Fox & Friends Criticizes ‘Mainstream Media’ For Ignoring Fallen Soldiers (They Were Last to Honor Them)
It’s not really a surprise that Fox & Friends provides a consistent and full-throated defense in the face of anyone critical of President Donald Trump, but occasionally the rhetoric is so partisan, hyperbolic and hypocritical that it merits mention. This is one such case.
A six and a half minute segment today was focused on what the top-rated Fox News morning show saw as the politicization of the death of four U.S. military men in an ISIS attack on special forces in Niger. The chyron for most of this segment read “Politicizing a Tragedy,” and the focus was criticizing both Rep. Frederica Wilson — for publicly lambasting the President’s phone call to the grieving wife of Sgt. La David Johnson, in which Trump allegedly said “he knew what he signed up for” — and the media for reporting on how the White House has counseled and supported grieving Gold Star families.
The essence of this story is true. This saga has been intensely politicized, but Fox & Friends are conveniently giving President Trump an enormous pass for starting this whole controversy. As host Brian Kilmeade points out at the beginning of the segment, it was his Monday joint press conference with Senator Mitch McConnell that weaponized presidential condolences for political gain by falsely claiming that he alone was the only president that called grieving families.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in her press conference yesterday that politicizing this issue is “frankly appalling and disgusting,” and though her target was Rep. Wilson, those words are more appropriate for President Trump.
Towards the end of the segment, Steve Doocy predictably criticizes how cable and broadcast news have ignored the deaths of the four soldiers in Niger, but a simple search of transcript service TV Eyes tells a different story. Though not an exact science, it seems that Fox News has covered the attacks in Niger much less than its cable news competition, mentioning “Niger” only 65 times. By comparison, MSNBC and CNN have aired the word “Niger” 177 and 165 times respectively.
The segment ends with Doocy hitting his competition for not honoring the fallen soldiers. But here’s the thing — if you’ve tuned into CNN or MSNBC in the past few days, you saw plenty of segments honoring the memories of soldiers killed in action. MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle got choked up, and CNN’s Briana Keilar held a compelling and emotional interview with a Gold Star widow. CNN’s Jake Tapper was all over this story early and honored these soldiers before it became a political wedge issue.
So bully for Fox & Friends for honoring the lives of those soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. But to introduce this segment as something that no one else is doing — after other outlets actually did this much earlier — is a shallow and craven play. Bemoaning the politicization of the tragedy while simultaneously calling out on their competitors deserves to be called out for the shameless and hypocritical exploitation that it is.
Or in other words, they are doing exactly what their chyron says: “Politicizing a Tragedy.”
Watch the clip above courtesy of Fox News.
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–image via screen capture–
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
