-Caveat Lector-
Fox Host in Hot Seat For Uses of Questionable Ethnic Term
By Jeff McKay
CNSNews.com Correspondent
February 12, 2003
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200302
\NAT20030212b.html
(Editor's Note: Contains language some readers may find objectionable.)
(CNSNews.com) - The host of the highest rated primetime news program on
cable television is facing criticism after using a disparaging term for
Mexicans during a broadcast last week.
Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor program,
used the term "wetback" during a Feb. 6 discussion of immigration
problems along the U.S. - Mexico border.
During a segment of the show featuring Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.),
O'Reilly advocated the use of military forces to control illegal immigration
and smuggling along the border, saying "We'd save lives because Mexican
wetbacks, whatever you want to call them, the coyotes, they're not going
to do what they're doing now, so people aren't going to die in the
desert," according to a transcript of the program.
The word 'wetback' is a slang term for Mexicans who swim across the Rio
Grande River to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico and is considered by
some to be offensive.
But it's apparently not the first time O'Reilly has used the term to describe
illegal immigrants from Mexico. According to a report in the Jan. 5, 2003
edition of The Morning Call of Allentown, Penn., O'Reilly criticized the
Immigration and Naturalization Service for not keeping "the wetbacks" out
of the U.S.
The newspaper reported that O'Reilly was the featured speaker at a
fundraising event in Easton, Penn. when he made the January reference.
When contacted for comment, an official with Fox News in New York
repeated an earlier statement by the network. "The network doesn't
condone the use of racial epithets nor does Bill," said Fox News spokesman
Robert Zimmerman.
O'Reilly's use of the term during the January fundraiser in Pennsylvania
apparently caught Zimmerman off guard. "This is news to me," said
Zimmerman, who declined further comment.
"We find the comment made to be highly offensive," said Ashley Atwell,
press secretary for Reyes, who is Mexican-American. "The issue {Reyes}
broached with Mr. O'Reilly is a passionate issue for the people the
congressman serves. They don't want the military on the borders."
Reyes is also a former U.S. Border Patrol agent and served as chief of the
U.S. Border Patrol in the McAllen and El Paso areas between 1984 and
1995. Reyes is opposed to using American military forces along the Mexican
border.
Atwell admitted this type of questionable slang has been used before, and
said the Hispanic Caucus in Congress has dealt with situations like this in
the past.
"It is regrettable. We consider the term 'wetback' to be a slur and
offensive to Mexican-Americans," stated a spokeswoman for the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus who would not give her name.
O'Reilly was not available for comment, but was quoted by the New York
Times in a Feb. 10 report that he was "groping for a term to describe the
industry that brings people in here. It was not meant to disparage people
in any way."
While O'Reilly's use of the comment has drawn criticism in some quarters,
it's been muted elsewhere.
When representatives for Hispanic Magazine, based in Coral Gables, Florida;
and the Washington, D.C.- based Mexican-American Legal Defense and
Education Fund were contacted, both organizations said they were
unaware of the episode and declined comment.
Even at Reyes' office, inquiries have been limited, according to Atwell. "It
hasn't been an all-consuming issue," said Atwell.
O'Reilly himself has been critical of others for their use of disparaging
language in the past.
During a segment in his Jan. 24 show about a DaimlerChrysler vice
president referring to conservative critics of Jesse Jackson as "myopic,"
O'Reilly said, "I don't like those drive-by - pardon the pun - comments, and,
if this were directed toward liberals or anyone else, I would have the same
problem," according to a transcript of the program.
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