by V4 Agency
The American Fox News channel has been embroiled in a number of controversies of late. There are some indications of censorship, there have been some premature decisions and there are certain issues that the network cannot cover fully. However, Fox’s volte-face may come in handy for a smaller conservative outlet.
Fox News started broadcasting in 1996 with the expressed aim of catering to a conservative audience. However, over the years the channel has progressively become less distinguishable from the other mainstream liberal media outlets, a trend that has peaked in the past few days.
Although Fox has fundamentally been amiable to Donald Trump, the president has recently expressed criticism of the channel. This past summer Trump jabbed sharply at FOX in an interview with CBN.
“I don’t like what they’re doing at Fox News. (…) I’m not happy with Fox at all. (…) and my supporters feel the same way. (…) Whereas Fox News wants to be politically correct all of a sudden. (…) And you know, our people are the ones that got Fox to be [there] in first place. (…) The only one that doesn’t know that is Fox,” explained the president, adding that Fox launched an anti-Trump witch hunt in its daytime programs in the weekends.
In his election-day interview on the Fox and Friends program, President Trump criticised the outlet claiming, among others, that the station had changed considerably over the last four years, and that they were providing more air-time to Democrats than Republicans.
Lately, Fox had committed mistakes bordering on censorship and ones involving topics they were apparently not happy with and tried to smoke-screen. During the course of the campaign Fox, in essence, defended the US stock market speculator George Soros.
The channel interviewed former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Regarding the violence witnessed in some cities, the politician said “…progressive district attorneys are anti-police, pro-criminal (…) and they’re a major cause of the violence we’re seeing because they keep putting the violent criminals back on the street.”
Mr Gingrich stressed that these progressive prosecutors wre overwhelmingly elected with George Soros’s money.
Fox News host Harris Faulkner told Gingrich that Soros didn’t need to be brought into the conversation and that his name needn’t be mentioned. At this point viewers experienced some uncomfortable seconds as Gingrich asked the host why they could not discuss the fact that Soros had spent millions of dollars on the riots.
Harris Faulkner later apologised for the awkward moments.
On the eve of the election, Fox made an incomprehensible decision, by calling Arizona for Biden prematurely, apparently without any grounds. This is all the stranger because no other channel has projected a winner. Ballots are still being tallied in Arizona. Fox failed to rescind the call, which provoked fury among Conservatives.
Not even CNN called Arizona in favour of Biden.
The head of Fox News Channel’s Decision Desk, Arnon Mishkin, a committed Democrat, may be behind the controversy, as decisions to call states in favour of certain candidates is up to him. As the vote count is still in progress, it is possible that the channel will be right and Biden will win Arizona. However, on 3 November, it was definitely premature to declare a winner.
Several suspicious signs suggesting voter fraud in the elections have emerged, but for some reason Fox News is reluctant to cover these issues, not in live shows anyhow.
At a press conference a few days ago, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the election was not over yet, adding that they intended to have all the legal votes counted.
At this point, Fox News cut away from the press conference on air, and host Neil Cavuto explained the move by saying that McEnany was accusing the other side of welcoming fraud and she should back that up with evidence.
They finally did it. Fox News cuts off Kayleigh McEnany for lying.pic.twitter.com/eM0j0au0WL
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) November 9, 2020
In another incident, when a guest questioned the election results, Fox News anchor Sandra Smith was caught on video saying that just because the media says that somebody is president does not make them president. Smith looked truly incredulous.
Sandra Smith from Fox News with an epic hot mic reaction to a lunatic denying election results pic.twitter.com/VYBYhRGAIH
— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) November 9, 2020
Apparently, the network does not try to hide that they have rooted for the former vice-president. After the press named Joe Biden the winner on 7 November, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Kathryn Murdoch, shared a post on Twitter saying, “we did it”.
We did it!!!!
— Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) November 7, 2020
The shift Fox News has taken may pay off for others, such as Newsmax, a less popular right-wing, conservative outlet.
Fox’s fiasco over Arizona and the fact that they called Florida for Trump with a delay have outraged Conservatives and prompted them to voice their indignation.
“No matter what the final results are tonight, one thing is extremely clear. Fox News can no longer claim to be the fair and balanced network they once were. There are a lot of biased hacks there now and a ton of folks are noticing. It’s now Newsmax for me for election results,” country singer Travis Tritt tweeted.
No matter what the final results are tonight, one thing is extremely clear. @FoxNews can no longer claim to be the fair and balanced network they once were. There are a lot of biased hacks there now and a ton of folks are noticing. It’s now @newsmax for me for election results.
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) November 4, 2020
Andrew Giuliani, special assistant to the president, told the channel that they have Newsmax on every single TV at the White House.
'We have Newsmax on every single TV at the White House'@AndrewHGiuliani on other networks refusal to call states despite the 'empirical data.' https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/AnFi6qZpyk
— Newsmax (@newsmax) November 4, 2020