Brit Hume Hits Back at WaPo Columnist Saying Cable Companies Should ‘Kick Fox News Off’
Fox News’ Brit Hume defended the network Tuesday night after a piece from Washington Post columnist and CNN analyst Max Boot saying cable companies should “step in and kick Fox News off.”
Boot’s column was headlined “Trump couldn’t have incited sedition without the help of Fox News” and said, “CNN (where I’m a global affairs analyst) notes that the United Kingdom doesn’t have its own version of Fox News, because it has a government regulator that metes out hefty fines to broadcasters that violate minimal standards of impartiality and accuracy. The United States hasn’t had that since the Federal Communications Commission stopped enforcing the ‘fairness’ doctrine in the 1980s. As president, Biden needs to reinvigorate the FCC. Or else the terrorism we saw on Jan. 6 may be only the beginning, rather than the end, of the plot against America.”
Boot subsequently defended putting the onus on cable companies:
I respectfully disagree with @kdrum who advocates advertiser boycotts against Fox and eschew my idea of pressuring cable co's (https://t.co/gf4lMXAqgU). Boycotts have failed, because Fox derives more revenues from user fees. That's its pressure point. https://t.co/ftNeNJJ2BG
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) January 19, 2021
They need to face public pressure of the kind that was directed at Facebook and Twitter. As it stands, almost no one is talking about the cable companies’ responsibility for the garage being spewed by Fox, Newsmax, OAN etc. https://t.co/0Sfb4Mndjo
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) January 19, 2021
In response to Boot saying Joe Biden should “reinvigorate the FCC to slow the lies and sedition,” Hume shot back, “Who’s going to tell him that the FCC regulates the broadcast airwaves but not cable.”
Who’s going to tell him that the FCC regulates the broadcast airwaves but not cable. https://t.co/9bzCLKSKCy
— Brit Hume (@brithume) January 19, 2021
The column came up Tuesday night on Fox News Primetime, with Brian Kilmeade swiping at Boot before asking Hume to elaborate.
“I just pointed out that the FCC, which regulates over-the-air networks, does not regulate or have any regulatory authority over cable news. I was a little surprised he didn’t seem to know that,” Hume said.
Kilmeade then asked if “the anger that’s after Parler” and others will turn to Fox News.
“People have been angry at us forever. We had a choice, Brian, when we started back in the day. You were there, I was there. And that was we could either be liked by all these people on the left in governmental positions or we could be first. We chose the latter. It was the right call, it’s still the right call, and over time I don’t think that there’ll be any way to completely suppress these voices like ours,” Hume responded. “And most of the people who complain about us clearly never watch us. They make all kinds of claims about what we say and don’t say. Well, this is a big place, Fox News Channel. There are lots of different voices. You can find quotes from our channel saying just about anything. We’re pretty wide open here.”
You can watch above, via Fox News.
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