David Zurawik Rips Fox News for Not Punishing Tucker Carlson Over Ex-Writer: They Let Him ‘Attack People’ for Reporting It
Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik went after Fox News on Sunday by saying the network fails to hold itself accountable as it should whenever it deals with racism.
Zurawik joined CNN’s Brian Stelter and April Ryan on Sunday to discuss the firing of Blake Neff, a former top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson who posted numerous racist, sexist, and bigoted comments online. Fox fired Neff after saying his “abhorrent” conduct “will not be tolerated” in an internal memo, and Carlson addressed Neff’s remarks last week before going on vacation.
As Zurawik spoke about a recent column he wrote criticizing the network, he said it has gone from being an “opposition party” to Barack Obama to “the enabler for Donald Trump.” He then went on to remark on the frequent resemblance between Carlson’s programming and Trump’s political rhetoric.
As President Trump bases his re-election strategy now on saying ‘America’s dangerous, Joe Biden is president, you’re going to be in danger, those urban people are going to be coming for you in the suburbs,’ Tucker Carlson is preaching that to his base on his show… That’s what’s dangerous. You now have him running point.
Zurawik also condemned Fox for not doing anything to punish Carlson over the Neff controversy. He slammed “this little dance they do” in which the network’s brass will say they condemn racially-charged comments, but then “totally undercut” that admonishment with their actions.
The brass at Fox News said, ‘Oh, this is horrific. This is terrible. This is reprehensible what the writer on Carlson’s show was fired for.’ But then they let him dismiss it in 91 seconds, make no apology on the air, and use half of his time to attack people who reported this story. There’s a difference between actions and words. Fox News is famous for this little dance they do, where management denounces something but they don’t really punish the people doing it because, probably, they either either approve or they can’t control their talent… If you’re gonna talk the talk, walk the walk, Fox never walks the walk on race.”
Zurawik’s commentary comes after a new report from the Daily Beast that said Fox staffers are growing increasingly frustrated with the “white supremacist crap” Carlson and other hosts have aired on the network. The report detailed a virtual meeting held in June by Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott in which Black staffers raised concerns and expressed frustrations about racial issues at the network. The meeting was held after Fox News apologized for airing a graphic examining the performance of the stock market after the killing of Black men.
Fox News addressed that report in a statement provided to Mediaite:
FOX News Media is committed to providing an ongoing dialogue targeting issues of diversity and workplace inclusion, which is why we recently took the unprecedented action of providing an open forum among an intimate group of diverse employees to candidly discuss this critical issue. We have long been a leader in cable news for featuring a broad range of voices, and will continue those efforts to ensure all views are respected and celebrated both on and off air.
Watch above, via CNN.
