{"id":9116,"date":"2013-02-17T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T18:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9116"},"modified":"2023-01-21T12:39:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-21T20:39:45","slug":"fox-news-runs-smoke-screen-for-the-tea-bacco-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9116","title":{"rendered":"Fox News Runs Smoke Screen For The Tea-bacco Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent study was conducted by the University of California at San Francisco that uncovered a connection between the astroturf Tea Party movement and wealthy lobbyists for Big Tobacco. The study documented<\/a> how tobacco interests formed an organization called Citizens for a Sound Economy in 2002 and later split it into the Tea Party organizers FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity.<\/p>\n

\"Tea-bacco\"Unable to dispute the facts exposed by the study, Fox News published an article<\/a> attacking the funding which came from the National Cancer Institute, a subsidiary of the National Institutes of Health. The Fox headline blared “Taxpayer dollars used to fund study attempting to link Tea Party to tobacco lobby.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The entire premise of the article was a transparent defense of the Tea Party, which Fox also helped to create. In fact, without their relentless promotion and free airtime there would have been no Tea Party at all. But having no case to make against the findings of the study, Fox went after a peripheral issue in an attempt to change the subject to the funding source. What they failed to realize is that university studies frequently receive grants from government agencies, particularly those that research public health.<\/p>\n

The UCSF study was in no way designed to attack the Tea Party. It was looking into the manner in which the tobacco industry advanced their mission to market their deadly products. It just so happened that the Tea Party connection was unveiled during the course of the study. That connection should not surprise anyone considering that the Tea Party’s first major protest activity was centered on blocking public health care, something the tobacco lobby has opposed for decades because it educated consumers about the dangers of smoking.<\/p>\n

The faux outrage now being expressed by Fox does nothing to counter the findings in the study. What it does is chastise institutions who engage in research that benefits the public. By attacking the funding sources Fox is advocating a form of academic censorship and trampling on the free expression of the researchers. It’s rather ironic in that the Tea Party rightists often rail about the interference of big government, but in this incident they are eager to allow the government to dictate to independent institutions what they are, and are not, permitted to study.<\/p>\n

If Fox were a legitimate news enterprise they might have chosen to run a story about the merits and\/or flaws of the study rather than try to discredit it with snide insinuations that raise phony suspicions about the funding. But since they are Fox they typically chose to trash whatever it is that they regard as contrary to their conservative prejudices, even if their argument makes no sense and contradicts their own principles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent study was conducted by the University of California at San Francisco that uncovered a connection between the astroturf Tea Party movement and wealthy lobbyists for Big Tobacco. The study documented how tobacco interests formed an organization called Citizens for a Sound Economy in 2002 and later split it into the Tea Party organizers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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],"tags":[33,534,1486],"class_list":["post-9116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-media-bias","tag-fox-news","tag-tea-party","tag-tobacco"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-2n2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10798,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10798","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":0},"title":"The Tea Party Is Over According To – Bill O’Reilly!","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/28\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The astroturf fraud known as the Tea Party was literally invented by a cabal of uber-rightist millionaires and corporations with interests in tobacco and oil. The prime movers were the Koch brothers, who transited from their father's John Birch Society to their own front groups, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks.\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":10831,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10831","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":1},"title":"The Tea Party’s Climate Change Denialism Is Scaring Off The GOP Regulars","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/2\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tea Party has always been the GOP's far-right flank. Despite its small membership and radical views, it has mustered up an undue measure of influence in the Republican Party due to its fanatical posturing and wealthy financial backers. Now a new study by the Pew Research Center sheds light\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=473"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1577,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1577","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":2},"title":"New Tea Party Survey Affirms Overt Partisanship","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/3\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In a story promoted by Fox Nation, they reference a \"survey\" that reveals conclusions that are diametrically opposed to what the Fox Nationalists assert. On the Fox Nation web site the story is headlined: New Tea Party Survey Destroys Media Myths. The story links to an article in the Washington\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":9344,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9344","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":3},"title":"Hey Tea Baggers: Did You Know That You Are Supposed To Be Boycotting Fox News NOW?","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/23\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Attention all Tea Partiers. The massively humungous national boycott of the pinko liberal Fox News network is currently in progress. Join the movement that is demanding that Fox News cease to be a mouthpiece for the left. This crusade is being undertaken because Fox has betrayed the Tea Party and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tea-party-fox-boycott-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tea-party-fox-boycott-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/tea-party-fox-boycott-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3099,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3099","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":4},"title":"Fox News Hosts Election Night Tea Party Zone","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/29\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Fair and Balanced Fox News: Don't forget to visit us on Election Day. We'll have all the election coverage from Democrats to Republicans and also host a special Tea Party Zone that night. We'll see you there! So Fox is hosting a special Tea Party Zone on election night? That's\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":6221,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6221","url_meta":{"origin":9116,"position":5},"title":"Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Case Of The Tea Party Smoke Bomber","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/18\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If there is still anyone who wonders where Fox News gets the information it publishes, let there be no mistake - They make it up. Take, for instance, this article featured on Fox Nation with the headline, \"Occupier (Not a Tea Partier) Throws Smoke Bomb Over White House Fence.\" The\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9116","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=9116"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56120,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9116\/revisions\/56120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}