It has been no secret that Fox News has been a virulent opponent of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) since before it was even passed into law. They aggressively campaigned against its passage and launched a massive crusade to frighten people from taking advantage of the benefits available to them under the law. Now Fox News has taken the additional step of explicitly soliciting viewers to oppose the law.

On a broadcast this weekend, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer introduced Fox Business Network anchor Gerri Willis to deliver a flawed and misleading report that claimed that most ObamaCare enrollees already had health insurance prior to acquiring their ObamaCare coverage. The report was sourced to Fox’s sister newspaper The Wall Street Journal. Not surprisingly, it was biased by the predetermined viewpoint that is consistent throughout the Rupert Murdoch media empire. It left out or distorted information pertaining to participation in ObamaCare by those who qualified for Medicaid and adult children under twenty-six who were able to be added to their parents policies thanks to ObamaCare.

At the end of Willis’ report, Hemmer asked her a question that led to the unambiguous call to action to their viewers.

Hemmer: If this is a trend that continues, what is likely to happen as a result, Gerri?

Willis: Well I think the chorus of voices for this law to be repealed will grow louder and, frankly, will have to get more support from more and more people, Bill.

By directly appealing to their audience to join “the chorus of voices” opposing ObamaCare, these anchors have proven, once again, that Fox is a political operation and not a news network. They have unmistakably pledged their allegiance to the Tea Party Republicans who have been so determined to undo the legislation that is already bringing relief to millions of Americans.

Earlier the network aired a similar report without the direct appeal. On that segment anchor Julie Banderas and correspondent Doug McKelway took turns deceiving their audience with prejudicially charged rhetoric aimed at slanting the tone of coverage in a negative manner. Note the intentional bias in the bolded text.

Bandares: A stunning new report that is raising serious questions about the effectiveness of the President’s signature legislation.

McKelway: Only 11% of consumers who purchased new coverage under ObamaCare thus far have been uninsured previously. That is a remarkable figure. It means that the vast majority of Americans who have enrolled already had insurance and likely had their insurance policies canceled late last year as a result of the law’s mandate that certain procedures be covered even if the insuree didn’t want those procedures covered. It lends credence to those doubters who say they were mislead before the law’s implementation.

The figures cited in that report were not all that remarkable. One of the goals of ObamaCare was to bring affordable health insurance to people who were being gouged by the profiteers in the insurance industry. Consequently, many people would be expected to cancel their policies in favor of the new, less expensive options that provided better coverage. And McKelway threw in a remark about people who likely had policies canceled, even though that was not a part of the survey on which he was reporting. He simply made that up, just as he did the claim that insurees didn’t want the new procedures that the law mandates.

The only thing that is lent any credence is to those doubters who recognize the blatantly conservative politicking of Fox News. McKelway failed to provide any credible support for his reporting. In fact, the only two people that appeared in his report were Tom Price, a Republican congressman, and a representative of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Koch brothers financed think tank that opposes ObamaCare, denies Climate Change, and lobbies for economic reforms that benefit corporations and the wealthy. That’s Fox’s version of fairness and balance.

If Fox News is going to take an active role in organizing protests against political issues, they ought to be forced to register as a Political Action Committee and have their operations be subject to the laws governing such activities. That would include reporting all of their broadcasts that advocate on behalf of candidates and causes as in-kind political contributions. It would further limit the manner and time in which they can engage in political activities.

If the American political system were actually fair and balanced, the Federal Elections Commission would be slapping fines and injunctions on Fox News for violating federal law. But in an environment wherein corporations are regarded as people, and individuals can donate unlimited funds to candidates anonymously, it will take some time and effort before media enterprises like Fox will be called to account for their perversions of democracy.