Yesterday, Fox’s Media Buzz panel openly discussed how Mike Huckabee used his Fox News show to promote his potential presidential candidacy. Host Howard Kurtz even suggested that Huckabee's departure announcement was “kind of like an infomercial.”
The panel seemed unanimous in its approval of Mike Huckabee’s exit from Fox's payroll while he contemplates running for president. But Kurtz took the discussion a step further. He noted that in the farewell, Huckabee talked about God and learning to govern. Then Kurtz asked guest Susan Ferrechio, of Washington Examiner, “Should Huckabee have been able to use his Fox show to make this announcement. Is that kind of like an infomercial?”
Yes, Ferrechio thought so. “It is in fact, and he’s got more than a million viewers. This is his base he’s talking to,” she said. “And it’s been week after week, too. …I think he’s boosted, you know, where he stands with voters just by being on Fox every week.”
Later, Ferrechio said, “There is a question about whether this is really campaigning on the air.”
“It certainly is a great way of keeping yourself in the public eye,” Kurtz noted. He went on to cite past presidential candidates with gigs on Fox.
KURTZ: Fox is drawing some criticism, being kind of a launching pad for Republican politicians. In 2012, you had Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich who were contributors, left to run for president. Ben Carson this time left when he decided to get more serious about a presidential run. Scott Brown, before his New Hampshire Senate run, was at Fox and he came back to Fox.
There was a lull in this action as they discussed Gingrich’s and Santorum’s disappointment in their subsequent Fox coverage. Fox’s Chris Stirewalt insisted that Fox has no “secret agenda.” None of the other panelists said a word about that.
However, Fox contributor Mara Liasson did jump in to say, “You know what the bottom line is? That being on Fox is an incredible boost for any conservative politician who’s thinking about running for office regardless of how they might whine and complain about how you cover them afterwards. It’s worth its weight in gold.”
Now, why would being on Fox be such an “incredible boost” for a conservative politician, giving him or her the opportunity to “talk to the base” if the network was really the “fair and balanced” operation it claims to be?
Watch this interesting discussion below, via Media Matters.