Protesters denounce FOX News coverage as racist

There have been recent claims that Rupert Murdoch's FOX News Channel is using "racism, prejudice, and fear" to smear Barack Obama and his family in an attempt to lessen his chances of becoming the next United States President.

Protesters gathered outside FOX News Channel on Wednesday to denounce the networks racist campaign coverage, which includes a pundit calling Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama a "terrorist". The group of around 150 people was led by activist groups MoveOn.org and ColorOfChange.org who have collected more than 600,000 signatures for a petition objecting to news coverage by FOX, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "Putting racism on national television and calling it news is never funny," said Andre Banks of ColorOfChange.org.

The groups have highlighted incidents on FOX including an on-screen graphic labelling Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama" and a pundit who confused Obama with Osama bin Laden and joked they should both be assassinated. Bill O'Reilly discussed calling a "lynching party" to deal with Michelle Obama after criticising her patriotism, and another anchor called a televised fist bump between Obama and his wife a "terrorist fist jab".

Among the protesters on Wednesday was hip-hop star Nas, who says the FOX News coverage inspired the song "Sly Fox" from his new album. "FOX poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try and call it news," he said.

A FOX spokesperson said: "FOX News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech, including Nas, who has an album to promote."

FOX News Channel is shown in New Zealand on Sky Digital channel 92.