Neil Cavuto Argues FOX News Coverage For Tea Parties Same As For Million Man March – But FNC Did Not Exist At Time Of Million Man March
Reported by Ellen - April 12, 2009 -
Co-authored by Brian
Neil Cavuto has been defending FOX News' coverage of the upcoming tax day tea parties by repeatedly saying that FOX News covered the Million Man March “the same way.” But the Million Man March occurred October 16, 1995 whereas FOX News began operating October 7, 1996, nearly a year later.
On yesterday's (April 11, 2009) Cavuto on Business, Cavuto claimed that FOX was only covering the tea parties because of its newsworthiness. Forgetting FOX News' aggressive promotion of the tea parties, Cavuto said, “We do not pick and choose these rallies and protests (to cover). We were there for the Million Man March, even though, as I pointed out, it turned out to be well shy of a million men.” He went on to say that “we were there” for the Iraq war protests (but I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts, as my mother used to say, that FOX News never gave the Iraq war protests anything like the same kind of promotional effort FNC is giving the tea parties.) … so you see, we really don't decide what popular causes matter.”
On April 8, Cavuto also compared coverage of the tea parties to the Million Man March. “We covered (the Million Man March) because we thought it had a worthy message, too.”
And even if FOX News had been around during the Million Man March, I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts again that they would never have given it the same kind of coverage the tea parties are getting.
