumia Abu-Jamal was not guilty of the murder of Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner. I have vigorously fought the death penalty for decades, testifying against it in various state legislatures, but the guy was a killer. It’s not rocket science. It’s Occam’s Razor.
Excuse me. I heard the interview, and anyone reasonably well informed knew what he was talking about. You have little faith in his audience… Much less than he does.
Do you honestly think this is fair? It’s a great way to get hits for FAIR. The topic is trending and you do tap into the reader’s instinct to respond to a fake scandal. Congratulations to your advertisers, but your credibility just went down, down, down.
We don’t have any advertisers.
i document scott simon’s ridicule and hatred of black athletes and entertainers, michael jackson, magic johnson etc., in my book,”juice.” like in the old south, coz is being tried by ‘public opinion’ instead of having the ability to cross examine his accusers.fair might examine the media’s black bogeyman trope,historically. the fellas get lynched while salon and others draw attention to their product. as the prez of cnn told rick sanchez; “race sells.”
Shall we henceforth nick this NPR hack
Scott “Say it ain’t so” Simon … ?
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With respect to Cosby, the problem with some in the media is that they can’t distinguish between Cosby the man and Cosby the TV icon, that lovable TV dad. Either that or, because his shows rake in such enormous residuals, they have a need to perpetuate the myth. And of course many in the viewing public can’t make the distinction either.
FAIR, you do great work, but in this case I have to respectfully disagree with you. Nobody had to say the word rape. We all knew.
Scott Simon handled this interview perfectly. He had to ask the question, with the wife present mind you, and do it in a way where he couldn’t be accused of tabloid journalism. That’s a thin tightrope.
Furthermore, if you watch how Cosby softly intimidated the AP reporter who was sent to ask the same question, you realize that asking this question to a person’s face is a lot harder than it looks.
Few other reporters could have conducted this interview in such a way that it would have gained the traction that it did in today’s 24 hour news and social media environment.
Let’s be real. Would anyone in their right mind, who is being charged by the press or law, answer that question. No doubt Mr. Cosby has a lawyer who has advised to keep mum. It’s what I would want and you would too. The a priori trial and execution of Michael Brown and the cigarette seller (misdemeanor) by what seem to be overzealous cops is not much different that the public hew and cry to fry Cosby. What ever happened to the proper sequence of events: arrest, charges, pleas, trials, and release or punishment? it’s what every American has a right to expect. One of our Freedoms we hear so much about. Yet there are people out there, perhaps the same people who wahoo loudly about our freedoms, who are quick to try and convict on the street. We need to return to civility in our policing, arresting and citizenship and process these claims through our legal system without the press, be it NPR, CBS, FOX or whomever, doing so first.