Looks like some of the people in the village got their panties in a wad.
Posted on 09/13/2009 7:17:04 PM PDT by raccoonradio
IPSWICH (MA)— An apparent effort to avoid controversy over the current health care debate led employees at the Ipswich YMCA to stop showing Fox News Channel on televisions in the gym this week, after several members complained that it was promoting "hate speech."
But the decision, made while the director of the County Road facility was on vacation, has been reversed, said Jack Meany, executive director of the YMCA of the North Shore, which includes six facilities in Essex County.
"We're very careful as an organization to be apolitical," Meany said yesterday, shortly after learning of the situation. "The Y, at its best, is a big tent and everyone's welcome under it."
Ray Morley, an Ipswich selectman and the owner of a local bed-and-breakfast, said he was shocked when he went to the Y to work out and heard about the policy from an employee.
"They gave in to a group of liberals and censored the television," Morley, who calls himself a conservative, said.
What touched off the controversy was a letter signed by four Ipswich residents who are Y members, which appeared in the local weekly newspaper Thursday.
The letter cited the role of the Y in promoting health, then went on to criticize Fox News for its coverage of the health care debate and called on the Y to drop the channel from the lineup available in the gym.
"We remain concerned that the 'unhealthy' debate on health care and health insurance is being abetted by organizations such as our own Ipswich Y that, despite its own stated mission, perpetuates access to the airwaves and audiences of some of the most negative elements of the health care discussion," the letter, signed by Carolyn Britt, Nancy Popp, Maria Wilkins and Patrick Patterson, reads. "This is not a case of freedom of speech — this is a member organization with a stated mission that is directly opposed to the ranting that it imposes on members."
The letter appeared in the Ipswich Chronicle.
The gym has three flat-screen televisions, Meany said, and members who are working out can request that a staff member tune to a specific channel. There are headphone jacks at each piece of equipment, and members can plug in and hear the sound from any of the screens — or ignore them.
"If the Sox are playing, people want to watch the Sox," Meany said. "If the news is on, people want to watch the news."
The choices are usually not controversial — the Y doesn't subscribe to premium channels like HBO, and staff members are advised to use their discretion when it comes to sexual content or violence, particularly if there are younger people present.
But the Y doesn't make selections based on politics, Meany said — or, at least, isn't supposed to.
The four letter writers, who could not be reached yesterday afternoon, contend in their letter that it's impossible to ignore "scrolling headlines and angry expressions" on the televisions when they show Fox News. "Even if it were, the fact that the Ipswich Y is still supporting the airing of angry, nonsensical debate is still at odds with the organization's mission."
"If a survey were done and most members wanted Fox News on," the letter writers say, "then those of us who find this unacceptable would have to make new choices."
Meany said staffers "saw the letter and they thought, 'Let's quell this controversy.'"
But, "You don't want to get into a situation where one person's rights interfere with others," Meany said.
Bill Wasserman of Ipswich, a member of the Y's corporate board, called the situation "a tempest in a teapot."
"I don't have any objection to Fox News being shown," said Wasserman, a retired newspaper publisher who describes himself as liberal. "I think if there are three televisions and Fox is showing on one of them, there's not a problem."
Meany said he was told that employees had also stopped showing Fox's cable rival CNN, though a staffer there said that was only under consideration yesterday and that CNN was still being shown.
Morley, who said he watches both channels, said he was troubled by the thought that one complaint could lead to censorship.
"They took away our right of choice," Morley said. "This is how we begin to lose our freedoms."
A spokesman for Fox News Channel did not return a call for comment by yesterday's deadline.
Asked what he would say to the four members who wrote the letter, Meany said he'd want them to know that "we would like to provide people with a choice."
"If something is on there that you find objectionable, you don't plug in your headphones and you don't have to look at it."
WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Doesn’t Communist Party U.S.A. have a channel they could watch?
LA Fitness plays that CNN propaganda crap.
Well, that’s it then...only QVC on the treadmill TV’s....
Settled.....
They have plenty...also in the Boston area it was just announced that progressive talk station WWZN-AM will broadcast two daily newscasts from WCVB-TV (ABC)—well known to be left leaning. Would WWZN have aired the Fox affiliate’s news? Nope!
And did these Y members complain about the anti-conservative, vitriol other stations air? How would they have reacted if the Y shut THOSE stations off?
Looks like some of the people in the village got their panties in a wad.
The postal sorting facility where I work force feeds us CNN—and Headline News, at that. BREAKING NEWS!!!! from
Nancy Grace. We can’t change the channel (some people go by and unplug the set)
Actually, I understand their angst - I hate to be captive on a treadmill while ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, etc., is on. But scrolling headlines and angry expressions aren’t the problem. (Did they really whine about scrolling headlines and angry expressions? Yikes!)
They tried that at my club here in San Antonio. They actually blocked Fox News. Lasted one day. So many people were coming up to the counter and asking that the feed be fixed that I guess they gave up. It was back on the next day. Don’t mess with Texas.
Colonel, USAFR
If those wimpy treadmill ‘rats think Fox News is “hate speech,” they can’t handle the TRUTH!
A universal remote would fix the problem.
“We remain concerned that the ‘unhealthy’ debate on health care and health insurance ... “
Delete the word “unhealthy” and you have the liberals’ real concern.
comments on the article:
>>Fox is the only that comes even close to presenting both sides of the story. The other three local channels as well as the news-only (ha, now there’s a lie) force-feed their viewers with nothing but the liberal’s side of the story. Then the “news-only” stations feel compelled to tell us about who got voted off of American Idol last night. Come on, get with it people. Stop watching their trash and they will have to change.
-—They don’t get much more liberal than me, and I do watch Fox occasionally to understand “the other side.” Those four women ought to be ashamed of themselves. They make a mockery of true liberalism by encouraging censorship of ideas and speech the opposite of their own. Read the story — each person exercising gets headphones and can choose which channel they hear — they are not forced to listen to the Fox guys blaring into the exercise room. I’m shocked that the Y caved to these four, and hope this never happens again. Grow up, you four, and apologize for what was an outrageous attempt to stomp on free speech.
&&& It continues to amaze me how the left gets their panties in a bunch over Fox. Their highest rated show (O’Reilly) is seen by 2.5 million on an average night. Pretty small compared to the 10s of millions watching the left leaning nightly news on the broadcast networks. During Bush, it was all the trend to protest and question government. Now when we do we are nazis, racists, un american and other names. The bigger story is how the Y caved for 4 moonbats. That is a scary thought. What’s next?
>>That is precisely why I watch Fox. The regular networks joined by CNN , MSNBC ETC are so biased in their reporting they can no longer be viewed as news organizations. People like you aparently don’t see through their We’re for the people, We’re for the right, not the wrong hyberbole that you are swallowing hook line and sinker.
“We remain concerned that the ‘unhealthy’ debate on health care and health insurance ... “
Delete the word “unhealthy” and you have the liberals’ real concern.
I object to CNN at the airport.
Liberals are only in favor of CHOICE when it allows the ignorant and irresponsible among us to kill unborn children. The Y needs to find a proctologist and have them removed.
Libs online refer to it as Faux News, Fox Noise, etc.
Yet ever notice the cable news prime time ratings roundup Drudge puts up? Most of the top shows are Fox ones...CNN, MSNBC, etc. all lag behind. People want and need Fox.
Was pleased to see Fox News on at the airport recently (Manchester NH, I think) right next to my Southwest gate!
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Background info on one of the complainers, Carolyn Britt... She’s into growth management, open space, land planning:
Town of Ipswich Growth Management Committee and Open Space Committee:
http://www.town.ipswich.ma.us/plandev/pdf/whole%20green%20ring.pdf
Consultant to Sudbury, MA Center Improvement Advisory Committee:
City of Lowell MA Division of Planning and Development:
Howie Carr list ping. Crybabies in Ipswich object to Fox News on the TVs
Exactly true. (It seems that ANY debate anymore is deemed “racist”.)
Here is the original letter, which someone reproduced in the comments section of the article (”The Ipswich Y has brought the rants and irrationality of Fox News and Glenn Beck into the work-out room. His program is now boycotted by at least 36 advertisers”)
To the editor:
This country is currently engaged in one of the most important national conversations of our time —how we should together address the many things that are wrong with our current health-care and health-insurance systems. The key issues are that there be a thorough review and consideration of possible options, and that we identify a system that can provide health insurance and health care to everyone. Local health-related institutions such as the Ipswich YMCA can play an important role in informing members on the issues and options, such as incentive payments for health-care membership and use.
Moving toward sensible health coverage is going to need to happen one person at a time. There has been thoughtful opposition to the current proposals, and discussions of these issues will enhance the eventual outcome. There has also been heated and thoughtless haranguing in some media, most notably Fox News, and in the town-hall meetings held by Congressional representatives this summer. Glenn Beck of Fox News has been particularly active in both ranting on his own television program, and encouraging others to do likewise.
The key issues in the angry exchanges seem to be “rationing of health care” (denying it to people based on characteristics – thus the Nazi charge of practicing race-cleansing) and “death panels” (discussions of end-of-life choices with physicians). These issues have been used to pump people’s fear into frenzy.
In fact, the United States is the only developed western country that rations health care by an individual’s ability to pay. The U.S. has 45.7 million people under the age of 65 with no health care coverage based on ability to pay, while single-payer countries have much higher rates of coverage. The international organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has 30 member countries that are generally westernized nations. All but three have single-payer health care – Mexico, Turkey and the U.S.
Fox News has made itself ubiquitous. In many places you go where there are TVs (and there are more than ever), Fox News is on. The Ipswich YMCA (Ipswich Y) is one such place. The Ipswich Y has brought the rants and irrationality of Fox News and Glenn Beck into the work-out room. His program is now boycotted by at least 36 advertisers, including AT&T, Procter and Gamble, and Wal-Mart. Yet members of the Ipswich Y who show up to work on their health and conditioning, are exposed to angry diatribes even Wal-Mart rejects. When the TV’s were introduced last year, requests were made by active members to not program Fox News in the work-out room, yet Fox News is still on. The YMCA’s mission is still the same — “The Y is a feeling of trust and caring, where building character and values are priority #1. All YMCA members experience a sense of belonging and ownership that can’t be duplicated. The benefits of membership abound! We have a value-added membership that promises to get you healthy, keep you fit and help you achieve an overall healthy lifestyle.”
We remain concerned that the “unhealthy” debate on health care and health insurance is being abetted by organizations such as our own Ipswich Y that, despite its own stated mission, perpetuates access to the airwaves and audiences of some of the most negative elements of the health-care discussion. This is not a case of freedom of speech — this is a member organization with a stated mission that is directly opposed to the ranting that it imposes on members.
All of the exercise equipment face the TV’s. With scrolling headlines and angry expressions, no one in the exercise room can ignore the programming on the TV’s. Making a personal choice to not watch the TV is impossible. Even if it were, the fact that the Ipswich Y is still supporting the airing of angry, non-sensical debate, is still at odds with the organization’s mission.
If a survey were done and most members wanted Fox News on, then those of us who find this unacceptable would have to make new choices. Until then, the Ipswich YMCA should join Wal-Mart and others and remove the hate speech from our health space.
Carolyn Britt
Nancy Popp
Maria Wilkins
Patrick Patterson
My DH had his clavicle pieced together on Friday.
ABC was on in the Surgery waiting room.
Just about the time “The View” was coming on, I turned to the lady next to me and said, “I wonder if we can turn the channel?” She nodded.
I went to the front desk and asked if we could turn on Fox2 that was running the news.
The receptionist asked if anyone was watching this. The place groaned. When he switched the channel, I swear I heard cheers!
At least they have 3 screens to choose from. I’ve visited 3 different locations of my employer - a very, very large international bank. Everywhere there is a cable feed - cafeteria, break areas, the only choices are CNN and PMSNBC. I assume the other offices are the same.
Info on another one of the complainers, Patrick Patterson.
He signed a petition for “Troops Out Now” to cut off war funding:
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/Endorsers.html
Further anecdotal evidence that America is tearing itself apart because of irreconcilable political differences. A peaceful split a la Czechoslovakia seems to be our best option.
STUPID IDIOTS... treadmill and FOX NEWS will get everything UP... get TWICE THE CARDIO with 1/4 the EFFORT...
Stupid LIBERALS.
About the other 2 complainers:
Looks like Nancy Popp is a “Doctor of Education”, once involved in a now defunct federally-funded outfit in Cambridge called National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. Among the docs she wrote: “Toward a New Pluralism in ABE/ESOL Classrooms: Teaching to Multiple ‘Cultures of Mind’”
And it looks like the other complainer, Marie Wilkins, is a member of the leadership group of the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness.
Talk about big brother. Sickening. Nice job by the people pulling the plug.
I hope they’ll at least put it on Ch 5 Boston for the Patriots game tomorrow (game on ESPN but also on Ch 5 locally...in the past they’ve put Red Sox playoff games, etc. on...again we have no control on what channel it’s on.
LOL! Democrats can't do this! It's not like them to allow freedom of speech and association. Free speech, varied speech, speech Democrats don't like must be quelled!!
Also, I think bozos like this exist in every gym.
Strange people these liberals who would deny freedom to others.
That’s a Nancy Popp in Los Angeles, not Ipswich, MA.
What else, 3 pro-choice women and 1 homo, representing the core base of the Democratic Party in Mass.
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