John David Gibson is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio talk showTalk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
host. As of September 2008, he hosts the syndicated radio program
The John Gibson Show on
Fox News RadioFox News Radio is an American radio network programmed by Fox News Channel.- History :In 2003, Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations via syndication service Westwood One. On June 1, 2005, Fox News Radio employed 60 people and provided five minute newscasts at the top...
. Gibson was formerly the co-host of the weekday edition of
The Big StoryThe Big Story, which debuted in 2000, was an American news/talk television program on the Fox News Channel, hosted by John Gibson and Heather Nauert weekdays. It was taken off in March 2008, replaced with America's Election Headquarters, an hour of news related to the 2008 United States...
on the
Fox News television channelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
.
Early career
Gibson earned a
BAA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He began his reporting career with
The Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
(1969–1972) and worked for
Atlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
(1972–1974). Gibson worked for KFWB-AM (1974–1975) and KEYT-TV (1975–1977). At KCRA, he was a feature reporter on the "Weeknight" magazine show (1977–1979) and San Francisco bureau chief (1979–1989).
Beginning in 1992, Gibson worked as an
NBC NewsNBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
correspondent in
Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. In 1994, he became the first West coast correspondent for NBC News Channel. He covered the 1995
O. J. SimpsonOrenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
trialThe O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...
for the murders of
Nicole Brown SimpsonNicole Brown Simpson was a former wife of professional football player O. J. Simpson.- Relationship with O. J. Simpson :...
and
Ronald GoldmanRonald Lyle "Ron" Goldman was an American waiter and an aspiring model. He was murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of O. J. Simpson, an actor and retired American football player. The subsequent criminal investigation and trial against O. J...
for NBC News Channel and
Rivera Live on
CNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
. In 1996 he was named anchor for daytime programming on
MSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, where he covered the
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and
Monica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
in 1998.
Career with Fox News
Gibson joined the
Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
in September 2000 as the host of its news program
The Big StoryThe Big Story, which debuted in 2000, was an American news/talk television program on the Fox News Channel, hosted by John Gibson and Heather Nauert weekdays. It was taken off in March 2008, replaced with America's Election Headquarters, an hour of news related to the 2008 United States...
. He also wrote the
New York Times bestselling books
Hating America: The New World SportHating America: The New World Sport is a 2004 book by John Gibson, a Fox News pundit. The book discusses world reaction to the foreign policy of the United States after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks....
and
The War on Christmas.
On March 12, 2008, Fox News Channel announced
The Big Story was being replaced with
America's Election HeadquartersAmerica's Election Headquarters was a news program focusing on the 2008 United States presidential election and current affairs broadcast on the Fox News Channel weekdays 5pm Eastern Time and various times on Saturdays and Sundays....
, a program more directly geared toward following the
2008 U.S. presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
.
The Big Story was not renewed after the election and was replaced with
The Glenn Beck Program in January 2009. He has been a regular guest-panelist on Fox's late-night satire show
Red Eye w/ Greg GutfeldRed Eye w/Greg Gutfeld is a late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on the Fox News Channel, airing at 3:00 am ET Tuesday through Saturday. The show features panelists and guests discussing the latest news in politics, pop culture, entertainment, business, sports, and religion...
, and is often the butt of jokes on episodes in which he doesn't appear.
Gibson vs. the BBC
In 2004 Gibson claimed that the British Broadcasting Corporation was anti-American, accusing the BBC of having "a frothing-at-the-mouth
anti-AmericanismThe term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest". He also claimed that reporter
Andrew GilliganAndrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
, who was covering the 2003 Iraq War for
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, had, "insisted on air that the
Iraqi ArmyThe Iraqi Army is the land component of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
was heroically repulsing an incompetent American military".
Gibson's criticisms were rejected by
OfcomOfcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
when it investigated viewer complaints of Gibson's item. Ofcom also found that Gibson's broadcast was in violation of several UK television regulations, concluding that Gibson's commentary did not display a "respect for truth", failed to offer the BBC a chance to respond to the allegations, and was based on "false evidence."
Public comments
Gibson as a commentator often attracts criticism.
Following the 2007
SuccessTech Academy shootingThe SuccessTech Academy shooting was a school shooting that occurred on October 10, 2007, at the SuccessTech alternative high school in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. 14-year-old freshman Asa H. Coon shot two students and two teachers before committing suicide in the fourth floor of the...
in
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, on his radio show Gibson commented "I knew the shooter was white. I knew he would have shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again. And I could tell right away because he killed himself. Hip hoppers shooters don't do that. They shoot and move on."
In a 2008 edition of his radio show, Gibson commented on actor
Heath LedgerHeath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
's death the day before. He opened the segment with funeral music and played a clip of
Jake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
's famous line "I wish I knew how to quit you" from Ledger's film
Brokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
; he then said "Well, I guess he found out how to quit
you." Among other remarks, Gibson called Ledger a "weirdo" with "a serious drug problem." The next day, he addressed outcry over his remarks by saying that they were in the context of jokes he had been making for months about
Brokeback Mountain, and that "There's no point in passing up a good joke." Gibson later apologized on his television and radio shows.
In February 2009,
Attorney GeneralIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Eric HolderEric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
had given a speech to Justice Department employees as a part of the observance of
Black History MonthBlack History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
during which he described the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as being a "nation of cowards" in its reluctance to discuss racial relations. Gibson criticized Holder's remarks as inappropriate. John Sanders, who at the time was technology reporter for
WBAL-TVWBAL-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11. It is one of the flagship stations of Hearst Television, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and...
in
BaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, then edited Gibson's remarks which had followed news reports of a monkey who had escaped from a Seattle zoo making it appear that Gibson had compared Holder to a monkey "with a bright blue
scrotumIn some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...
" on Fox. Sanders then posted the altered video on youtube.com as a joke. However, the video was widely-publicized on news websites, including the Huffington Post, as if it were authentic. Sanders was fired over the video, and Gibson said that the spread of the fake video has had a "personal" impact upon him.
Books
- Gibson, John. How the Left Swiftboated America: The Liberal Media Conspiracy to Make You Think George Bush Was the Worst President in History. (HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 2009). ISBN 978-0-06-179289-2.
- Gibson, John. The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. (Sentinel HC
Sentinel was established in 2003 as a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group . It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations...
, 2005). ISBN 1-59523-016-5.
- Gibson, John. Hating America: The New World Sport
Hating America: The New World Sport is a 2004 book by John Gibson, a Fox News pundit. The book discusses world reaction to the foreign policy of the United States after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks....
. (ReganBooksReganBooks was an American bestselling imprint or division of HarperCollins book publishing house , headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan, started in 1994 and ended in late 2006. During its existence, Regan was called, by LA Weekly, "the world's most successful publisher". The division...
, 2004) ISBN 0-06-058010-0.
External links