As Kurt Bardella and the rest of Joy Reid's panel discussed on her show this Sunday, the DNC had every right to pull their debates away from Fox "News" given the fact that the network has shown itself again and again to be nothing more than a propaganda arm for the Republican party and the Trump White House. And as we've discussed here, the recognition of that fact is long overdue.
The fact that the criticism is merited, however, hasn't stopped any of the hosts over at Fox from whining incessantly about the decision, the most recent example being Special Report host Bret Baier, who made an appearance on Fox's Media Buzz this Sunday to complain to Howard Kurtz about "Fox derangement syndrome" being to blame for the DNC's decision to ban them from the debates:
Baier repeatedly called the decision “disappointing,” and told Kurtz that when he moderated a town hall for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in 2016, “Both sides said they thought it was fair.”
He also pointed to praise for Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, who often delivers tough questions to Trump officials and Democrats alike.
Kurtz made the often-cited distinction between Fox News’ “opinion” programming and their news division, and Baier said that “the loudest critics of Fox are often people who don’t watch,” and that those who do “think it’s fair.”
“There is a bit of Fox derangement syndrome with a section of the left,” Baier said. “There are a lot of candidates and a lot of people in the Democratic Party who realize the power of the viewership and the power of the fairness of the news operation. But often they are drowned out by the loud voices on the left side of the party.”
As Christopher discussed in the article, Fox continually uses the supposed wall between what they consider their straight news anchors and "opinion," but that hasn't stopped the so-called "news" hosts like Baier from behaving just as badly as their counterparts:
Fox’s “hard news” personnel also push false or misleading news stories, including Baier, who was forced to retract a report on Hillary Clinton in the waning days of the 2016 campaign. But Baier has also reported falsehoods on air without correction. And last April, Politico reported that Baier was among Trump’s “mystery golf partners” one weekend in Virginia.
Perez stated that his concern about the debates is not about the anchors themselves, but about the news culture at the “highest levels” of the network. The New Yorker story makes frequent mention of former Fox co-president Bill Shine, as well as Roger Ailes, each of whom spent years shaping and influencing the news division, and that influence could affect every aspect of production on a debate.
Baier can complain all he wants, but he knows who he works for and is happy to take a paycheck for helping them to propagandize the American public. If he had any integrity, he'd go find a job with another network.
