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Nas to Fox: Clean up Obama coverage

By Megan Stride | Special to amNew York

5:54 PM EDT, July 23, 2008

Hip-hop artist Nas joins members of MoveOn.org and ColorofChange.org to deliver a speech to supporters protesting Fox News coverage of Barack Obama in front of News Corp. headquarters, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 in New York. (Mary Altaffer, Associated Press / July 23, 2008)

Fox News had a special delivery Wednesday with a resounding message -- clean up your coverage of Barack Obama.

Hip-hop superstar Nas and the political organizations ColorOfChange.org, a black advocacy group, and MoveOn.org delivered 19 boxes of petitions demanding that the cable news channel stop what they call its racist coverage of Obama and his wife, Michelle.

During the past month, ColorOfChange.org collected more than 600,000 signatures calling for a change of standards at Fox. Protesters referenced several on-air incidents, including a broadcast where anchor E.D. Hill called an Obama fist bump a "terrorist fist jab." In a separate incident, the network used an on-screen headline that referred to Michelle Obama as the candidate's " baby mama." Hill and the network later apologized.

The problems with Fox's coverage extend to the entire black community, said Andre Banks, deputy director of ColorOfChange.org.

"There are people around the country that see that this is not just about Barack and Michelle Obama," Banks said. "Fox has a pattern of making black Americans seem like outsiders in their own country."

Nas called Fox a "propaganda machine" and said that the news channel's "racist attacks have gone too far."

The network told the Associated Press that anchor Bill Hemmer will interview Obama this weekend.

"Fox News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech including Nas who has an album to promote," the network said.

The network refused the delivery to its Sixth Avenue headquarters, so the boxes were taken to the studios of 'The Colbert Report," where Nas was scheduled to appear.

The rapper's album "Untitled" was released last week and secured the No. position on the charts. Nas changed the the title of the album, which originally was named for a racial slur, after a public outcry. The album art now features a black man's back with scars in the shape of an "N."

While Nas' artistic endeavors might seem incongruent with the protest's message, protestor Mike Baro said Nas was the perfect man to lead the protest. "We need more people, more celebrities like him, taking a stand," said Baro, 25. "He speaks to the people and it's a way to make change."