Last night, Nov. 13, 2004 my wife and I watched a short news piece done by your reporter Laurie Due, (sp?), wherein she announced a story about a "Bring your train to work day" The story concerned a model train hobbyist that appeared to be sincerely promoting sharing his hobby interest with his co-workers. Your reporter Ms. Due ended the story with her on-air comment...."I'll bet he still lives at home with his mother" I am a long time Fox News fan and avid viewer and I have NEVER been personally offended by a news story before, but I WAS and AM deeply offended by Ms. Due's uncalled-for ignorant and hurtful remark. I am a Director of Research and Development for a biomedical company, a father of 2 grown children, happily married for over 27 years, and I BUILD MODEL CARS . I understand the interest in model trains and other hobbies that the gentleman who was the subject of your story has. One other important point about myself I should share. I don't still live at home with my mother, and neither do the dozens of other adult hobbyists I know and associate with. Does Ms. Due or your staff have any idea that there are hundreds of thousands of model train and other scale model hobbyists in this country, and that the vast majority of them spend hundreds or thousands of dollars annually on their hobby, and that the majority of them are well adjusted adults that simply enjoy a HOBBY?? Is Fox News aware that millions of Americans enjoy some sort of hobby as a healthy part of their lives? Ms. Due may have thought that she was being witty, funny or pithy with her ill advised comments in closing the story, however I am at a loss to understand why she, and Fox News felt that this obviously demeaning comment to the man who was the subject of your story was necessary. Is this the level of respect that we viewers who happen to enjoy a hobby should expect from you? Does Ms. Due still live at home with her mother? I feel badly for the gentleman who was obviously the victim of Ms. Due's ignorant remark. I'm sure he had the best of intentions in sharing his hobby with others and was instead made fun of by Fox News. What happened to "We report, You decide"?
I have decided that Ms. Due and Fox News owes an apology to the gentleman and to the hundreds of thousands of adult hobbyists you have offended. I don't suppose that will be forthcoming though, as it's more fun to ridicule someone than to simply report a story isn't it? Why not a story by Fox News on the scale model hobbyists that send model kits and supplies to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for them to enjoy a hobby in their spare time and the hobby models and supplies donated to the wounded in our Veterans hospitals for their enjoyment while recovering? Would you like to tell those troops and the generous hobbyists who donate that they "still live at home with their mothers"? How about a new motto for Ms. Due ... "THINK, then report"