“Journalist” Bill Hemmer must be so desperate to help Republican Glenn Youngkin win the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election that Hemmer presented not one, not two, but three Republican operatives as “concerned parents” opposing critical race theory, which is a right-wing canard in itself.
Unfortunately for Hemmer, Media Matters was not a bit fooled by his charade. And I’m here to amplify the truth-telling!
From Media Matters:
Fox News regularly features “parents” criticizing the teaching of so-called “critical race theory” in schools, while concealing that those guests are also right-wing political activists. The network uses this coverage to try to help the Republican Party weaponize the issue to win elections in Virginia and elsewhere. On Wednesday, America’s Newsroom, Fox’s “straight news” morning show, did it again, highlighting three such individuals, each described only as “Fairfax County Parent.”
“Tempers flaring, Fairfax County, Virginia,” co-anchor Bill Hemmer said at the top of the segment. “Defending the right to speak out about what is taught in their kids’ schools. Have a listen.” Hemmer’s framing aligns with recent messaging from Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, who is campaigning against “critical race theory” even though Virginia education officials say that legal framework for discussing race isn’t taught in its schools.
Fox then aired three clips of interviews with individuals who were identified with on-screen text as “Fairfax County Parent.” One [Elizabeth Schultz] is a former Trump administration official; one [Suparna Dutta], is a surrogate for Youngkin; and one [Harry Jackson] is the founder of an organization that is suing the Fairfax school district.
Fox describes Hemmer as “one of the network's top breaking news anchors,” but he has long proven himself a propagandist like the rest of his colleagues.
To be fair, Hemmer was presenting a pre-recorded package of Virginia “parents,” not doing the reporting, himself. But he surely knows of Fox’s history when it comes to “concerned parents” and it’s not as if any of the three presented in the segment were unknowns. Furthermore, Hemmer helped validate the pretense when he described the operatives as “parents pushing back” and “defending the right to speak out about what is taught in their kids’ schools.”
And let’s not let co-anchor Dana Perino off the hook. To put a seal on it, she said in closing, “National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar says [critical race theory] is the dominant issue” in the upcoming election.
On top of all that, the critical race theory “controversy,” which as Media Matters notes, above, is not taught in Virginia schools, has been deliberately ginned up by Fox News and their right-wing cohorts for political gain.
You can watch this latest bit of Fox’s racial deceit below, from the October 13, 2021 America’s Newsroom, via Media Matters.
And it is working because far too many people have given up on doing any thinking; they prefer to believe what they want to believe and will follow anybody who helps them stay snug in their little cocoons.