A Classy Guy In A Not Always Classy Profession

Blog of the Week Betsy’s Page links to this flattering profile of Brit Hume by Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post:

After moving up to the White House beat [at ABC] in 1989, Hume occasionally got into arguments with anchor Peter Jennings over how stories should be handled.

“He and Peter had some clashes over coverage of the White House,” says Charlie Gibson, who worked closely with Hume before becoming a co-host of “Good Morning America.” “I saw Brit make arguments to Peter when he felt Peter was taking a position that was left of center, or wrong.”

Hume says he came to feel “out of step with ABC News’s natural tendencies.” He recalls challenging an assignment about how the first President Bush “isn’t doing anything” by saying: “Has it ever occurred to you that this guy’s a Republican and Republicans don’t believe that government is the solution to all the country’s problems?”

Hume is well aware that some people, particularly on the left, view him as a conservative hack and Bush apologist.

“It bothers me a little bit,” he says. “I think we look conservative to people who are not. . . . I knew the rap on us from Day One was going to be that we were a right-wing news outlet.” But, he says, “I believed if we tried that, it would never work.”

It is typical of Howard’s sense of fairness that he can write a sympathetic profile of Hume, even though Howard himself is a liberal. But note the Post’s subheading: “Brit Hume’s Path Took Him From Liberal Outsider to The Low-Key Voice of Conservatism on Fox News.” Imagine what it would take for the Post to acknowledge any of the network anchors as “the voice of liberalism.”

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