With all the news about ISIS, Ferguson, Russia, Ukraine and Syria, it’s been a while since we’ve heard about Benghazi on Fox. But not to worry! Bret Baier will host a one-hour documentary on the subject next week. And guess what? It will raise questions which have already been answered.
As Media Matters pointed out, Fox says the documentary will explore “Whether or not military assistance was requested by the security team and whether orders from above hindered their response to the violence that claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.” Yet these questions have been thoroughly explored and answered: there was no stand down order from above.
However, we have every reason to expect Baier to insinuate otherwise, even if he can’t come up with hard information. Baier’s last “documentary” was such a blatant campaign gift to Republican senate candidate (and former Fox News contributor) Scott Brown that Brown has actually used it as a campaign tool.
A May 5 Salon.com article headline perfectly described Baier’s brand of Benghazi journalism as “faux-integrity.” The subtitle was just as apt: “How a straight-laced newsman who anchors Fox News’ most august news show is really a lying fake-scandal-monger.”
In his excellent article, Salon’s Simon Maloy summed up Baier’s Benghazi coverage as of then:
“Baier, in his capacity as the journalistic face of Fox News, has been integral in keeping the issue in the news and giving the conservative obsession a patina of integrity. In doing so he’s been responsible for some of the most inaccurate and sensationalized reporting on Benghazi.”
There’s every reason to expect more of the same next week.
Baier graphic by Nina Brodsky
And, with any luck, this will keep going right into the November elections: the sight of the teabagger-led repubs holding a replay of hearings from a year ago, instead of passing jobs or immigration legislation, may be just the thing that helps swing the undecideds . . .
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Fox “News” – always poisoning the well.
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