{"id":32083,"date":"2016-07-18T04:25:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T11:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=32083"},"modified":"2016-07-18T04:27:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T11:27:32","slug":"how-not-to-news-fox-resorts-to-knee-jerk-obama-blaming-after-baton-rouge-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=32083","title":{"rendered":"How Not To News: Fox Resorts To Knee-Jerk Obama Blaming After Baton Rouge Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today brings a new incident of senseless violence that rips at the heart of the nation’s conscience. Six police officers were shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this morning, three of whom were killed. As usual in these circumstances, words are insufficient to convey the sour combination of sorrow, sympathy, and fury.<\/p>\n

\"Fox
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

The motivation of the shooter(s) has yet to be determined as investigators are still trying to piece together the slowly unfolding evidence. President Obama spoke<\/a><\/strong> with passion and grace as he condemned the shootings and called on all Americans to be united in offering condolences and determination to end the cycle of violence. At times like these the least helpful contribution to the painful drama is irresponsible speculation and self-serving assignment of blame. So naturally, that’s what Fox News devoted itself to for most of the day. And it didn’t take them more than a few minutes to launch into a tirade of offensive and baseless allegations.<\/p>\n

Long before any verifiable information was available, Fox was on the air condemning the shooting as a deliberate attack on law enforcement. Never mind that there was no evidence from either the police department, witnesses, suspects, or any other source affirming that conclusion. At Fox “News”<\/em> facts just get in the way of the right-wing sensationalism that is the core of their narrative. Particularly when they are determined to cast blame for the crimes on their ideological foes.<\/p>\n

Within minutes of the first reports, Fox News had drawn a conclusion about the shooter’s motives without having any proof. Host Harris Faulkner stated as fact that “This is an ambush of epic proportions.”<\/em> Then she reached out to Fox’s trusty roster of knee-jerk conservatives for analysis. They included Steve Loomis, a police union official who embarked on a feverish rant about President Obama’s culpability for the shootings saying “the president of the United States has blood on his hands that will not be able to come washed off.”<\/em> Then former FBI agent Steven Rogers asserted without foundation that the White House “added flames or fuel to the flame of racism.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Fox’s own host Jeanine Pirro agreed with the Obama-blamers saying that “the killing of cops is now becoming normalized. It\u2019s now becoming legitimized.”<\/em> That’s a nearly delusional comment that defies reason. She went on to say that “I agree with your other guests to say that it starts at the top.”<\/em> So Pirro believes that the President is legitimizing the killing of cops and, of course, no one on Fox asked her to validate that deranged and unsupported point of view.<\/p>\n

Not to be left out, Donald Trump posted<\/a><\/strong> his reaction on Facebook and characteristically turned it into a self-serving political comment that also took aim at Obama: “We grieve for the officers killed in Baton Rouge today. How many law enforcement and people have to die because of a lack of leadership in our country? We demand law and order.”<\/em> He followed that up with several alarmist tweets that focused on negativity and division. Contrast that with the statements by Obama and Hillary Clinton who called for unity<\/a><\/strong> in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n

\n

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
\nFox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a>
\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The blatant manner with which Fox endeavors to malign the President, and more generally the #BlackLivesMatter movement, despite the absence of any evidence, is a testament to their innate prejudices. But worse, it is a perversion of the most basic tenets of ethical journalism. Rather than waiting for confirmation of what occurred, Fox jumped straight to spinning their favorite fables of an exploding anti-cop epidemic and the total breakdown of civil society. It’s a stance that conveniently fits with their hatred of all things Obama and their advocacy of Donald Trump. But it is not how professional journalists conduct themselves, not that Fox cares about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today brings a new incident of senseless violence that rips at the heart of the nation’s conscience. Six police officers were shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this morning, three of whom were killed. As usual in these circumstances, words are insufficient to convey the sour combination of sorrow, sympathy, and fury. The motivation of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,684,16],"tags":[183,554,33,1092],"class_list":["post-32083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-media-bias","category-wankery","tag-barack-obama","tag-donald-trump","tag-fox-news","tag-jeanine-pirro"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-alert1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-8lt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3969,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3969","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":0},"title":"Mike Huckabee Channels Glenn Beck","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/1\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the Fox News in-house presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee, was the guest today with radio Birther Steve Malzberg. In the course of their conversation Huckabee veered off into uncharted territory with a new and ridiculous claim that Barack Obama had grown up in Kenya. Sure we've had Birthers claiming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7601,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7601","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":1},"title":"Running Cover For Mitt Romney: Fox News Comes To The Rescue","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/16\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So what's a Republican presidential candidate to do when he's asked too many questions for which he has no answers (or for which the answers are too damaging)? Run to Fox News, of course. Mitt Romney has absolutely no coherent response to the criticisms he is fielding on his tenure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7113,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7113","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":2},"title":"Obama Surging Ahead Of Romney In Fox News Poll That Fox News Ignores","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/17\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For additional evidence that Fox News is the PR agency for the Republican Party, note the feverishly excited treatment that Fox News gives to polling when the results favor Mitt Romney: In the past two months Fox Nation has posted at least seven articles on election polling and every single\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=749","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":3},"title":"Obama Capitulates To Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/9\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"On the morning after his second place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Barack Obama apparently feels he needs the solace of a hostile new network to salve his wounds. By appearing on the infantile Fox & Friends morning show, Obama has gilded Fox's credibility as a news provider and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6061,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6061","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":4},"title":"Fox Nation’s Extra Special Stupidest Lies About Obama In 2011","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/28\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In compiling another retrospective of the soon to be completed year, I thought I would present a list of all of the lies featured by the folks at Fox News for 2011. Turns out that there isn't enough bandwidth on the Internet for that. So I sought to narrow down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5662,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5662","url_meta":{"origin":32083,"position":5},"title":"Fox Nation vs. Reality: Ugly For Obama In Ohio","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/26\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing the \"Fox Nation vs. Reality\" series, this episode has the Fox Nationalists declaring that things are \"Ugly For Obama In Ohio.\" And to support their declaration, Fox Nation referenced a poll by Quinnipiac University that shows Obama out-polling every leading Republican challenger. Obama beats: Cain: 47 - 39 Romney:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32083"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32089,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32083\/revisions\/32089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}