Brian Stelter: Why Fox News Has Blood on Its Hands

[Mary Ann]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215506688

teach1st (5,365 posts)

Why Fox News Has Blood on Its Hands
Lithub, Brian Stelter, 6/8/2021

Fox News enabled Donald Trump in ways that changed the country forever. Trump was afflicted by “Fox News brain,” a diagnosis that was ID’ed by a White House aide. It was fun for a while, at least for Fox stars like Sean Hannity, to treat the most powerful man in the world like a marionette. But in 2020 and 2021 the Trump-Fox feedback loop had life-and-death consequences. And there has to be a reckoning.

Trump’s vow to end “American carnage,” which was rooted in the fear-mongering that Fox aired during Barack Obama’s eight years in office, ended in actual carnage at the Capitol. America came shockingly close to a massacre of congressional leaders. It was a riot of lies, led by people who internalized right-wing media’s 24/7 talk of “taking our country back” and actually tried to do it. One of the men arrested in connection with the assault at the Capitol was a frequent Fox News guest.

The riot was certainly not the first time that televised lies had provoked physical pain. Precisely one year earlier, in January 2020, the president’s Fox obsession combined with the network’s obsequiousness did real damage when the world learned of the novel coronavirus. While the virus was silently spreading across the United States, some of Fox’s biggest stars denied and downplayed the threat it posed; Trump echoed them; and they echoed back. “The thing that’s going to end this is the warmer weather,” Fox jester Greg Gutfeld said on February 24, 2020. “Thank God for global warming,” cohost Jesse Watters wisecracked. “It’s going to disappear,” Trump said on February 27. “One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”

...

This was shockingly irresponsible stuff—and Fox executives knew it, because by the beginning of March, they were taking precautions that belied Siegel’s just-the-flu statement. The network canceled a big event for hundreds of advertisers, instituted deep cleanings of the office, and began to put a work-from-home plan in place. Yet Fox’s stars kept sending mixed messages to millions of viewers. This went on and on until March 13, when Fox & Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt claimed it’s “actually the safest time to fly” and guest Jerry Falwell Jr. said people were “overreacting” to the virus. Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott finally asserted herself and hauled the show’s producers into her office. No more denialism, she said. But she was two or three weeks too late, just like Trump was. The virus had been unleashed.


More

https://lithub.com/why-fox-news-has-blood-on-its-hands/
0

I sure hope Tucker takes the little potato apart on his show tonight. At the very least, I'll be we'll see the pantsless pic again.

   

[Wineslob]

When they stick to false talking points, wow do they ever.   

[SVPete]

... actual carnage at the Capitol ...

Is Stelter referring to the unarmed woman who was a threat to no one who was, nevertheless, shot from concealment at close range? Or is he alluding to Officer Sicknick, whose death was due to a stroke not caused by actions in the riot?

Someone needs to replace the computer in Stelter's padded room with an Etch-A-Sketch. I doubt Stelter would notice the difference.

[enslaved1]

When they stick to false talking points, wow do they ever.   

Like white on rice.

That's acceptable racism, right?  Or is attributing Caucasian characteristics to foodstuffs heavily associated with non-whites not ok?  It's hard to keep up.

 

Is Stelter referring to the unarmed woman who was a threat to no one who was, nevertheless shot from concealment at close range? Or is he alluding to Officer Sicknick, whose death was due to a stroke not caused by actions in the riot?

Someone needs to replace the computer in Stelter's padded room with an Etch-A-Sketch. I doubt Stelter would notice the difference.

Dilbert and Wally did that to the Pointy Haired Boss.  It worked for quite a while, as I recall.  Need to reboot?  Just shake it again.   

[SVPete]

...
Dilbert and Wally did that to the Pointy Haired Boss.  It worked for quite a while, as I recall.  Need to reboot?  Just shake it again.   

 

[ADsOutburst]

A 'news' anchor running his mouth about his competitors? You'll forgive me if I take it with a grain of salt.

[Ralph Wiggum]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215506688I sure hope Tucker takes the little potato apart on his show tonight. At the very least, I'll be we'll see the pantsless pic again.

If Tucker doesn't, can guarantee that Greg Gutfeld will.  Greg ridicules that bulbous pustule Stelter/Uncle Fester/Mr. Potato Head several times a week.

Without Greg, I wouldn't even know who that self-anointed "Nations Hall Monitor" was.  When you are so-called "star" on a network that no one watches, does anyone even know they exist?  Like a bear farting in the woods...

[USA4ME]

If Tucker doesn't, can guarantee that Greg Gutfeld will.  Greg ridicules that bulbous pustule Stelter/Uncle Fester/Mr. Potato Head several times a week.

Without Greg, I wouldn't even know who that self-anointed "Nations Hall Monitor" was.  When you are so-called "star" on a network that no one watches, does anyone even know they exist?  Like a bear farting in the woods...

Mark Dice rips him, too. Like all libs, Stelter is low hanging fruit.

.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Desperation, the new fragrance from Calvin Klein.

Why do I get the feeling the "insurrection" narrative is about to collapse as suddenly and dramatically as the covid narrative?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Desperation, the new fragrance from Calvin Klein.

Why do I get the feeling the "insurrection" narrative is about to collapse as suddenly and dramatically as the covid narrative?

Or the "Russian collusion" narrative.