Rupert Murdoch got a dose of the medicine he deserved Friday night when MSNBC’s Chris Hayes called him out for propagandizing against COVID protection measures and the vaccine while Murdoch and his businesses do the opposite. And then there’s the sleazy attack on a healthcare worker while Murdoch publicly praises them.
HAYES: For the past nine months or so, Rupert Murdoch-owned media entities have by and large waged a war against public health and the scientific consensus on containing the coronavirus.
On Fox News and elsewhere, they've been playing down the virus and peddling just outright lies, and pushing junk science and elevating cranks, all of which has tangibly, materially contributed to behavior that has made the pandemic worse.
And what makes it all the more infuriating is that, as we have noted, while Fox hosts have been dismissing the experts and suggesting that lockdowns don't work and ridiculing people that avoid the office, and follow public health guidelines, many Fox News employees have been working remotely, literally at the same time.
And so, now, we arrive at the question of the vaccine. And last night, one of Rupert Murdoch's minions went on air to coyly just ask questions, and rail against the offensive pro-vaccine propaganda that's been propagated by all corners of the media, and the elite consensus that you should get the vaccine.
Hayes was referring, of course, to Tucker Carlson’s vile attack on the vaccine.
What makes it worse is that Murdoch doesn’t practice what he makes millions off of what his employees preach:
HAYES: But of course, all this contrarian posturing is just chum thrown in the water for ratings they can then monetize. It's not meant to be real or serious advice. In fact, Fox News' own lawyers have argued that this particular Rupert Murdoch minion [Carlson] is not a provider of the news as we know it, or facts as we commonly understand them, and his audience knows this. Just a remarkable thing for your own attorney to say about you.
And so, given all that context, it is not surprising that 89-year-old Rupert Murdoch himself, who of course, at that age is high risk, took a convoy of Range Rovers to get his vaccine on Wednesday, via the British National Health Service, the socialized medicine provider of the U.K.
Murdoch even thanked essential workers and the staff of the National Health Service, an institution that is held up as this absolutely demonic specter by Fox News in American healthcare debates, and Murdoch also strongly encouraged people around the world to get the vaccine. Precisely the kind of group think tyrannical propaganda his network was railing against.
But that’s not all.
HAYES: And while Rupert Murdoch is offering his kind words to the anonymous people on the ground who are doing what they can to fight the disease, well, here’s what another one of his media properties is doing. Running a story that exists purely as a form of abuse, bullying and harassment, directed at one of those healthcare workers.
Hayes was referring to the disgusting New York Post report about a New York City paramedic who earned extra money doing nude modeling. From Crooks and Liars, via Common Dreams:
Written by Dean Balsamini and Susan Edelman, the Post's article detailed how Lauren Kwei—who has since spoken out publicly using her name—works for a private ambulance company that serves New York hospitals in the city's 911 system.
She graduated from an emergency medical technician program in 2018 and soon began earning $15 per hour in a city where a living wage is about $18 per hour, according to researchers at MIT.
Fortunately, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had a good smackdown, Common Dreams noted.
The progressive New York congresswoman tweeted that instead of publishing a salacious article suggesting the woman isn’t adhering to “standards of personal ethics” while naming both her and her employer—reportedly against her wishes—the newspaper should have focused on “the actual scandalous headline…’Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive.’”
Meanwhile, of course, Tucker Carlson and other top Murdoch disinformers get paid millions each year. Oh, and by the way, Melania Trump made some extra dough posing nude before she decided to marry her favorite p***y grabber. Let me know if you ever see anyone questioning her "standards of personal ethics."
You can watch Hayes rip Murdoch below, from MSNBC’s December 18, 2020 All In with Chris Hayes.