Who knew that flipping the bird during a live Fox News interview was such a dire threat to national security?
Jake Katel, a videographer for Miami New Times and New Times Broward-Palm Beach, was read the riot act, so to speak, after he gave the old middle-finger salute while standing in the background as Fox was interviewing Gen. Wesley Clark during a live broadcast.
"It was a joke, it was funny," says Katel. "I walked in with a definite liberal bias. I wanted to use their airwaves against them."
Pretty damn funny to me, too.
Others, however, were not as amused.
"The Secret Service lady who talked to me said I could get banned from media events for life," Katel recalls. "'That's how big the stakes are here,' she told me."
The Secret Service did allow Katel back into the media room, although they warned him they'd be watching him.
A representative for Fox News approached Katel demanding to know what media organization he worked for, and how he was allowed into the event in the first place and how he had managed to get back into the press area.
Banned for life? For calling BS on a network that rakes in millions and millions of dollars by spreading lies and misinformation?
Sounds like the outrage was a bit misplaced here.