Eric Boehlert: Fox News just went 30 hours without mentioning the Matt Gaetz scandal

[babylonsister]

Fox News just went 30 hours without mentioning the Matt Gaetz scandal
Blackout
Eric Boehlert
2 hr ago


In an extraordinary attempt at GOP damage control, Fox News failed to make any mention, for more than an entire day, of the exploding sex trafficking scandal that's engulfing Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a close ally of the network. Opting instead for a total blackout, Fox News tried and failed to quell the raging controversy, which on Thursday night hit new heights with another round of explosive revelations.

But at Fox News, it's Gaetz who?

According to TVeyes, the 24-hour cable news monitoring service, Fox News mentioned "Matt Gaetz" just 17 times all day Wednesday and all day Thursday of this week. In fact, the network aired zero mentions of Gaetz on Thursday, and the final mention of him came Wednesday at 6:22 pm. That means for more than 30 hours, Fox News didn't reference the Congressman a single time. During that same period, CNN mentioned Gaetz 70 times, MSNBC more than 80 times.

Suffice it to say that if a prominent Democrat found him or herself at the center of a scandal as lurid as Gaetz's, who's under investigation in a federal sex trafficking probe involving a 17-year-old girl, Fox News would have hyped the story hundreds of times this week. Fox News would have been in nonstop scandal mode demanding answers, pressing for Congressional inquiries, and denouncing the moral bankruptcy of the Democratic Party.

But with one of its closest allies under federal fire, the best Fox News can do is pretend nothing is happening. Instead of opting for covering the story lightly, Fox News went straight to banning it.

Obviously an attempt to erase a story as big and breaking as the Gaetz scandal doesn't happen by accident. We're witnessing a deliberate, top-down attempt by Fox News to unplug an important political story simply because the man at the center is a Republican and a vociferous Trump loyalist who loudly claimed the 2020 election had been stolen. In fact, Gaetz owes his career to Fox News and the hundreds of appearances he's made on the network in recent years.

"His combination of bottomless self-confidence and a rich kid-honed skill at being a remorseless bully turned him into an aspirational figure for the Fox News audience, a role model for the trigger-the-liberals crowd," Salon's Amdanda Marcotte noted this week. Suddenly though, the network doesn't want to say his name.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/fox-news-just-went-30-hours-without

[-misanthroptimist]

1. Fox is a fraud. It isn't news.

They should be sued for fraudulent labeling.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Well after Tucker was exposed, the network's afraid Mattie will expose more

within the ranks. Out Fox the Fox!

[Shermann]

7. I want to know what REALLY went down during that dinner with Tucker

Tucker doesn't even remember having that dinner two years ago. I guess he has dinner with Republican congresspeople all the damn time. No big whoop.

I wonder who picks up the checks?

[SweetieD]

3. I remember waiting in my dentist office a few months ago and fox news was on and

There was seriously 2 hours straight coverage of the Salwell Chinese spy relationship story. I'm sure it went on longer but the appointment I was waiting for was over.

The bias is so extreme. No other network has that level of bias.

[Zambero]

4. Gaetz & Friends

Making absolutely certain that the elephant in the room somehow manages to assume invisible status. After all, what are friends for?

[Ligyron]

5. Fox does that with a lot of events.

Any stories favorable to Dems/Progressives or ones involving bad news for GrOPers or any event they don’t want their viewers aware of they bury.

When made aware of by other messengers, they have a hard time believing it. Figure if it’s not on Fox, it’s fake. They’re idiots.

[Blue Owl]

6. They're desperately trying to cancel Matt's culture

[jmowreader]

8. You know the problem

The standard practice at Fox every time a Republican fucks up is to call him a Democrat. Unfortunately for them, Gaetz is so well known that trick won’t work.