Guide Note

During an interview with conservative blogger Michelle Malkin about whether Michelle Obama has been the target of unfair criticism, the Fox News Channel flashed the graphic "Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama's Baby Mama!"¹

Fast Facts

1. Aired: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
2. Network: Fox News Channel
3. Term "Baby Mama" never spoken, only the graphic was shown
4. "Baby Mama" is slang for an unwed mother no longer involved with the child's father
5. Term considered a racial slur by some²
6. Two other controversial incidents related to Barack Obama preceded "Baby Mama" graphic, both on Fox
7. Fox issued apology, saying a producer "exercised poor judgment"³
8. Producer in question was not fired for the incident

Fox News has come under fire for two other Barack Obama-related on-air comments prior to the "Baby Mama" controversy. Anchor E.D. Hill made headlines when she referred to Obama's fist bump as "a terrorist fist jab." Hill apologized for the comment four days later.³

On May 25, 2008, Fox News analyst Liz Trotta was discussing Hillary Clinton's comment referring to RFK's assassination. Trotta said jokingly, "Now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that someone knock of Osama...umm...Obama, well both if we could."³

"Do you try to explain that 'baby mama' is slang for the unmarried mother of a man's child, and not his wife, or even a girlfriend? Are they racist, or just clueless? Isn't there racism even in their cluelessness, if somebody didn't know what 'baby mama' means, but used it anyway? Even at Fox, won't somebody have to apologize?"— Joan Walsh²

"A producer on the program exercised poor judgment in using this chyron during the segment."—Bill Shine⁴