Fox News Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of his network's coverage.

When Steve Brown and his crew were noticed hanging out near the back of a Milwaukee Democrats monthly meeting, party chairman Sachin Chheda called them out and asked them to explain why they were there, considering News Corp's -- the parent company of Fox News -- highly publicized $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association.

"Do you think it's understandable why Democrats across the country have this reaction when Fox News shows up, that they feel it's not a fair organization, it's a biased organization, and it doesn't give a fair shake to Democrats and Democratic viewpoints?" Chheda asked.

Brown then explained that he wasn't responsible for the actions of the entire outlet, just as Chheda wasn't responsible for the actions of all Democrats in his organization, but in the end he made a surprising concession:

"I understand," Brown said of Democratic suspicion of Fox News. "I have been dealing with this in various different degrees for 12 years. I understand people are allowed to have whatever opinion they wish to have about my organization or any other one. If you don't want us here, we'll leave."

Chheda appeared surprised at this response, and then announced that he'd allow the cameras to roll.

"I'm not gonna kick them out. If they wanna stay here and watch us talk about Democratic values and Democratic issues I think the Fox News Channel should be welcome to do that," Chheda said. "If they want to report about what's going on and what's happening in this election I think that what they'll see is that we're fired up, we're ready to go."

WATCH:

Comments

[dowl]

02:05 PM on 10/28/2010

Will the FoxNews producers(?) continue to work for Fox after this? Does the local FoxNews have a different position (balanced, objective) reporting on local issues?

IMO, for what it is worth, the FoxNews person, acknowledged that he was not invited and no one in the democratic gathering tackled him, handcuffed and restrained him, nor did anyone stomp on his head. This is a good thing.

The Milwaukee group is fired up and ready to go!

[78Thomas]

09:21 AM on 10/28/2010

Any debate about Fox News being "Fair & Balanced" is over.
Anyone who cannot admit that it is a GOP mouthpiece is a person who actually spends thier lifetime watching Fox News.

[lisaman]

09:33 AM on 10/28/2010

Sign the petition to boycott their advertisers.

http://www.democrats.com/boycott-fox-news-advertisers

A list of the sponsors.

http://foxnewsboycott.com/fox-news-sponsors/

[lisaman]

09:05 AM on 10/28/2010

So, a reporter goes to a tea party candidate's rally and is handcuffed by goons working for the candidate, Joe Miller. A member of Moveon.org goes to a Rand Paul debate hoping to get Paul to see her sign where she is promptly thrown to the ground and has her shoulder stomped on. Both of those people were expressing their rights given to them by the Constitution that these candidates both want us to believe they love and respect. Then we have a democratic strategy meeting interrupted by Fox News sneaking in the back door. This was NOT a public forum and they were not invited, however they were graciously allowed to stay.

In the first 2 incidents, no one has threatned the candidates with harm, no one has e-mailed threats, there have been no voicemails full of hate left for these usurpers of citizen's rights. In the last incident however things are very different, even though Mr. Chheda allowed that news crew to stay when he certainly was within his rights to make them leave, he has recieved all of the above including death threats. Something is so very wrong with this picture!

[amt77]

12:32 AM on 10/29/2010

I am looking for documentation of those threats to Mr. Chheda. Can't seem to find them although I know he said on Ed Show he got them...

[lisaman]

10:57 AM on 10/29/2010

I am not sure what "documentation" you are looking for. Do you think he recorded calls and posted them for everyone to hear or perhaps he posted his e-mails? Do you doubt that there are people out there crazy enough to blame him for the incident? If so, think again because they are, they are claiming Chheda is the bad guy. Check out this link and then look at the comments below one even talks about what Chheda looks like. Oh and there is an assertion in there about MSNBC and their parent company donating to democrats, I will include a link to show that although they do donate to democrats, they do not do so exclusively.

http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2010/10/27/will-journalists-condemn-the-verbal-flogging-of-fox-news-reporter-by-democrat-leader/

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000125

[lisaman]

12:28 PM on 10/29/2010

By the way, I was thinking about my post and hoping it didn't sound condescending, it was not meant to be.

[Tommygun264]

05:41 AM on 10/28/2010

Mr. Chheda, who was born in Missouri and who, by the way is a Christian, has been called a Muslim terrorist and one of "Obama's Muslim plants" on Glenn Beck's website. Plus he has been receiving death threats. These baggers have about as much class as they have guts - NONE.

[Ryan Hidalgo]

03:08 AM on 10/28/2010

I actually sympathize with Steve Brown. Many people find themselves working for companies they don't agree with or even understand. Brown said he's been dealing with these reactions on some level for 12 years. When was it that OutFoxed said that Murdoch became more "involved" in the Fox News Channel? FOX was founded in 1996--if it was two years after FOX's inception that would be interesting.

[Class Warrior]

11:12 AM on 10/28/2010

"Find themselves working for companies?" You act like this is Soviet Russia, where Mr. Brown has no choice over what he does. Did you see that suit on him? I'm sorry, but he's selling his soul to that fake news organization.

[exile]

12:41 AM on 10/28/2010

the democrats always give the right wing wackos a fair chance
not smart

[rtb61]

11:48 PM on 10/27/2010

What is really sad is, it is clear the Fox not-News reporter is afraid for his job, will he say the wrong thing, will head office take it in the context and, has he wasted his time as back office can't twist the Democrat speech into an attack against Democrats.
It took quite some time and a lot of carefully thinking by the reporter to come up and present his opinion. It is terrible when reporters fear for their career if they report the truth, Fox not-News attacking all the most important values of a free democracy.

[NVEnvy07]

11:24 PM on 10/27/2010

I love it but then I realize how sad it is that there are only a handful of people there...such a shame.

[lisaman]

09:07 AM on 10/28/2010

It wasn't a rally, it was a strategy meeting.

[peterg76]

11:00 PM on 10/27/2010

He said he understood that Democrats were suspicious, not that he agreed with their suspicions.

[Gnostic Priest]

09:55 PM on 10/27/2010

And that's why I don't watch Maddow.
TY ,
Wednesday's child

[CJHAN]

12:13 AM on 10/28/2010

Why?

[somefool]

09:40 PM on 10/27/2010

Faux News got schooled

[LeeCalif]

07:15 PM on 10/27/2010

Piece of l ying $hit !

[tru-thirts]

06:25 PM on 10/27/2010

So let me get this straight... Dems don't like Fox's one-sided viewpoint, but get upset when a Fox News crew wants to film their meeting?

So I guess Fox should be fair by NOT sending news crews to cover Dem meetings? Someone please help me figure this out...

[CheesePuff]

07:02 PM on 10/27/2010

Did you even read the article...or comprehend it rather? The Dems asked them why they were there and let them stay. The end. They didn't falsely arrest them. They didn't tackle them and stomp their heads. They didn't threaten them in any way.

You guys and your false equivalencies are really getting out of control. The sheer amount of mental gymnastics is really tiring.

[sistahfriend]

07:24 PM on 10/27/2010

You know they don't read!

[Bushwhacked]

07:30 PM on 10/27/2010

Cheese - you voiced the frustration of countless numbers. No, tru probably didn't read the article, otherwise why would he post his comment when the article clearly said this:
"I'm not gonna kick them out. If they wanna stay here and watch us talk about Democratic values and Democratic issues I think the Fox News Channel should be welcome to do that," Chheda said. "If they want to report about what's going on and what's happening in this election I think that what they'll see is that we're fired up, we're ready to go."

[clemmers]

08:04 PM on 10/27/2010

tru ... the article is quite clear and unambiguous. Are you just pretending you don't understand it?

Fox was not invited to the Democratic meeting event. They showed up anyway. Democrats are suspicious of Fox in general because of their blatant bias, as admitted by their own crew. However, the Democrats allowed them to stay and film, since they had nothing to hide.

[Cacey]

04:24 PM on 10/27/2010

I'm sure this wasn't reported on Fox today, though I can just see Meghan snarling about the confrontation part without mentioning that the crew was allowed in and the overall discussion was civil. Had this been reversed, it would have been the lead on Fox but only if the reporter had been kicked or arrested.

[IsaacYourBartender]

03:40 PM on 10/27/2010

Was this news crew from the local affiliate or the national bureau? They're not necessarily the same animal.

[Raccoon1]

05:36 PM on 10/27/2010

National bureau.