Cable news has gathered its fair share of critics over the years as viewers minutely scrutinize networks for laughable mistakes, and as of Monday Fox News has joined the ranks of cable news networks blasted for sub-par coverage.
At the center of the controversy is news anchor Lauren Green’s interview with Reza Aslan, a scholar on religion who happens to be Muslim. Aslan agreed to an interview with Fox News to promote his book, Zealot: The Life And Times of Jesus of Nazareth, a historical account of Jesus’ life that also seeks to illustrate the societal workings of ancient Palestine.
Aslan, however, was not prepared for the onslaught that was to follow. In a tense 10-minute interview Green questioned Aslan about his book, albeit in a “prejudicial” tone that left the scholar to defend himself against a series of seemingly personal attacks about his faith. While both Aslan and Green plodded on at a relatively calm pace, Green’s questions were enough to make viewers scratch their heads and create a backlash against Fox News.
In a Reddit AMA, Aslan made it clear that he assumed Fox would attack him given an article that they wrote about him and his book a few days prior to the interview. However, he claims he wasn’t ready for the way Fox would skew his motives for writing the book. But because of the reactions generated by the interview, Aslan’s book is now the top selling book on Amazon, leaving the author to jokingly declare that he finally beat J.K. Rowling (“I got her!”). A full transcript of the interview can be found on the Washington Post.