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CNN
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The White House is disgusted with Fox News, even more so than usual.
Over the past 24 hours, the right-wing talk network has attacked President Joe Biden and his administration with indecent attack lines, hitting the Democratic White House with smears that are even minimal for a channel that hosts a dangerous and incendiary rhetoric.
First, Fox News outrageously labeled Biden a “wannabe dictator” in an on-screen banner Tuesday night and declared that he had ordered the arrest of his “political rival.” The banner coincided with hours of reckless commentary from the network’s top hosts and personalities in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s disgrace.
Then, on Wednesday, the outlet published an absurd story citing “criticism” for suggesting the White House had flown a “controversial new transgender flag promoting grooming and pedophilia.” It alleged that “a mysterious and divisive new symbol of pride had a coming-out party” at the White House, with “some even saying” it “seems to reference a pedophilia cult.” The absurd story failed to mention that the Fox Corporation logo itself had been wrapped up in it pride flag last year.
Americans may have become desensitized in recent years to ugly political attacks, but the shocking claims made by Fox are not trivial, especially when directed at the President of the United States and his White House. These are serious accusations. And yet Fox News is throwing them around in a blasphemous manner, as if such dark rhetoric has no consequences.
That’s perhaps why the White House felt the need to formally respond, even though the Biden administration typically chooses not to get into the mud with the network.
Asked Wednesday about the “dictator” charge, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied: “There are probably 787 million things I can say about that. It was wrong what we saw yesterday at night, but I don’t think I’ll go in.” Jean-Pierre’s reference to the 787 million was a not-so-subtle reference to the historic sum of money Fox paid Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation case.
Meanwhile, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates went nuclear on the way out for his story about the pride flag. In a Twitter thread, Bates said Fox was “typically lying through his teeth” and released a copy of a Fox News reporter’s request for comment that had been sent to the White House. The email made no mention of grooming or pedophilia, and Bates added, “Fox did not even communicate the malicious and discredited basis of this article to the White House.”
For its part, Fox News released a weak nine-word statement on Wednesday about the “dictator” chiron. An unnamed network spokesman said: “The chiron was immediately withdrawn and tackled.” No further details were provided on how the matter was “addressed”. It should be noted that there was no apology from the president either.
No such statement was made on the story Fox News ran about the alleged “controversial new transgender flag” that the White House flew over the weekend for Pride Month. The outlet deleted its tweet and updated its story without apology or explanation.
But overall, Fox’s moves smack of desperation as it watches its ratings decline and continues to search for a permanent replacement for far-right Tucker Carlson (or a “popular late-night host” as The NYT puts it). she calls him weakly) in hopes of keeping their audience tuned in. As the cache of messages released in the Dominion case showed, network executives were very concerned about their audience switching the channel, issuing false claims to keep viewers hooked. Events this week suggest the same playbook is still in use.
“Fox paid the biggest settlement in media history because they made dangerous lies, and the lesson they took from that experience is to repeat the same behavior, including spreading QAnon’s baseless dirt?” a Biden administration source told me Wednesday. “Fox is disrespecting its viewers, abusing people’s trust for profit.”
