For more than two decades now, it has been the symbol of conservative thought, the island in a sea of dominant leftist media. It is the place that touts itself as fair and balanced, and which got conservatives back into watching TV news. But is Fox News still the alternative news channel it purports to be? The “we report, you decide” independent voice that won’t follow the same party line as the media establishment from which the channel seeks to set itself apart?
Sadly, after lending aid and comfort to their biased, virulently anti-Trump colleagues over at CNN, the answer appears to be no.
We began noticing a change in Fox some time ago. As Leesa K. Donner wrote back in the summer, “It’s been coming down the tracks for a while now, this business of Fox News trying to become just one of the big boys. Conscientious observers have noticed this desperate need for acceptance in large and small ways by Fox.”
While Fox has been gradually veering away from its established identity, the decision to back CNN over Jim Acosta’s expulsion from the White House has placed things in a whole new context. Fox was hardly compelled to write an amicus (friend of the court) brief supporting CNN’s ridiculous lawsuit against President Trump and his administration. But it did anyway. Why?
Playing with the Big Boys
There is no matter of principle at play here. Freedom of the press is not threatened by the removal of a single grandstanding editorialist disguised as a reporter. The First Amendment is not compromised by the dismissal of a faux journalist called out for arguing with the President and making a spectacle of himself. CNN was not barred from the White House – only Jim Acosta – and the network employs several other reporters with “hard” press passes which permit broad access to the President’s home.
And Fifth Amendment due process was not violated just because the White House did not provide Acosta an opportunity to appeal the revocation of his credentials. Anyone watching Acosta’s rodeo clown act will understand the reason he was banned. He made editorial statements instead of asking questions, refused to surrender the microphone after being repeatedly told to do so by the President, and physically resisted an intern attempting to take the mic away. But that was not good enough even for the Trump-appointed Federal District Court Judge, Timothy Kelly.
Fox actually believes that by getting behind CNN, they’ll get to say to the left wing media what Sally Field famously said when she finally won an Oscar: “You like me, you like me!”
There is no understating the significance of his ruling in CNN’s favor, even though it is only a temporary restraining order which might ultimately be overturned by a higher court. Fox News’ shameful decision to support CNN might well have contributed to the judge’s ruling, and should long be remembered as the moment Fox became just another establishment vessel.
So the question still lingers in the air: Why did Fox News do this?
It is likely their thinking went something like this: If we support CNN’s preposterous assertion that the showboating Jim Acosta, so nakedly anti-Trump that a child of five could see it, should be guaranteed access to the White House, no matter his behavior and professionalism or lack thereof, maybe we won’t be outcasts anymore. Maybe the establishment will like us. Maybe they won’t be mean to us. Maybe they’ll tell us we’re OK after all.
It is understandable that Fox News would support their fellow journalists if, as during the Obama presidency, they’re spied on by the administration, or thrown in jail for refusing to reveal their sources for a controversial story. But to gratuitously side with CNN in protecting the right of this nakedly biased, unprofessional, Trump-deranged reporter is beyond disappointing. However, it is not as surprising as it might seem.
Fact is, Fox has slipped into establishment mode from the time Donald Trump announced he was running for president.
Ideology and Independence
Just like all the others, Fox rolled out one talking head after another to denounce Trump after he announced his candidacy. They famously sent Megyn Kelly out as a moderator at one of those presidential debates, where she made a spectacle of herself by calling out Trump’s supposed hatred or abuse of women. Of course, when Trump secured the nomination, they were forced to change their tune, knowing their viewers would not appreciate Fox continuing to turn their noses up at the Republican presidential nominee like the rest of the establishment media.
Though Fox continues to employ the likes of Shepard Smith, the liberal who is repelled by this President just as much as the Trump haters at CNN and MSNBC, this is not about ideology. It’s about independence.
Fox used to cover many stories not carried elsewhere but has been creeping toward the same agenda as the legacy media, covering all the same stories from the same angles. It’s as if they’re playing off the same script as the three networks and CNN.
But it’s not the anchors, hosts, and reporters who that make Fox News a creature of the swamp. Their reporters mostly play it straight, and their evening hosts are reliably conservative. It’s management that made the decision to support CNN’s lawsuit. From Chairman Rupert Murdoch down through the ranks of Fox’s executive staff, the decision was made to demonstrate solidarity with the elite media.
Fox actually believes that by getting behind CNN, they’ll get to say to the left wing media what Sally Field famously said when she finally won an Oscar: “You like me, you like me!” But just like those soft Republicans – think Jeff Flake – and all those Never-Trump conservatives – Bill Kristol, George Will, Joe Scarborough et al. – they will soon discover something they should have known long ago. The left will use you for their own purposes, but will never embrace or even accept you once your usefulness runs out. And nothing you can do, short of renouncing everything you have long professed to believe, will change that.
The sad message to Fox News: If selling your soul for the sake of being included on the list of acceptable insiders worthy of invitations to those vaunted Washington dinner parties and A-list social events in the swamp – as long as you remain useful idiots – is really worth it to you, then go ahead and join the band. It’s just that we once thought you were better than that.
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