Now this is a case of first impression. Fox News is a media outlet. Media outlets air ads and are paid to do so. But in this case, MoveOn, a progressive group, wants Fox News to air an ad showing Fox’s on-air talent blatantly lying about the 2020 election and Fox News, being a defendant in a lawsuit concerning same, is turning the business away.
Can’t say as how I blame them. It certainly makes sense. But you have to admit that this is one hell of a conundrum. How do you turn away advertising on a landmark legal case, and stop reporting on said legal case, because to do so is going to jeopardize your very existence? Nobody has seen a fact pattern like this before, unless I miss my guess.
And it gets worse. Howard Kurtz, who reports on media for Fox News, has been forbidden to discuss the case, a choice with which he disagrees. First things first, here’s the MoveOn tape that Fox won’t air.
BREAKING:
Fox News REFUSED to air our ad which quotes emails & texts from its hosts showing they intentionally presented false allegations about election fraud to keep ratings & profits up.
It's time to drop Fox from cable & satellite: https://t.co/fZNV9yQiTV #FoxNewsLies pic.twitter.com/h6qWgXeNij
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) February 27, 2023
Here’s what Howard Kurtz said yesterday about the Dominion case reporting ban.
“Some of you have been asking why I’m not covering the Dominion voting machines lawsuit against Fox involving the unproven claims of election fraud in 2020,” Kurtz explained on his Media Buzz program.
“And it’s absolutely a fair question. I believe I should be covering it,” he continued. “It’s a major media story given my role here at Fox, but the company has decided that as part of the organization being sued, I can’t talk about it or write about it, at least for now.”
Kurtz added an objection: “I strongly disagree with that decision. But as an employee, I have to abide by it, and if that changes, I’ll let you know.”
It makes perfect sense what Fox News is doing. I understand their reasoning, you can’t have employees talking about the lawsuit that the company is a defendant in and you can’t air advertising which makes your position in the lawsuit looks bad. I get that part of it.
But what the point is, is that the very fact that a major media outlet like Fox News has put itself in this position, of being sued for over a billion dollars for defaming a voting machines company and spreading conspiracy theory, in order to not lose business, shows that truth is a commodity held in esteem way below profits. That’s the key issue here.
Character no longer matters in America. Money, celebrity, power are commodities which people revere above all else, not truth, not character, not doing the right and moral thing.
Fox News is totally in the wrong here, by spreading falsehoods and conspiracy theory. Whether they will settle out of court or how the suit will end, I have no idea. But I don’t expect Fox News to close its doors. I expect them to still be in business because lies sell and the pursuit of profit is everything in America.
We have significantly eroded morally as a society and measurably so in the 26 years that Fox News has been in business. How much they personally have contributed to this erosion I don’t know. But lies and disinformation are never healthy things to inject into the information ecosystem and Fox crossed that line years ago because there was a buck in it.
My gut reaction to Fox prohibiting Howard Kurtz from covering the story is that letting Kurtz run with it might actually add a veneer of credibility to them in court proceedings – a sort of “Hey. Look here. We aren’t afraid of the truth and can take criticism.” But when I first read about this earlier today and had that reaction I thought more about it. Pandora’s Box has already been opened and Fox is going to take a hit in court (a BIG one I believe) for what they did – and anything they try to do now will be too little too late and be seen as playing CYA which could only serve to increase their Punitive Damages. So that gets us as always to the bottom line – even if Kurtz makes some (even mild) criticisms of Fox it will hurt their current viewership and they are already bleeding from gaping wounds. So, the decision has been made to try and keep as many viewers sated with lies and bullshit for as long as they can before the hammer drops. Sort of a make what they can off the rubes for as long as they can cause their gonna need the money before long.
As for Kurtz, I’ve sometimes wondered WTF happened to him that made him shift over to Fox and frankly propping up their bullshit version of news. Once upon a time Kurz’s Reliable Sources on CNN was an okay show. I thought he was too often a little smarmy, wearing out his arm patting himself and CNN on the back for “shining the spotlight on those who report the news”, supposedly holding them to account. I used to watch that show sometimes and while sometimes it was moderately okay there were numerous times when I felt Kurtz could have and should have been more hard hitting. But he had some level of credibility in the journalism world. And pissed it away not just with going over to Fox but outright defending their “journalistic” “integrity.” What I wonder was his price? Because he clearly sold out to Fox. Now he’s basically a hack. A shill for them. Kurtz wanting to cover the Dominion story for Fox is like letting a wife beater handle security for a battered woman’s shelter.
Hear hear!!!
I can see this worthless crew of sad fox mouthpieces sitting around a small table in the middle of the world’s largest rat trap – a video screen tells them they can hit the trigger and get things over quick, OR wait for the random timer to set it off automatically in a window of time 10 minutes to 10 hours … Because they are tied securely to their chairs, the trigger for them is in front of each person as a small lever under one hand …
Who breaks first and why?
Curious situation, throwing the lever would make a big version of the Whoopi Cushion, with the words, “GOTCH-YA” … a thrill to each and everyone of them for sure …