While Murdoch Tweets To Promote Gun Control, His Fox News Demonizes Reform
Rupert Murdoch may not know it but his own Fox News has been against gun control since long before he recently tweeted about being for it. Yes, while Fox News' "Medical A Team" psychiatrist Keith Ablow gratuitously announced last week, "Those who call for gun control after incidents like this contribute nothing to the solution," Murdoch was one of those calling for gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings. He tweeted, "Terrible news today. When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons? As in Oz after similar tragedy." Murdoch also tweeted, "Nice words from POTUS on shooting tragedy, but how about some bold leadership action?"
Read moreFox Attacks Obama’s Anti-School Shooting Policy Before Anyone Knows What It Is
Fox News may have broken some kind of record tonight when, after President Obama finished his address in Newtown, Connecticut at a vigil for the school shooting victims, Fox's “fair and balanced” panel began attacking President Obama’s forthcoming policy to prevent such tragedies before anybody knew what it was. It may well have been before Obama even formulated it.
Read moreWatch President Obama Speak In Newtown, Connecticut
President Obama will be making an address from Newtown, Connecticut shortly. We'll be streaming it live after the jump. Share your thoughts and observations with us in our Comments section. I'll be watching the Fox News coverage and doing some live blogging.
UPDATE: Video of President Obama's touching speech is after the jump.
Read moreFox "News" Advances Faith Theme By Promoting Billy Graham Emergency Chaplains
Is Roger Ailes engaging in evangelizing on his "news" network? While reality based networks are having discussions on American gun violence and the ready availablity of high powered weaponry, Fox News is turning to God by preaching the necessity of faith in times of crisis. And while 70% of Newtown's population is Catholic there are other groups - 6%, Jewish and 10% of the 24% of "other" groups are liberal mainline Protestants as well as 2% Muslims. But on Fox, the religious perspective, so far, has been from the Catholic Fr. Jonathan Morris and the evangelical Mike Huckabee. And in further promoting Fox preferred Christianity, fundamentalist Christian Shannon Bream interviewed the head of a group of Billy Graham's crisis counselors who have swept into Newtown to comfort the afflicted by giving them hope in the lord.
Read moreGeraldo Rivera Says 'Faith Based' People Can't Commit Mass Murder?
Has Roger Ailes instructed his staff to cite lack of "faith" as a reason for the horrific, Connecticut school massacre committed by somebody who might have had a serious mental disorder and who had access to some very efficient weaponry? Reason I'm asking is that it isn't just Mike Huckabee and Fr. Morris who are bringing "faith" into the discussion. During a discussion with Mike Huckabee, even Geraldo Rivera, one of the more rational actors in the Fox studio, got in on the "godless" act with a reference to the apocalypse and the extraordinarily ridiculous statement that "...it is impossible for me to miss the point that were this a faith-based young man he could not have possibly perpetrated this evil." History says otherwise; but in pushing Fox propaganda, who cares about that!?
Read more‘Legal Analyst’ Peter Johnson Jr. Helps You Find (Christian) God In Newtown, Connecticut
Peter Johnson, Jr., the Fox News “legal analyst” who is reportedly a Roger Ailes surrogate, was in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, presumably to report on legal issues. But in the meanwhile, he took an opportunity to promote Christian Godliness with Monsignor Robert Weiss.
Read moreFr. Jonathan Morris Promotes God In Response To Shooting
For the second day in a row, the principal religious perspective being provided for the Fox News audience is Catholic, via Fr. Jonathan Morris who is the only clergy who appears with regularity on the network. Obviously, there are many folks who are comforted by the words of a Catholic priest; but, the reality is that there are others who, for whatever reason, do not seek solace in religious faith - or if they are religious, their ways of coping with grief are not those of the Catholic Church. But Fox News clearly has a Christian and very Catholic bias which, I believe, is being shown in Fr. Morris' homilies during which he focuses on the need for people to connect with God, which isn't always the answer - and as such, how appropriate is that for a "Fair & Balanced" news network?
Read moreHuckabee: I Didn’t Mean Prayer In School Would Have Stopped Newtown School Shooting; I Meant More Christianity
Mike Huckabee is not happy about the “vile and vicious reaction” to his comments about Godlessness in schools in the wake of the awful shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Huckabee said he was wrongly interpreted to mean that prayer in school would have prevented the shooting. So to correct the record, Huckabee argued that more Christianity for everybody is really the answer.
Read moreBrian Kilmeade Says Adam Lanza Needed God!
While one assumes that not all of the victims of the horrific Newtown, CT shooting were Catholics, the "Fair & Balanced" Fox News is providing only the Catholic spiritual perspective from Fr. Jonathan Morris who is the only clergy with a weekly Sunday time slot and almost exclusive religious air time on Fox News. While it would be interesting to have a variety of religious perspectives on this issue (one of the victims might be Jewish), the only one, so far has been Morris'. This morning, Morris provided his view of the reasons behind mass shootings with a plug for God and prayer. Brian Kilmeade then made a typically stupid comment which suggested an agenda that wasn't really picked up by Morris who was rational, except for his invoking "evil" as a factor in the shooting. The chyron, however, suggested a Mike Huckabee perspective that never materialized. Odd...
Read moreIn Newtown Shootings, Former ‘Takers’ Are Now Fox News Heroes
Less than two weeks ago, Fox & Friends was portraying public service workers as “takers” draining the coffers of the “makers.” It’s a common refrain on Fox. But now, in the wake of the awful shooting massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut public school, those “takers” were held up as heroes last night.
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