Boycott Watch  
                           
November 4, 2012
 
Fox Detroit Pollster / Reporter Is Paid To Promote
Candidates He Reports About,
Supports Hamas Terrorist Murder of Jews.
 
Summary: A conspiracy to defraud the pubic?
 
    Boycott Watch received several emails asking us to investigate Tarek M. Baydoun who reports as a pollster on Fox2 in Detroit Michigan. Mr. Baydoun is no stranger to us at Boycott Watch, as we have read about him in articles by Debbie Schlussel who has reported his support of Hamas. In this case however, Boycott Watch is concerned with a different matter which we addressed to senior executives at Fox.

    While Mr. Baydoun appears on news casts as a pollster, ostensibly as a fair reporter, it turns out that he advertises himself as a political consultant to help candidates in their campaigns on his own website. In fact, Boycott Watch has saved a PDF of a page on his website where he clearly offers his services to assist political candidates.

    "This is a clear conflict of interest" said Fred Taub, President of Boycott Watch. "By offering paid services to candidates and then being able to report about candidates on a television newscast, Mr. Baydoun has opened himself up to being paid to promote political candidates illegally, as he is essentially able to represent candidates and deliver their messages without disclosure. He also puts the Fox 2 Detroit television station in danger as the TV station may be in violation of Federal Election Commission rules."
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    Boycott Watch discovered this while doing a cursory look at Mr. Baydoun's credentials. In his Twitter activity, we see Mr. Baydoun has applauded suicide bombers attacking Israel, advocates the complete destruction of Israel and even praised Hamas terrorist rocket attacks upon Israel, photos of which are posted here. "Praising terrorists who murder innocent people, especially women, children and the elderly as being "honorable" is beyond disgusting. No reputable news station would ever hire anyone who praises terrorists, or especially a fan of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center as a reporter, just a Fox station should not give credibility to a Hamas supporter as a fair report.

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    In the following tweet, Mr. Baydoun is calling for the boycott of Israel via their BDS plan to get Americans and others to support the Arab League campaign to destroy Israel via economic warfare. The topic is covered in detail in Fred Taub's book Boycotting Peace.

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    Boycott Watch is primarily concerned with the election conflict of interest. We bust scams on a regular basis, and we believe there is no way a television station could have missed the fact that Mr. Baydoun is an active political consultant when they hired him. Like every business, news outlets surely have a code of conduct for their employees, and blatant conflicts of interest are hard to miss. Boycott Watch therefore sees this as planned deception of the public.

    Boycott Watch wants to know who hired Mr. Baydoun and why. We see this as corruption of the public trust and plan to file complaints with both the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, the later because by deceiving the public about reporter credentials, Fox 2 is not acting in the public best interest."

    Boycott Watch sent emails to several Fox officials inquiring about the matter, asking everyone the same questions as follows:

1) Does Mr. Baydoun appear on Fox 2 as a pollster or as a commentator? There is a distinct difference. If he appears as a commentator, who does he appear against for balance?

2) What is the Fox conflict of interest policy for hiring people as pollsters or reporters?

3) Based on our information that Mr. Baydoun is touted as a pollster, how does Fox conduct basic background checks, as in this case the conflict of interest is beyond all doubt since Mr. Baydoun has already displayed it?

4) Does Mr. Baydoun routinely publicly disclose the general conflict of interest since he does advertise his services to political candidates? If yes, please forward examples.

5) Being a clear conflict of interest, does Fox post a disclaimer before his appearances?

6) Who vetted the hiring of, and authorized the hiring of Mr. Baydoun as a pollster despite a clear conflict of interest?

7) Mr. Baydoun has tweeted his positions in support of rocket attacks by Hamas, recognized by the US State Department as a terrorist organization, on Israel. What is the Fox policy regarding contributors and other on-air paid staff who advocate terrorist attacks, including the murder of women and children.

8) What is the policy of Fox regarding contributors and other on-air paid staff who state the terrorist murderers of innocent women and children are "more honorable than either of us?"


    After several days, Boycott Watch has received no replies from Fox and will update this report as information becomes available.
 
 
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