For example, here is an episode of the 'Geraldo' show from November 3, 1988, that is not worth watching — that is, unless you enjoy seeing a black man lose his temper in response to the stupid racial comments of white supremacists. Since Geraldo organized and encouraged the confrontation in this episode to titillate the audience, it seems fitting that he was injured (his nose was broken) in the brawl that erupted with his guests during the taping — as they say, 'if you play with fire, you get burned' —
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213747/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhozMihpWs
Here is how the New York Times described that episode of Geraldo's former show —
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/04/nyregion/geraldo-rivera-s-nose-broken-in-scuffle-on-his-talk-show.html
Geraldo Rivera's Nose Broken In Scuffle on His Talk Show
Published: November 4, 1988
Geraldo Rivera's nose was broken and his face cut during a skirmish yesterday midway through the taping of a program entitled ''Teen Hatemongers'' on his television talk show.
The violence broke out after John Metzger, a 20-year-old guest representing the White Aryan Resistance Youth, insulted a black guest, Roy Innis, calling him an ''Uncle Tom.''
''I'm sick and tired of Uncle Tom here, sucking up and trying to be a white man,'' Mr. Metzger said of Mr. Innis, the national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality. Mr. Innis stood up and began choking the white youth and Mr. Rivera and audience members joined the scuffle, hurling chairs, throwing punches and shouting epithets. 'Racist Thugs Are Like Roaches'
No other injuries were reported and no one was arrested, the police said.
''These racist thugs are like roaches who scurry in the light of exposure,'' Mr. Rivera said after the brawl. As Mr. Rivera scuffled with one of the white supremacists, another hit him in the shoulder with a chair and then smashed his nose with a roundhouse punch from behind.
Mr. Rivera, who used to be an amateur boxer, decided not to go to the hospital because he had two more shows to tape. Emergency Medical Services paramedics pronounced his nose broken, the show's executive producer said.
Mr. Rivera said he would not press charges. ''I do not want to be tied up with the roaches,'' he explained.
He said he approved of Mr. Innis' actions, noting that ''if there ever was a case of deserved violence, this was it.'' Innis Scuffled on Air Before
...
Other guests on ''Geraldo'' yesterday included Bob Heick, director of the American Front, and Michael Palasch, director of the Skinheads of National Resistance. They and Mr. Metzger were thrown out of the building by security guards after the fracas.
Mr. Innis, 54, said later, ''I was just trying to cool things down quickly and end the verbal assault against me. I wanted to avoid a Sharpton-like confrontation.
...
The violence broke out after John Metzger, a 20-year-old guest representing the White Aryan Resistance Youth, insulted a black guest, Roy Innis, calling him an ''Uncle Tom.''
''I'm sick and tired of Uncle Tom here, sucking up and trying to be a white man,'' Mr. Metzger said of Mr. Innis, the national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality. Mr. Innis stood up and began choking the white youth and Mr. Rivera and audience members joined the scuffle, hurling chairs, throwing punches and shouting epithets. 'Racist Thugs Are Like Roaches'
No other injuries were reported and no one was arrested, the police said.
''These racist thugs are like roaches who scurry in the light of exposure,'' Mr. Rivera said after the brawl. As Mr. Rivera scuffled with one of the white supremacists, another hit him in the shoulder with a chair and then smashed his nose with a roundhouse punch from behind.
Mr. Rivera, who used to be an amateur boxer, decided not to go to the hospital because he had two more shows to tape. Emergency Medical Services paramedics pronounced his nose broken, the show's executive producer said.
Mr. Rivera said he would not press charges. ''I do not want to be tied up with the roaches,'' he explained.
He said he approved of Mr. Innis' actions, noting that ''if there ever was a case of deserved violence, this was it.'' Innis Scuffled on Air Before
...
Other guests on ''Geraldo'' yesterday included Bob Heick, director of the American Front, and Michael Palasch, director of the Skinheads of National Resistance. They and Mr. Metzger were thrown out of the building by security guards after the fracas.
Mr. Innis, 54, said later, ''I was just trying to cool things down quickly and end the verbal assault against me. I wanted to avoid a Sharpton-like confrontation.
...
Here is Geraldo on Fox News in March 2011, describing that same episode of his former show, after the murder of a prominent white supremacist skinhead named David Lynch —
In that clip, in reference to the brawl on his former show, Geraldo states that he met David Lynch more than 20 years ago (1988), when Lynch 'helped precipitate this infamous studio brawl on my old talk show'.
But notice that David Lynch was not on the panel of that episode of the Geraldo show in 1988. As written in the New York Times piece above, and as shown in the clip above, the brawl began when John Metzger was choked by Roy Innis, after referring to him as an 'Uncle Tom'.
For reference, here are the three time points in the original episode, showing the names of the three white supremacists on the panel, John Metzger, Michael Palasch, and Bob Heick —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhozMihpWs&start=820
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhozMihpWs&start=772
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhozMihpWs&start=1010
There isn't anything particularly interesting here — it's obvious that people like to be titillated, and that this kind of useless content is market driven, but the more important point is the demonstration that even a prominent reporter with years of experience can have difficulty keeping even a simple set of facts straight.
It's revealing that even when Geraldo orchestrates a particular event and directly participates, he still does not report the facts of that event correctly.
Keep this trivial example in mind the next time you are watching a news story that required careful research.
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