Congressman Conyers calls Fox News' Apology Fake- Condemns Racist Network for 'Disregard for Accuracy

/

d8padep81.jpg
A top Democratic Congressman slammed Fox News for confusing him with an indicted colleague who is also African-American in a Monday afternoon broadcast. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) accused the network of having a 'complete disregard for accuracy."

"Fox News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair, nor balanced. This type of disrespect for people of color should no longer be tolerated. I am personally offended by the network's complete disregard for accuracy in reporting and lackluster on-air apology," said Rep. Conyers in a statement sent to RAW STORY.

Conyers' office was taking issue with an apology issued by Fox News' Martha McCallum on her Live Desk news program Tuesday afternoon.

"Yesterday at this time, news of the indictment of the Congressman William Jefferson came down. We mistakenly ran the wrong video to accompany this story, and we apologize for that error," McCallum said (a video of the apology is presented below).

In the statement, Conyers' office also noted, "The network apologized on-air for airing the wrong video; however, they did not personally apologize to Mr. Conyers or describe the video they aired the previous day."

McCallum was apologizing for a news story she presented on Monday afternoon on Rep. William Jefferson, the Democratic Congressman from Louisiana who was indicted on 16 public corruption charges the same day. When background footage was shown, it depicted Rep. Conyers in a May 10 hearing with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Rep. Jefferson, who just went on leave Tuesday from his only assignment on the Small Business Committee, was not present in the House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Fox News's gaffe was first reported Monday by Josh Gerstein at the New York Sun's Latest Politics blog.

"To no one's surprise, Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat of Louisiana, was indicted today on 16 counts," he wrote. "On second thought, not everyone was so ready. The person in the pictures Fox News used to illustrate their bulletin sure looked to me like another black congressman, John Conyers of Michigan."

Subsequent video was posted by Talking Points Memo, and is presented below.

In January, RAW STORY first reported an on-air apology by CNN's Wolf Blitzer to Senator Barack Obama, just before he announced his candidacy for presidency. CNN had accidentally inserted Obama's name in a graphic on the hunt for Al Qaida leader Osama Bin laden on Blitzer's program The Situation Room. [MORE]