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A modern Lot
Brit Hume is stepping down from his job as Fox News Washington managing editor and anchor. He cites the “poisonous atmosphere” within the Beltway. It brought to mind “righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)” (2 Peter 2:7,8).
Hume was chief White House correspondent for ABC News before casting his lot with fledgling Fox News in 1996, attracted by Roger Ailes’ commitment to the ideal of “fair and balanced news,” and by the prospect of working for an organization that covers stories from a different angle than the ubiquitous liberal one.
“None of us is objective,” Hume told Brian Lamb in an interview this July. “But what you can try to be is fair. … I believe that fairness begins with an awareness that no, you’re not objective. And it is your professional duty and responsibility to be aware of that. And to carry that with you into the work that you do. … You think, I got to be careful here, because I don’t particularly cotton to this person. I need to make sure that I play this straight. … And it’s not that hard to do.
The tragic death of his son Sandy 10 years ago drew Hume closer to Christ. “At a moment like that you find out what you really believe. And the one thing I recognized almost instantly was that I believed in God and I believed that God would come to my rescue. … Somewhere in the middle of that, I felt closer to God and to Christ than I had ever felt in my life, which is in a sense paradoxical. But there it was.”
Future plans: spend time with family and study the Bible.
back to top23 Comments to “A modern Lot”
Hume is/was always a skeptic as befits someone with his name.
I hope he won’t vanish entirely. A good sabbatical might hone him further. He seemed at his best when he tagged teamed with John McWethy the Pentagon correspondent.
And in the age of the web and alternative media, perhaps we can now abandon forever this charade of objectivity. When you open up a HUMAN EVENTS newspaper they are quite up front telling you who they view the world and whyso. (Of course Worldmag does this too).
I regard such “Here’s-how-we-view-the-day’s-news” statemts as only fairness in advertising
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This is the first I’ve heard of it. I will miss Brit, “fair and balanced and unafraid.”
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I appreciate his comment, “I believe that fairness begins with an awareness that no, you’re not objective.”
Back in the dark ages when I trained as a journalist, that was the beginning of the news story–that you recognized you come at everything from your own point of view and while you didn’t have to agree with everyone, you needed to be able to articulate their position without judgement.
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I will miss his thoughtful commentary and questions. He has to do what he thinks God would have him do at this point in his life. That is true for all believers. I pray he will use his retirement wisely.
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Some deaths leave us changed forever. The death of one’s child is usually one of them. It is good to be reminded of what is most important, what remains and will last forever and what is not worth living for.
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Tony Snow, Brit Hume, Fox chose the best.
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Is it too intrusive to wonder how his son died? Terminal illness? Teen booze-soaked joy ride? I suspect the circumstances of a child’s death make a vast difference in how it’s processed, no?
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He committed suicide. He’d been a successful journalist in his own rite.
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Like Lot, Hume had family problems.
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The rumor was Brit Hume’s son was about to be outted so that is why he committed suicide.
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Oh no, I’m so sad to hear this. Hume (along with Tony Snow) were among the best of Fox news. I guess his was always my favorite show as I’m not fond of the more “partisan” programs.
I agree with Michelle’s comments, we all come to a story carrying our opinions and we should always be careful to check those at the door, as much as it is possible to do so.
I fear much of that journalistic ethic is fast slipping away.
One thing I didn’t know was that Hume was a Christian. The loss of his son must have been devastating. We should all have compassion for what that family has gone through.
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Alexander Hamilton went through a similar conversion after his son Philip died in a duel.
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Brit Hume wore his conservative Republican views on his sleeve during his time a Faux News. It was obvious from his questions and statements which party he favored. And he worked for a network that openly and brazenly campaigns for the Republican Party and against the Democratic Party. “Fair & balanced” it is not.
I’m sure he’s a fine person, but I don’t find him any better or worse than any other journalist.
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Fair, because Fox jurnalists acknowledge their views, balanced, because the point/counterpoint debate format is widely practiced. Fox News greatest sin is that they don’t buy in to the bias so prevalent in most of the main stram media outlets.
In case you missed it, Anlir, Brit observed that fairness begins with the understanding that true objectivity is impossible.
The current generation of journalists, politicians, professors and celebrities from my generation (baby boomers) and their generational followers, appear, for the most part, to be the most self-important, self-centered, and at the same time, least self-aware people to visit the public square. Unaware of their own presuppositions, assuming that the filters on their lenses are the default, reasonable, objective positions, they offer the most jaw droppingly biased observations in simplistic, smug assurance of their own unchallenged “truthiness.”
Drop in every now and then, Brit, with your calm and considerate observations. We’ll miss you. Godspeed.
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#13 Anlir
It may have been obvious to you just which party Hume favored, but I thought he asked some hard questions of Republicans and their actions. I always thought he was fair in his assessments of all parties. I just thought he did a good job. If he was/is a Republican I am proud to be in his party.
He’s da mensch!
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Wow, what a noble course Mr. Hume has set for himself. It is inspiring!
On the other hand, those are just the sort of watchmen we need on the walls of Washington.
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Alexander Hamilton went through a similar conversion after his son Philip died in a duel.
Given his death at the hands of Aaron Burr, this is rather ironic.
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Indeed, that Hamilton lost his son in a duel, and then became a born again regenerate Christian, it is indeed ironic that he choose to go through with the duel with Burr. Though Hamilton’s Christianity led him to not fire at Burr. And when Hamilton begged for the Lord’s Supper, initially the minister didn’t want to give it to him because he thought doing so would appear to sanction the very un-Christian act of dueling. But when Hamilton convinced him that he was repentant of the act of dueling, the minister gave him the sacrament and Hamilton peacefully died.
Hamilton’s personality before and after his conversion was like night and day. Before he became a Christian (while he was doing his work Founding the nation) Hamilton was an unregenerate, arrogant ass. Hamilton’s conversion to Christianity after his son’s death is indeed a moving tale.
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Gore Vidal’s BURR has a different version of Hamilton.
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#18 I recently listened to the latest Alexander Hamilton biography on a supposedly unabridged audio book and didn’t hear any of that. I wonder if they left it out. I’ll have to find the book itself and check it out.
Hamilton was one of the most fascinating people in American history. He was an orphan born in the British West Indies. He didn’t even come to America until 1772 at the age of 17. A few years later he defined the American economic system in a tent while canon balls whizzed overhead. The book emphasized his one glaring weakness, which was his honor. He absolutely could not abide anyone challenging his integrity and it killed him in the end.
One weird thing in many of the presidential biographies these days is that the authors always insert some bizarre offhand comment about the subject being gay. The only reason given is that they slept in Inns with men. Well, that was very common in those days. How ridiculously bad modern historians are to not even know their history. To modern historians, everyone of significance in history was gay. Note: I am not gaying the thread. I am merely pointing out how really bad historians have become.
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Fox News greatest sin is that they don’t buy in to the bias so prevalent in most of the main stram media outlets.
Bias is no sin at all, any way I look at it. The greatest sin is boring the viewer, and FOX spends too much time pandering, which is excruciating, whether you’re being pandered to or whether you have to bear watching others being pandered to.
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Bias is no sin at all, any way I look at it.
Tell that to Nick . . .
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I’m sorry to see Mr. Hume leave Fox. He did a great job for the best news network around. Since the poisonous atmosphere in D.C. was his main objection, it seems that he has made a good decision for himself and his family.
With the Obama gang taking over, the political atmosphere will soon become absolutely toxic to everything good and decent.
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