Montel Williams Loses Job after Defending Troops on Fox News

For just over three minutes on Saturday morning, TV talk show host Montel Williams owned the hosts of Fox and Friends. A former Marine and Naval officer, Montel lectured the stunned hosts on the stupidity of spending air time on the death of Heath Ledger, rather than covering the war in Iraq. It was a spectacle rarely seen on live cable television, as Montel exposed and condemned both tabloid “news” shows and much of American culture for what they have each become: shallow and greedy.

Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job. Variety reported on Wednesday that the Fate of “The Montel Williams Show” was sealed when key Fox-owned stations opted not to renew it for the 2008-09 season.

Here is the video:

I have no idea whether Montel already knew his show wasn’t going to be renewed, and thus felt emboldened to cut loose on the air, or whether his firing was a result of his actions on Saturday. Either way, Montel Williams exhibited courage this week that few in the television industry ever will. And for that, American troops around the world stand with him. We support him not only because he stood up for the troops, but because he did it on Fox News—a station that has done more damage to the U.S. military since 9/11 than any other.

Montel Williams is an American patriot. Though he left the military years ago, he has never forgotten “his” troops.

For that we salute and thank you, Montel. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do next.

– by Brandon Friedman

Popularity: 4% [?]

I am not surprised that Montel was fired for speaking out. That seems to be par for the course in the corporate-military-media. Look what happened to Phil Danahue when he began interviewing intelligent people who opposed the war in Iraq. It seems like the only televised news channel where no one is getting fired for telling the truth at the independent news organization “Democracy Now” ~ not to mention Keith Olbermann. it’s time we turn off our sets on the corporate media. Most internet savvy people know where to find real journalism and we should be wise enough to stop supporting FOX news and all of their sponsors. We have the power to shut them down, and THAT is the TRUTH.

I can’t believe The Montel Williams Show is being canceled. It’s quite funny that Maury, can re-show the same darn storyline week after week and stay on the air. But someone who speaks the truth and have topics for about everyone is getting cut off, is (a nice word) BOGUS! Until this day, the world is saying America’s free! Yeah, not including freedom of speech! Whether its outside on someone’s steps or being viewed by millions of viewers! No wonder other countries laugh at us. Because all that political BS we be spitting to them, they know otherwise. Because at least they know the sad truth of “freedom” in this country.

Nothing is sacred with FOX except political bias. Fox must have some sort of relationship with Bush and Company, either that or they belong to the same club. American people need to get in touch with their legislatures and demand media breakup. We are fed bogus one sided information from this mega media and I for one will never watch FOX ever again. I say we need to boycott any and all products advertised on their network and then conatct those same product producers and tell them why we are boycottin them and FOX.

I never gave Montel Williams a second thought. He’s on my radar now.

It’stime that a television personality spoke his or her mind and not be another talking head for fox television. Kudos to you, Montel.

Whether Montel was fired because he had the balls to speak out on Faux News or not, makes no difference. He did have his say and a good job of it! He’ll have another show in no time, most likely on the Oprah network.

I never agreed with him on everything and he does seem blind to the reality of this government, but he had done some excellent shows regarding our veterans. He may get HUGE ratings if he goes to cable and exposes the TRUTH about our government, the crooks and liars they are and the bullshit they feed us everyday. The news is only what the whitehouse wants you to know. If you really want the news, read the overseas sites. We don’t need any of these rauncy talk shows. Donohue was the best!

The truth told. How shocking. RESPECT. How we have let the “few and the nasty” control our lives and have stayed sound asleep at the same time is the question.

I am concerned that the media can be so blatant in its supression of the truth! Really, was it necessary for them to fire him during a commercial break for low ratings?! They’re afraid of something.

Montel is just another target of a good USA that has gone drastically wrong!
He is to be admired for the sacrafice that he made to tell the truth.

Go Montel …. Montel is so compasionate of his opion but doesn’t get blinded by it. He is right about FOX news & other media…they r a prolem! I will listen and respect what Montel has to say !!! Atleat he has the backbone to say something…..

A recent comprehensive study by UCLA political scientist Tim Groseclose and University of Missouri-Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Milyo found Brit Hume’s Special Report — Fox’s most straightforward news show — more centrist than any of the three major networks’ evening newscasts, all of which are left leaning. The program is a model of smart news television.

Liberal commentators go in and out of the Fox studios all over America, every day — some of them, like host Alan Colmes and news analyst Marvin Kalb, and Eleanor Clift affiliated with the channel. There’s no doubt, of course, that Fox News is closer to mainstream America than CBS, ABC, NBC or CNN. But, after all, that was its founding mission.

Read this from the University of Missouri…

MU researcher finds most mainstream media contain liberal bias
Pundits have long argued about the liberal bias of mainstream mass media outlets, presenting cases on both sides of the issue. Applying a novel approach based on frequently used ratings of the liberal or conservative leaning of politicians, a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia discovered that most mainstream media outlets do exhibit a strong liberal bias.

“We found that most of the mainstream media view events through a ‘lens’ that is very similar to that used by Democrats in Congress,” said Jeffrey Milyo, associate professor of Economics and Public Affairs. “That is, most major media outlets and Democrats cite similar sources of expertise, such as particular think tanks and advocacy groups. This suggests that popular complaints about a liberal bias in the media are well-founded.”

To determine the bias of media outlets, Milyo and colleague Tim Groseclose, a political scientist at UCLA, applied the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) scoring system. ADA scores are used widely in political science to describe the placement of an individual member of Congress on an ideological scale, from conservative to liberal. The researchers examined the patterns by which media outlets cited particular think tanks and policy groups, and then compared these to the citation patterns of legislators with known ADA scores. This research is unique from previous studies because it does not rely upon subjective classifications, Milyo said.

“Up to this time, evidence has consisted mainly of anecdotes, or relied upon highly subjective analyses of news reports,” Milyo said. “Ours is a systematic and objective test of the liberal media hypothesis.”

The results demonstrate a strong liberal bias. All news outlets examined, except for Fox News’ Special Report and the Washington Times, received a score to the left of, or more liberal than, the estimated position of the average U.S. voter. The scores for CBS Evening News and the New York Times were among the most liberal, while outlets such as USA Today, NPR’s Morning Edition, NBC’s Nightly News and ABC’s World News Tonight were moderately liberal. The most neutral outlets were The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN’s NewsNight with Aaron Brown and ABC’s Good Morning America. Fox News’ Special Report, while more conservative, was closer to the center than any of the three major networks’ evening news broadcasts.

Good for you Montel. I for one am so sick and tired of hearing day and night and week by week and month after month about all of these movie stars and their personal lives. It gets so old and we get sick and tired of hearing about them. Give us a break. Tell us all what happened and then leave it alone for God sake. You all way over-do it when it comes to the stars. We are still hearing about Anna, and frankly I’m sick and tired of hearing about her too. Leave it alone. Now we will hear about her daughter for years and years to come. And speaking about a Free Country — this is only a Free Country for all of the illegals and foreigners that come over here. Us citizens don’t get anything and we have to pay for them being here besides that. How many more of our citizens are they going to kill before the government desides to do something about it.
Also: There should be a lot more news about our soldiers who have died in Iraq and how about the ones that have committed suicide over there and the ones that have committed suicide when they came back home and couldn’t cope with what they had to see over there. How about them ??????
Yea, lets get some good news on TV for a change. Ya’ll stay on one subject and one person way, way, way, too long.
Get off it already !!!!!
I hope to see more of you Montel in the future. I hope you are not gone for good. I truly enjoyed your shows. Hope to see you somewhere very soon. Best of Luck to you Montel. Love You !!

So much for Free Speech! I guess if you do not agree with the “MACHINE”, then your opinion does not matter. GO MONTEL! You will have a following no matter where you go because you always show your passion, and it’s always for the good of the people. Can we say the same about the government? I can’t!

Once again folks reply to these stories without knowing the whole truth and blast whichever media venue they don’t agree with. FOXNews may have some bias, but go above and beyond to give liberals some space. Other than Glenn Beck, I haven’t seen much “blending” of ideas anywhere else. Montel’s ratings have been dropping and I can’t give any reasons why, but no money, no show.

It’s ironic that I happened to read this story just after having skimmed over the Jerry Springer show on TV. How absurd that a show such as this remains on the air and Montel can be cancelled after speaking the truth about a subject that is so dear to so many of us. If the show was canned because of ratings what does that say about the mentality of the viewing public? I salute you Montel.

I just what to say thank you to Montel. He just goes to show that there is such thing as a voice! I was shocked and deeply saddened for Heath Ledgers death. My thoughts go out to his family and friends and fans, it was sad to know that such a great actor was taken from us at such a young age. Montel showed compassion for the Ledger family. But I am releived that he didn’t decide to dwell in it. He put his voice out there to be heard about an issue that has slowly been swept under the rug. It’s true I also have no idea of any of the soldiers names. They are the ones who are out there everyday away from their families, who our fighting for our country. Where we think they should be there or not, they are. And to know that 28 soldiers have died since January and yet no one except their families and their friends know who they are,it saddens me.
So I just wnated to say thank you to Montel for speaking up and saying what the whole country would like to know. Thank you for being a voice for so many of us who seem to small to speak. Thank you!

i believe in free speech also, but that isn’t what this is about, in my opinion.
this was a story and tribute about an individual.
how would you like it if one of your loved ones died, there was a story about it and someone one piped in “ok, that’s well and good, but what about the death of another individual who died last week?” the story wasn’t about the other individual….the story was planned and about an heath ledger.
another example…what if someone was asked to come and speak at your loved one’s funeral and he commenced to say, we shouldn’t be talking about this, we should be talking about another death from yesterday.
in my opinion, i think montel was rude and disrespectful. if he wanted a special about the death of troops (which i think should get extra, positive attention) he should have made arrangements for the telecasting at an appropriate time. it would have gotten more attention. after that was all said and done…did any individual soldier get recognized that day or heath ledger? no.
the only one who got special recognition that day was montel.

Sorry people but I think Montel personally wanted to attack FOX.
(not Faux)
They were talking about Heath and it
was not the time and place to
do what he did. It was rude.
Mary there has made some good
points.