Fox’s Howard Kurtz "dispelled" what The New York Times never reported in its story about Fox snubbing Donald Trump
In a July 29, 2022 article, New York Times correspondent Jeremy Peters reported that Fox is doing a lot of ignoring Donald Trump and paying a lot of attention to his potential 2024 rival, Ron DeSantis:
Mr. Trump has complained recently to aides that even Sean Hannity, his friend of 20 years, doesn’t seem to be paying him much attention anymore, one person who spoke to him recalled.
The snubs are not coincidental, according to several people close to Mr. Murdoch’s Fox Corporation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the company’s operations. This month, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, both owned by Mr. Murdoch, published blistering editorials about Mr. Trump's actions concerning the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol.
The skepticism toward the former president extends to the highest levels of the company, according to two people with knowledge of the thinking of Mr. Murdoch, the chairman, and his son Lachlan, the chief executive. It also reflects concerns that Republicans in Washington, like Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, have expressed to the Murdochs about the potential harm Mr. Trump could cause to the party’s chances in upcoming elections, especially its odds of taking control of the Senate.
Nowhere in the article does Peters say that Trump is banned from the network. And besides, there doesn’t need to be an official rule for staff to understand what the Murdochs and Washington Republicans want and to comply. In fact, Peters specifically says that the situation could change: “If Mr. Trump announces he is running for president, or if he is indicted, he will warrant more coverage, [sources] said,” Peters wrote.
Today, Fox News posted a brief commentary from Kurtz, an excerpt from last week's MediaBuzz show. FoxNews.com described the video with a similar denial of what Peters never said: “’Mediabuzz’ host Howard Kurtz dispels claims Fox News Channel banned former President Trump from the network.”
KURTZ: A front page New York Times story this weekend strongly suggests that Fox News hasn't interviewed Donald Trump for over 100 days because the Murdoch family, whose Wall Street Journal and New York Post have run highly critical editorials, is said to have soured on him.
But I can report there is no edict whatsoever against having Trump on this network. I reached out myself with an invitation some weeks ago and people close to the former president confirmed he hasn't said yes to any Fox show or been turned down after asking to be on a Fox Show. Just for the record.
Personally, I think the whole “Fox is turning on Trump” meme is overblown. In fact, while I was writing this, I got an alert that Fox is airing Trump’s speech at CPAC today.
But that doesn’t make Peters’ reporting wrong. And if anything, Kurtz’s so-called “dispelling” made me believe it all the more.
You can watch it below, from the July 31, 2022 MediaBuzz.
In reality, no written “edict” was needed for the Fox staff to get the message that they weren’t going to push the lies of Mike Pence’s childish former spokesman. Granted, the news stories of the day are normally fed out as the “Line of the Day”, but it doesn’t take much to simply not mention the childish former spokesman in any of those Lines.
The reality is that most angry Right Wingers are trying to move on from the Pence White House, particularly since they already got the big policy wins they wanted from it. They’d be happy to promote a different angry Right Winger in 2024 who isn’t facing indictments by both the Feds and the state of Georgia.
