Fox News’ and Fox Business’ incestuous relationship with the Republican Party does not end with its propaganda. Quite a few of the network’s big names actively help Republican organizations to fundraise – and, of course, they get paid very well for their side efforts.
A deep dive by Media Matters found that at least 14 Fox hosts and contributors went this extra Republican-friendly mile. It’s not only very lucrative for the Fox personalities but their Fox affiliations are used as a selling point for the GOP events. For example, the Washington State Republican Party posted this on Facebook as a promotion for its annual dinner featuring host Greg Gutfeld as the keynote speaker :
In turn, Fox News personalities seem to earn their suppers, so to speak. According to Media Matters, a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner keynoted by Sean Hannity in 2010 raised over $7 million.
In addition to Gutfeld, 13 other Fox names were found headlining Republican fundraisers in the past year: hosts Lou Dobbs, Pete Hegseth, Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro. The contributors are John Bolton, David Bossie, Rachel Campos-Duffy, Jason Chaffetz, Sebastian Gorka, Mike Huckabee, Alveda King, Ed Rollins, Karl Rove, and Allen West.
Media Matters explains why Fox’s justification for this activity is as bogus as its former “fair and balanced” slogan:
Fox considers these personalities as part of the network’s opinion side as opposed to its “news” side—a largely meaningless distinction given how often the two sides blur together on the network. Trump himself treats Fox & Friends as a leading source of information. And Fox’s opinion-side personalities have gotten numerous interviews with the president. For instance, both Hegseth and Pirro have interviewed Trump on their Fox News programs. Lou Dobbs also conducted a softball interview with the president. (Huckabee interviewed Trump though their talk aired on the former Republican governor’s Trinity Broadcasting Network program.)
So not only are Fox personalities in bed with the GOP on and off the air, they have financial incentives to stay there.
(Gutfeld image via screen grab)
