The blatant partisan biases of Fox News have been well known for most of its 25 years as a shameless dispenser of conservative propaganda. Having been founded by an ultra-rightist newspaper baron (Rupert Murdoch) and a Republican media consultant (Roger Ailes), it could hardly be anything else.
Nevertheless, Fox News has labored feverishly to persuade the gullible that they are a “fair and balanced” news source. That deliberately misleading slogan was abandoned abandoned three years ago in favor of “Real News,” which is even worse because, not only is it utterly false, it clamps onto Donald Trump’s tedious “fake news” rants. Trump has even repeatedly leveled that charge at Fox News. And in response, Fox’s CEO, Lachlan Murdoch just bends over more to Trump and spins the network’s coverage to boost him and the GOP. Murdoch recently said publicly that he regards Fox News as “the loyal opposition“ to President Joe Biden.
It isn’t often that Fox News admits that they are committed to trafficking in right-wing lies. But one rare incident occurred on Sunday tucked into an article on their website headlined: “NPR ripped for ‘openly admitting’ Big Tech interference in elections.” Fox linked to an NPR article about Facebook’s suspension of Trump and how it has affected him. It read in part that the suspension…
“…will likely have major consequences for Trump’s political power. [and that] being on Facebook is crucial for modern-day political campaigns. [and that] Trump’s campaign used Facebook to fundraise and spread its message — at times with false and odious information.”
From those sentence fragments, Fox News concluded that NPR was “openly admitting Big Tech interference in elections.” But that conclusion is absurd in the extreme. What NPR was saying was that exposure on Facebook – or the lack of it – can have an effect on elections. Which is both true and glaringly obvious. But having an effect is not the same as interfering. All media has the very same effect. Including cable news.
So, is Fox News “interfering” in elections when they report/distort the news in a manner that benefits conservatives? Well, yes they are. But that’s because what Fox does is entirely different than what Facebook, NPR, and other media do.
Facebook’s suspension of Trump was not intended to affect the outcome of an election. It was due to Trump’s own defiance of the rules that every Facebook user must comply with. If Trump had not posted disinformation that incited violence and led directly to deadly riots on Capitol Hill, he would still be able to post, and he could quit his petulant whining.
Fox News, on the other hand, continues to get away with the same reckless and inflammatory rhetoric that got Trump suspended and people killed. Their programs are riddled with falsehoods that are plainly intended to have an effect on elections, and worse, are likely to cause great harm. That’s especially true with regard to their downplaying of the COVID pandemic and their vaccine scare mongering. Consequently, if anyone deserves to be suspended from Facebook – and all other social media – it’s Fox News.
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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
