Leave it to a Fox News anchor to find a way to work in a shout-out to Donald Trump in the middle of "objective news" coverage of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. But first, Fox’s Eric Shawn did his best to terrify viewers that bombs might be going off all over the place at any moment.
During Shawn's coverage, New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the explosion was an “intentional act” and that another suspicious device had been found a few blocks away. But the mayor also said there was no evidence of a terrorist attack.
But Shawn decided he’d report otherwise.
SHAWN: The mayor and officials saying there is no evidence of a terror connection but, believe me, if someone’s walking around the streets of New York tonight, putting bombs in a dumpster or bombs in a garbage can, that is terrorism.
Then Shawn ratcheted up the fear mongering to suggest there might be bombs any and everywhere.
SHAWN: They say there’s no evidence. Just because there’s no evidence of a terror connection doesn’t mean this is terrorism [sic], whether it’s radical Islamic terrorism, whether it’s a nutcase like George Metesky – remember him, the Mad Bomber? Back in the 50s, the Mad Bomber, he put, like 33 bombs over 16 years. He put ‘em in Grand Central! He put ‘em in Radio City Music Hall! 15 people were injured by the Mad Bomber. He’s a New York City legend. And as we’ve been reporting tonight, on and on and on. The LaGuardia bombing where a bomb was by Croatian terrorists was put in a locker, that killed 11 people. Car bombs on Fifth Avenue by Palestinian terrorists, 1973, did not go off. The Fraunces Tavern bombing by the FALN, and all those other bombs put in New York City by the FALN and the Weather Underground all these years.
A responsible reporter might have noted that the city muddled through, that none of those incidents were anything close to 9/11 and there was no need to panic. But not Shawn. He seemed to want New Yorkers terrified.
SHAWN: I mean, if this is not terrorism, whether it’s domestic, whether it’s radical Islamic, what is it? It’s terrorism!
Having established that everybody should be afraid, very afraid, Shawn gave some props to Trump for his rash, ignorant fear mongering.
SHAWN: Earlier this evening, you’ve got Donald Trump way before authorities came out, he called it a bomb. Tonight, on the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton was asked about that, she said earlier, before this news conference that we just saw, she said, “It’s important to know the facts about any incident like this and we certainly are looking at the investigators to try and determine what did happen.”
I mean, Trump comes out and says it’s a bomb and lo and behold, guess what? It turns out it’s some type of device on the street of New York. Because we are living in a time of terror, a time in which this is a very real reality in our lives and it has now gone up another step, tragically and sadly, where we’re facing someone putting bombs on the street corners of our city like they have, the terrorists have attacked in Israel for so many years.
Actually, Shawn had just noted that New York has weathered bombs for 60+ years and that this was not some huge escalation. At least not as far as anyone knew at the time he spoke.
But fear mongering was a good excuse to pat Trump on the back for shooting off his mouth, half-cocked and uninformed, while suggesting that Clinton was overly cautious for saying facts are important.
Watch this disturbing spin below, from Fox’s coverage on September 17, 2016.
American Thinker (blog)-Feb 4, 2017
It’s official: the Clinton Foundation is in a world of hurt. The Foundation president, Donna Shalala, interviewed by the New York Times, confirms:." No more quid pro quo……
Isis would probably appreciate another shoot from the hip idiot in the White House.
Fox “News” dot com regularly closes comment threads because the Fox “News” audience turns them into toxic sewers of racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia.
But, you’re concerned about this site’s YouTubery?
You’re a special kind of troll, aren’t you?
With all my love,
Aunty Headly
It makes no difference whatsoever what the candidates think at this stage, the police and federal agencies don’t need their help, but going off quarter-cocked (as Trump is prone to do) could quite easily lead to mosques being attacked and more innocent ‘Muslim-looking’ women being assaulted and set on fire.
If it does turn out that ISIS or al Qaeda are behind the bombing, then stirring up more hatred against Muslims in general will be exactly what the crazy bastards want.
Think about end results, James, Anne and fellow travellers – think about calmly defeating and eliminating the actual threat you face, not flailing about like imbeciles (i.e. Trumpheads) stirring up the race/religion hate that inevitably will lead to ISIS and the like gaining more recruits.
I wish with all my heart that President Clinton II will make a huge effort to resolve the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. If America would only take a stand against the evil right-wing bastards in charge of Israel (NOT Jews in general) and force them to retreat from the illegal settlements and allow Palestinians to conduct their own affairs in their own state(s). The way that whole situation has been handled by western nations in the past, ever since 1948, has been easily the greatest factor leading up to 9/11 and many millions of senseless deaths.
Comments were closed on YouTube because they were coming from Trump trolls and suspected sock puppets. They were belligerent and uninforming, not thoughtful or interesting. Just like the jerk they support. I don’t have the time to keep moderating them.
I left the url there so people who wanted to comment could but in one place, i.e. here, where it’s easier for us to moderate. Obviously, if I were trying to avoid negative responses, I would not have done that. And I would have deleted your comments already.
However, if you keep insulting us and can’t argue like a grownup, you will be banned.
Not sure why he wanted to quote that scene from Good Will Hunting, in that there’s an irony I don’t think he understood in this situation.
I agree that it sounds like he frantically threw something out as fast as he could and then ran. Given the current situation for Trump, that’s understandable.
As I have said before, republicans are like squid. When threatened by an enemy the squid will blast out bullshit and jet away backwards as fast as it can.
Except the squid doesn’t declare victory before it flees.
Odd that he wants everyone to think he’s so busy he can’t post, and then he promises to post soon. Not sure what point he thought he was making. In any case, his anger and frustration is understandable. Would any of us really want to be defending Trump these days?
Published on Sep 17, 2016
“Objective” anchor Eric Shawn suggested that Donald Trump has it right on terrorism because he ignorantly shot off his mouth about the New York City explosion. Shawn also suggested that Hillary Clinton is too cautious because she thought it important to wait for facts. Read more at Fox News anchor works in a shout-out to Donald Trump during “objective” coverage of #NYCExplosion
http://www.newshounds.us/fox_anchor_g… #ChelseaExplosion
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But let’s give James the benefit of the doubt. He may have just honestly discovered this site and not understand its intent. So let’s remember that the reason this site exists in the first place is to document the constant efforts by Fox News to establish a false narrative and thus a false history of current events. This bias was devastatingly revealed in Robert Greenwald’s documentary “Outfoxed”, and that work has been continued here for over a decade since then. It’s commendable work.
As for Trump’s lies about the birther nonsense, that hasn’t gone away yet, sad to say for the right wing. You can’t push a concept like that for years and then frantically drop it and expect everyone to agree to forget you did that. The story here about the explosion will certainly get coverage, but I don’t know that it will overwhelm everything else in the news cycle. Keep in mind that Trump has now repeatedly embarrassed himself over the past few days. He mocked and insulted a pastor from Flint. He blatantly lied about the birther nonsense on Friday. And just yesterday, he was lashing out at Robert Gates for having the temerity to not support him. And all that a week before Trump will be put on a debate stage where he’ll have to suddenly demonstrate a command of facts and knowledge he’s never indicated before now. So it’s understandable that Trump supporters and other right wingers are not looking forward to the next few weeks. And it’s understandable that they will want to lash out and project their issues onto people with whom they disagree.
On Fox there’s ‘news’ (generally ~ 1/2 of the facts reported). There’s analysis (other news sources refer to Fox’s version as “editorial”). Then there’s propaganda (which is the wrapper for about every word mouthed by Fox).
It’s not “politically correct” to wait for actual facts before reporting it on air. It’s called “journalism.” The truth will come out quickly enough.
Hillary isn’t trying to cover up any truth by being “politically correct”. She’s doing what a real leader does. Wait for all the facts. While Trump’s rush to judgement was correct, a mercurial, impulsive individual like The Donald who does this routinely will often run into trouble. Look up the Gulf of Tonkin Incident for the repercussions of a president going off half-cocked before fully investing the facts. Hundreds of thousands died for nothing. Oh, and I served in the Navy so no standard conservative knee-jerk comebacks I’m some stereotypical anti-war liberal.
So James and Ann, it’s perfectly fine for viewers such as ourselves to come to draw any reasonable we care to from facts presented. However, Fox News characteristically helps a [conservative] narrative along using speculation, poor sourcing ‘some says’, wild conspiracy theories, thin rumor, crazy spin, etc.
Too many Fox News fans I personally know have turned into pathetic mindless parrots as a result. You folks want a cracker?