Ruth Ben-Ghiat: What Haunts Me Most About the Latest Fox News Revelations

[Nevilledog]

https://resolutesquare.com/articles/35Iwbqp1na06nk8Pti0QR9/what-haunts-me-most-about-the-latest-fox-news-revelations

The lawsuit of Dominion Voting Systems against the Fox News Corporation has given us more documentation of the duplicity of Fox News leaders, who will happily destroy our democracy if they can keep up their ratings and profits. Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and other top hosts and executives publicly upheld Donald Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election to keep the Fox viewer base happy while privately dismissing and deriding Trump's claims of election fraud.

Tucker Carlson may have called Trump "a demonic force, a destroyer" in a Jan. 6 message to his producer Alex Pfeiffer, but he soon became the self-appointed authoritarian enforcer of GOP propaganda meant to cover up Republican attempts to overthrow the government. "Anyone who calls Jan. 6 an insurrection is a liar," Carlson remarked in Dec. 2021.

For those who study authoritarian takeovers and the propaganda operations that enable them, this is no surprise. These newly revealed documents are simply the media elite equivalent of the communications by GOP lawmakers that have periodically come to our attention. Politicians such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) went along publicly with Trump's election fraud disinformation, even working overtime with Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to try and find the evidence they needed. Privately, they expressed misgivings as the coup attempt gathered steam.

Here's what haunts me most from these latest revelations: the news that Fox News head Rupert Murdoch floated the idea that Ingraham, Carlson, Sean Hannity, and other top hosts trusted by the Fox audience should appear together on television in Nov. 2020 and state clearly that Joe Biden had won the election. As reported by CNN's Oliver Darcy, Murdoch wrote that presenting a united front "would go a long way to stop the Trump myth that the election [was] stolen."

*snip*

[rubbersole]

1. Shameless phony journalists...

..will have this special little corner of hell they will rot in. Until then, let America see the shallow liars in a new light. It should piss off more people than it really will. But being played for suckers is relatable.

[flying_wahini]

2. They should be removed from public forums. It's bad enough that they blatantly lied but

they sold our entire country down the river for money, power and their own over inflated egos.
I know it will never happen. Just feel like J6 was a mortal wound after the painful horrible years
TFG was in office. The graft and depth of corruption is hard to take. I don’t know what’s worse;
A swarm of bad faith “news” reporters or the blood thirsty mob they stirred up. And also the
rest of the non crazy GOPers sat on their ass and let it happen.
And they fact that they are all still free and go unpunished.

[Hekate]

3. KnR

[Meadowoak]

4. Tucker Carlson should be on Russian state tv. Oh nevermind, he already is!

[Duppers]

6. 👍

[Martin Eden]

5. Are any of these revelations getting through to Fox viewers

And if so, will it finally dawn on them they've been lied to all along and Joe Biden legitimately won the election -- or will they switch to Newmax and other sources because they would rather continue to believe the lies?

It's not easy for anyone to admit they've been played for a fool and to abandon fervently held beliefs they've staunchly defended for years.