Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 10:51 pm
The post-Roger Ailes Fox “News” is looking and sounding very much like the sly old Fox: the meat puppets held their collective nose(s), as the Democratic Party held its quadrennial convention; Bill O’Reilly once again revealed his inner Racist, this time by justifying slavery; Tucker Carlson whined several stupid somethings, and not just on one topic; and Sean Hannity had yet another thin-skinned meltdown because someone used his own words against him yet again. All this as Fox News Predictably Defends Donald Trump’s Call For Russian Hacking. Isn’t it reassuring that there are just some things you can always count on? Like sexism at Fox “News” f’rinstance? The Leg Chair remains.
Let’s unpack this mess, shall we?
JABBA THE AILES: CEO Roger Ailes, who helped James Rosen cover for Richard Nixon’s treason, was allowed to resign with a golden parachute worth an estimated $40 million after an internal investigation into sexual harassment charges. Meanwhile, Michael Clemente, Another High-Level Fox News Executive, Has Been Let Go, as Fox’s Howard Kurtz Addresses Roger Ailes Departure, putting the best face on it despite the fact that The Sexual Harassment Scandal At Fox News Is Not Over Just Because Roger Ailes Was Ousted.
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NewsHounds asks the musical question How Far Will The Sexual Harassment Scandal At Fox News Spread? No one really knows because At Fox News, Kisses, Innuendo, Propositions and Fears of Reprisal were rampant and we are only just learning How Fox News Fired and Silenced a Female Reporter Who Alleged Sexual Harassment, while a Former Fox Anchor Who Was Dismissed By Ailes Is Shopping Around Tell-All on Him. Drip, drip, drip.
What of the woman who brought down The White Whale?
‘I felt angry that it took so long’: Gretchen
Carlson on Roger Ailes’s ouster from Fox News
Gretchen Carlson: Fox News Employees Who
Defended Ailes “Should Have Known Betterâ€
The fall of Roger Ailes: He made Fox News his ‘locker room’ — and now women are telling their stories, which is just one of the reasons Why The Murdochs Have To Clean House At Fox News. Some people are asking Why Did It Take Roger Ailes So Long to Fall? But, The Big Questions About Fox News Without Ailes Will Come Up In November.
Factions have developed. Among those not fired, A Stony Silence at Fox News After Ailes’s Departure, according to the NY Times: After Ailes’ Departure, An “Icy†Split Inside Fox News.
Everyone wants to know What does Roger Ailes do next? Meanwhile, Roger Ailes Goes Radio Silent. Yet he still has his defenders: As Ailes Scandal Rocks Fox, Greta Van Susteren Stands By What She Said.
From one abusive misogynist to another:
A Guide To Trump’s “Love†And Support For
Alleged Serial Sexual Harasser Roger Ailes
Now Ailes will be blamed for everything. As we’re told by Wash. Post: Roger Ailes’ “Offensive Style Of Broadcasting†On Display With O’Reilly’s Meltdown Over Slavery:
Now that the sons have finally succeeded, thanks to the threat of outside legal action, are they going to simply remove Ailes, read an outside investigation about rampant sexual harassment allegations, shelve the lecherous findings, and carry on without any kind of radical shift in leadership? It doesn’t seem possible that just one man was responsible for that much alleged harassment.
Meaning, if James and Lachlan make no concerted effort to fix the widespread problems facing the women working at Fox News, that means James and Lachlan will soon own that problem and that stigma.
I’m under no illusions Murdoch and his sons will start poaching top scribes from the New York Times or National Public Radio and clean away the dreck and the sludge that now line the editorial halls at Fox News. Boss Murdoch has made his career peddling ugly lies and marketing falsehoods, and he’s happy to make a buck playing the partisan game.
So no, I don’t expect Fox News to become a beacon of journalism anytime soon. But it’s hard to justify allowing Fox News to continue to reward an outdated, hands-on, Mad Men culture.
LOOFAH LAD: It all started when Bill O’Reilly Responds To Michelle Obama’s DNC Speech: Slaves Who Built White House Were ‘Well-Fed And Had Decent Lodgings’ and then rather than admit he said something stupidly racist, O’Reilly Lashes Out At Media Matters For Calling Out His Commentary On “Well-Fed” Slaves. It’s no surprise when O’Reilly Fires Back at ‘Dishonest’ Critics: I Was Not Defending Slavery! [Yes, he was.]
The original comment was so egregious that many outlets reported it, just like many have remarked on his loony defense:
Bill O’Reilly irretrievably loses it over White House slaves • Bill O’Reilly Defends ‘Well-Fed’ Slaves Comments • Bill O’Reilly Defends Comments About ‘Well Fed’ Slaves • Bill O’Reilly doubles down on slavery comments, calls Daily News a ‘rank tabloid’ for writing about it • Bill O’Reilly Blasts Critics, Says His Comments on Slavery Were “Not a Justification” • O’Reilly Defends Comments That Slaves Building White House Were “Well-Fed And Had Decent Lodgings” • The Nightly Show Piles on ‘Condescending Asshole’ O’Reilly for Slavery Remarks
Meanwhile, he gets a little help as Bernie Goldberg [says] To O’Reilly: “The Slavery Thing†Criticism “Isn’t About Slavery … It’s About You”:
I don’t think that’s the issue. I don’t think this is about slavery. I don’t think this is about slaves. I don’t think this is about housing or food. I think this is about you. There are people out there who are lying in wait, and listening to every syllable you utter. And if you say anything that they think they can jump on, they will.
Or maybe people jump on him because of crap like this:
O’Reilly: “There Is A Reason” Why Black People Are “Singled Out” By Police
Just another reason why Friday Fox Follies knows Loofah Lad is a racist.
BLACK ON BLACK CRIME: FFF is introducing a new rubric to be used whenever Fox “News” manages to find a Black person to blow the dog whistles:
Fox’s Kevin Jackson: Mothers Of The
Movement “Raise Thugs Who Try To Kill Cops”
African American Fox Host Repeatedly Race Baits
Jesse Jackson As He Tries To Discuss Gun Violence
TO BE FAIR: very, very, very, very, very occasionally it goes the other way:
Watch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Educate
Megyn Kelly On Why Black Lives Matter Exists
TUCKER WITH AN F:
Does Tucker Carlson Know That Fox News
Has “Disgusting” Gender Neutral Bathrooms?
BRIAN KILMEADE: The headliner, of course, is Michelle Obama, who did fine. But I just wish we could have one speech without a reference to slavery.
TUCKER CARLSON: Actually, I thought her speech was appalling. And I know we’re required by law to pretend it was great and uplifting. It was a nasty, partisan speech posing as a speech about family. And there’s a kind of moral blackmail involved when she speaks. She’s the president’s wife. She’s a father — mother of two attractive daughters. Seems like a good mother. So you’re not really allowed to tell the truth, which is she’s a nasty, bitter partisan. And that’s what she is.
I’m SHOCKED that someone might have been partisan at a political convention. However, read his comments again and tell me who the bitter partisan really is.
HILARIOUS HANNITY HA HA:
You Must Watch Jon Stewart Destroy Sean
Hannity Over His Support For Donald Trump
Sean Hannity Loses It Trying To Hit
Back At Jon Stewart And Erik Wemple
BULLY BOY BOLLING BULLSH*T:
Fox News Host: The Bush
Administration Got Bin
Laden, Not Obama
DNC CONVENTION: So much wrong on Fox at the Democratic Convention that it’s easier to list it in point form:
Megyn Kelly Uses Guest To Go After Cory Booker And Pre-Race Bait Mothers Of The Movement DNC Speakers • On Fox, Priebus Falsely Accuses Clinton Of Being ‘Illegitimate’ Nominee • Fox’s Kilmeade On Michelle Obama: “I Just Wish We Could Have One Speech Without A Reference To Slavery†• Fox Host: Dem Convention Needed Lots Of Patriotic Colors To Counter Claim That Obama “Did Not Put America Firstâ€:
BRET BAIER: Let’s go to Bill Hemmer, down on the floor. Bill, do you have balloons? What do you got there?
BILL HEMMER: Yeah. We’ve got a lot of balloons, we’re drowning in them in fact. The Clintons, Chelsea, Hillary and Bill just exited off the stage here behind us. Bret, this is my fifth Democratic Convention, and I’ve never seen so much red, white, and blue inside the arena until tonight.
There was a deliberate attempt by this campaign to make sure it expresses a level of patriotism, and love of country.
What is striking about that is perhaps the criticism that many have directed towards the Obama administration, for the past seven and a half years, where they did not put America first.
[…]
That is deliberate, it is intentional, and expect more still to come.
Fox News Plays Benghazi Commercial Over Khzir Khan’s Anti-Trump Speech At The Democratic National Convention • Fox News Ignored First Transgender Person To Address Major Party’s Convention • Fox News Doesn’t Air Khizr Khan’s Powerful Anti-Trump Speech • Fox’s Brit Hume: A Lot of People Will Find Clinton’s ‘Sharp Lecturing Tone’ Off-Putting • Fox’s Bret Baier Unaware That Fox Reported Russia Likely At Center Of DNC Hack • Hannity: Trump Convention Was All About ‘Reality,’ Clinton’s Was ‘Alice in Wonderland’ • DNC Protesters Pour Water On Fox’s Geraldo Rivera • Fox’s Brian Kilmeade Demeans VP Nominee Tim Kaine For Speaking Spanish During Convention Speech • On Fox Business, Trump Supporter Repeats Call To Execute Hillary Clinton For Treason
Just think: another 100 days of this.
ORANGE AID: Even tho’ Donald Trump [is] Attacking Megyn Kelly Again (ISIS Edition), the purported news channel is still defending The Orange One:
Fox’s Kurtz: You Would Have to Believe Trump Is ‘Insane’ to Think He Was Serious on Russia • Right-Wing Media Claim Trump Was “Joking†About Russian Espionage, But National Security Experts Aren’t Laughing • Fox News Anchor Bret Baier: Donald Trump Was “Joking” About Calling For Russia To Hack Hillary Clinton • Fox Panel Defends Trump’s Call For Russia To Hack Clinton’s Emails: He Just Meant “Please Return Them To Us†• Outnumbered Hosts Get Shot Down After Trying to Downplay Trump’s Pandering to Russia • Bill O’Reilly: “If Trump Wants To Ask Putin To Hand Over Hillary’s Emails, Fine” • Donald Trump Cites Fox News Host To Defend Unprecedented Refusal To Release Tax Returns • Fox’s Charles Krauthammer “Wouldn’t Compare†Trump To A Fascist Leader, But Had No Problem Linking Obama To Hitler In 2008
Will journalism survive 3 more months of this?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE:
Two Fox Anchors Admit Hillary Clinton Was
Unfairly Attacked For Being Honest About Coal Miners
Watch Cory Booker Smack Down
Fox & Friends Trump Cheerleading
And Minimum Wage Propaganda
FOX BYTES: Newt Gingrich Will Return To Fox News Despite Trump Job Promise • Watch An Immigration Expert Use Facts To Rebut Fox Business Host’s Right-Wing Myths • On Fox & Friends: Phil Robertson Jokes About Men Marrying 15 Year Old Girls – Friends Laugh Uproariously! • Fox News Guest: Munich Shootings Mean ‘We’re At World War III’
Headly Westerfield is currently on a 3,000 road trip through the United States and Canada, sampling public opinion on the Fox “News” Channel.
