Who Will Tell the People? Fox News Puts a Very Heavy Thumb on the 2024 Scale By Burying Negative Trump News
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Imagine if President Joe Biden publicly lauded the terrorist group Hezbollah as “very smart” as Israel, the greatest ally of the United States in the Middle East, was under threat of attack. The blunder would get nonstop coverage, especially on Fox News, and deservedly so.
The former president said that exact thing Wednesday night in a rambling and occasionally unhinged rant that threw off several unintended headlines. None of this has been mentioned on the top-rated cable news network, in just the latest illustration of how Fox News filters the news it delivers to viewers in an effort to tell the audience what it wants to hear over reality. It is no coincidence that former President Donald Trump, a man so relentlessly and dishonestly promoted and defended by the most powerful news outlet in America, remains a viable candidate for higher office despite his obvious and total lack of fitness.
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Trump loves to tell his base of supporters that Fox News is out to get him, which has proven to be a remarkably effective tactic given his control over the Republican base and insurmountable lead in the polls.
But it’s as much of an effective battering ram as it’s profoundly untrue: Fox News continues, even after Trump’s presidency ended in the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, to either ignore or downplay nearly every major news story that paints Trump in an unfavorable light. Those who get their news from Fox are left mostly unaware of the abject shit show of bad headlines that follow the 45th president.
The examples might be too numerous to list. In just the past few weeks, we have seen a raft of sins by Trump get zero mention on Fox News airwaves.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called for the execution of now-retired Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley. Yes, Trump labeled the most senior and decorated leader of the U.S. military a traitor and even suggested he be executed for his imaginary sins. This is an enormous deal, and apart from only three short segments, it was deemed unfit for coverage by Fox News executives. Huh.
Then, Trump called for the prosecution of NBC News and MSNBC, which was less a threat than a pledge to action once elected. Fox News hosts who have spent the last few years warning of liberal censorship and attacks on free speech said almost nothing. Crickets.
On Thursday night, ABC News reported that an Australian billionaire and member of Mar-a-Lago was told highly sensitive information about US nuclear submarine capabilities from Trump himself. The former president reportedly blabbed about U.S. military secrets that put soldiers at personal risk. The New York Times later confirmed the story, which is just another in a long list of items that disqualify Trump for any office, let alone the nation’s highest.
Guess how Fox News covered the story? As of late afternoon on Friday, they had not until left-leaning panelist Jessica Tarlov mentioned it on The Five. The next hour, Bret Baier spent 24 seconds on it during Friday’s Special Report.
The most egregious omission from Fox’s coverage in recent weeks comes courtesy of former Trump chief of staff John Kelly. Kelly confirmed on the record to CNN’s Jake Tapper details that emerged from a 2020 Jeffrey Goldberg profile published in The Atlantic.
The details are horrifying, but the long and short of it is that Kelly confirmed that Trump considered the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives defending the United States to be “losers” and “suckers.”
When the original Atlantic report came out, Fox News stalwarts like Jesse Watters, Greg Gutfeld, and Mollie Hemingway all repeated the Trump White House line — one put forth at the time by then-Trump official and loyalist Alyssa Farah Griffin — that the reporting was fake news and to be ignored. Only Farah Griffin has since corrected the record since it was confirmed by Kelly, confirming what shameless and self-promoting hacks the others of them are. Disgraceful.
Now, it’s not like John Kelly is a Deep State Libturd™. He is another highly decorated military veteran who served in the Trump administration and is now sounding the alarm. What’s more, as head of the Department of Homeland Security, he was the architect of the draconian family separation policy at the Southern Border that was so effective in the eyes of Fox News hosts. By every measure, this guy should be deified by Fox News, and his words should be taken very seriously. But when it comes to anything negative regarding Trump? It is intentionally ignored.
Why is it ignored? Look no further than the leaked communications that emerged from the discovery of Dominion Voting Systems defamation case — for which Fox News paid nearly $800 million in a settlement — that proved Fox is far more committed to keeping viewers happy by reporting news that they want to hear than telling the truth. That is, to put it mildly, not the behavior of a news organization.
Trump’s targeted animus is likely what’s also keeping Fox News personalities at bay. The former president has become vocally angry with Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy, who has had the temerity to report on news in a sensible and dispassionate manner that just happens to not tow the Trump party line. One can only imagine other Fox hosts seeing the Doocy treatment (Trump recently called him “terrible” and “not nice like he should be”) and deciding they do not want to bite the hand that has long fed them.
Who is to blame? Opinion hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and the personification of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, Jesse Watters, have long supported Trump and are hardly expected to promote news about his woes. The news anchors that know better — from Bill Hemmer to Dana Perino, John Roberts, Sandra Smith, Harris Faulkner, and even morning show co-host Brian Kilmeade — have little excuse for ignoring news of major importance just to appease the audience.
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Dan Froomkin recently wrote about the ethical question of whether or not to amplify Trump’s bizarre rants and ravings. It’s a thoughtful piece that aimed to answer a question I often grapple with: is it better to ignore Trump’s pernicious rhetoric or bring attention to it? I ultimately fall on the “sunlight is the best disinfectant” side of things, which is where Froomkin also landed.
The article was brought to my attention by Brian Stelter, who tweeted this line: “Imagine if journalists saw someone like Trump enjoying public support in any other country. They wouldn’t just write about what that person said, nor would they ignore it. They’d want to figure out: What is happening to that country?”
There are no easy answers to that question, and the political media angle cannot be ignored. Fox News is the dominant cable news voice, often driving more viewership than CNN and MSNBC combined. Fox News programming does not feel committed to telling the entire story, particularly regarding Trump’s lies and threats of violence.
One reason why Trump continues to enjoy such public support is that the leading cable news network refuses to report on him in any manner the viewers might take offense to. Their programming decisions are driven by revenue-creating ratings and not, in fact, being fair and balanced.
If we really want to know why Trump’s standing in the polls seems immune to negative stories, it’s because the leading news voice is giving him a pass, prioritizing profits over patriotism. There are good journalists at Fox News, but they aren’t reporting the stories that the American people need to hear.
To cite the title of the classic William Greider book on the “betrayal of American democracy”: Who will tell the people?
It won’t be Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
