Lachlan Murdoch didn’t come right out and say he approves of the racist and inciteful rhetoric his Fox News spews because of the dough it rakes in but that’s the obvious subtext of statements such as, “I think when you're in the news business, and you're number one ... you get a lot of heat and it just comes with the territory"
We know that Murdoch explicitly greenlighted Tucker Carlson’s promotion of the white supremacist “great replacement theory” that was also spouted by the Buffalo massacre shooter. We also know Murdoch personally approved Tucker Carlson’s “Patriot Purge” special, which gaslit viewers about January 6th, over the objections of some of Fox’s senior news personnel – and caused some to resign and publicly denounce it.
But for some reason, Axios interviewer Sara Fischer did not ask about those controversies in her recent interview with Murdoch, or at least did not report on asking about them. Instead, we got a headline stating, “Lachlan Murdoch responds to criticism that Fox News is polarizing.” The article opened by describing Murdoch as courageous:
Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch isn't afraid to clap back at critics who say Fox News' programming has become too divisive.
As if his willingness to “clap back at critics” is at all the issue. That declaration of Murdoch’s intrepidness was followed by his quote about being number one and the heat that “just comes with the territory” I referenced above. Not surprisingly, that didn’t seem to engender any challenge.
The fact is, Fox News is far worse than "polarizing." It glorifies vigilante violence (against liberals) and suggests its viewers should do more of it. That's in addition to the white supremacism and eliminationist rhetoric as well as deliberately endangering journalists and even First Lady Jill Biden.
But either Axios interviewer Sara Fischer is unaware of the kind of product Murdoch hawks or she deliberately soft-pedaled it. So, we got this under the subheading, “Why it matters”:
- Fox News primetime hosts have has been criticized for promoting conspiracies and falsehoods around the election results, COVID-19 and other issues.
- "I think the world is more divided and on edge than it has been, you know, for a very long time," Murdoch said in an interview last week. "I think on the noise around it, so much of it is politicized ... And so, you've got to be tough about it."
When Murdoch says, “you’ve got to be tough about it,” what he really means is, "I’m going to ignore the criticism and let my network keep on stoking racism, conspiracy theories and even violence.” (Remember Bill O'Reilly's incendiary attacks on the subsequently-murdered Dr. George Tiller?)
I don’t mean to be harsh on Ms. Fischer, whose work I often enjoy. But when you have a so-called news network promoting sedition, undermining the U.S. presidential election (until Fox got sued for billions over it) and stoking racial violence, this is no time for pussy footing. No matter how brave or smart or anything else you think Murdoch is, he should be confronted and held accountable for the propaganda he’s profiting from. Believe me, if one of his highly-paid pundits had the chance, they’d never give Fischer even half the benefit of the doubt she gave him.
Just in case you don’t believe me that Fox rhetoric is dangerous, here’s Tucker Carlson, whom Lachlan Murdoch considers “brave,” urging his viewers to take action over the great replacement theory, via Media Matters.
(Murdoch image via screen grab)
show is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to depict any factual information.
I wonder how their viewers would take to having their heartfelt, hateful beliefs being marginalized as entertainment?
The only way to hurt them is in the pocketbook. You inform their advertisers you will not buy their product and you will tell everybody you know to do likewise.
Money (or a lack of it) talks.