Fox Orlando reporter Valerie Boey is clearly using her moment in the limelight to angle for a job at the Fox News Channel. Last year, she conducted a lapdog interview with George Zimmerman’s father that overlooked key discrepancies in his story. More recently, she did her part to fear monger about African American riots (that didn’t happen) in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict. Now, in an interview with an alternate juror to the Zimmerman trial, she gratuitously brought up Al Sharpton in an obvious effort to smear civil rights leaders.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that Boey began raising questions about Al Sharpton at the same time her Fox News colleagues were demonizing civil rights leaders concerned about the acquittal. But it’s hard to think why she would open the issue with an alternate juror who had voiced his support for the not guilty verdict (as if Fox would ever have aired the interview if he hadn’t). After all, the juror’s job was to weigh the evidence and determine Zimmerman’s guilt or not. It had nothing to do with civil rights, civil rights leaders or their concerns in that regard about this case.
But about 3:33 minutes into the video below (which includes an introduction), Boey asked, “And what’s your reaction to all the protests, demonstrations and talks of a civil rights complaint now?” She had a nasty little smirk on her face as she “asked.”
“I just don’t understand the civil right complaint,” the juror replied. “I didn’t see the evidence there. …People were going to be angry no matter what the verdict was.”
Boey's question might have been more legitimate had she opened a discussion on the broader issues of race in the case and how the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, walking home from a convenience store, was perceived in the African American community.
Instead, she made it about Al Sharpton. She asked, at about 5:50 in the second video below, “What’s your thoughts on Al Sharpton wanting to get rid of the Stand Your Ground law and people wanting to boycott Florida now?”
The alternate replied, “I just don’t understand that. …We didn’t do anything wrong. You know, the jury did what they were asked to do... and I don’t understand that.”
Again, Boey could have asked his thoughts on the Stand Your Ground law and/or Florida's liberal self-defense laws that allowed this tragedy to happen. The fact that she focused on Sharpton and "people wanting to boycott" was revealing.
If Boey is hoping to land a job at FNC, she certainly did a good job of looking like she’d fit right in. If she wanted to quell concerns about the safety of African Americans in Florida? Not so much.
As soon as FoxNoise moves on from being the Zimmerman Defense Network, then NewsHounds will as well. But as long as FoxNoise keeps up the race-baiting, NewsHounds will continue to cover it.
What a coincidence that whatever propaganda Jabba the Ailes pulls from his ass on Monday comes out of the mouths of all Fux Noise anchors and reporters by Friday.