Reich writes: "As the coronavirus crisis rages on, Fox News is contributing almost as much to the deaths and disease as is Trump's White House."

Robert Reich. (photo: Getty)

The Deadly Fox News-Trump Syndicate

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

11 June 20

s the coronavirus crisis rages on, Fox News is contributing almost as much to the deaths and disease as is Trump�s White House.

Trump spouts a shocking amount of misinformation during his daily press briefings, but it�s Fox News� equally misleading coverage of the crisis that closes the lethal circuit of lies.�

It�s easy to feel outraged and defeated by Fox News. (�I can�t believe they�re saying that! How are they getting away with this?�) But it�s important to understand its formula for misleading Americans, particularly in the crisis we�re in.�

The formula goes like this:�

First, deny there�s a problem. Lay the groundwork for later conspiracy theories by calling it �a hoax.� Blame political opponents for �using� the issue to make Trump look bad. Mock anyone taking it seriously, and downplay the consequences.

Then, when deaths mount and the coronavirus can no longer be denied, promote the same dangerous miracle cures Trump promotes.

Third, attack the experts. Question what public-health experts recommend, such as social distancing.�Question whether the death toll from Covid-19 is even true, and broadcast misleading graphics.�Attack the experts themselves, and parade around alternative �experts� to promote an array of conspiracy theories.

Fourth, deflect attention from Trump�s botched response by blaming others. �Blame China!�As the virus hits black and brown communities especially hard, trot out the white supremacists.�

If nothing else works, revise history.

Finally, make reopening the economy about �freedom,� and attack Democratic governors who are trying to keep people safe.�

That�s Fox News�s tried-and-true formula, folks: Deny, promote quack remedies, attack the experts, blame others, and change the subject to �freedom.��

It works for Fox. It keeps Fox viewers. It helps protect Trump.

But it is making a deadly calamity even more deadly.�

Polls show that a majority of Republicans think it�s perfectly safe to go to establishments like nail salons and dine-in restaurants, and a new study found that Sean Hannity�s viewers were less likely to adhere to social distancing guidelines.�

Meanwhile, a conspiracy theory peddled by Tucker Carlson made it all the way to the White House, where it fell on Trump�s receptive ears and led him to yank a multimillion-dollar grant to an organization on the frontlines of coronavirus research.

In theory, the FCC prohibits broadcasting false information about a catastrophe if the broadcaster knows the information is false and will cause substantial �public harm� if aired. But Trump�s FCC won�t do a thing, and Fox News has no broadcast ethics. It has no journalistic integrity.

If this formula of deceit shows us anything, it�s that they know what they�re doing, and they don�t care who they hurt.�

So, what can you do?�

First, make a ruckus. Speak out. Write letters to your local paper, and local Fox News outlets. That�s precisely what forced Fox to cut ties with Trish Regan, and with 5G Conspiracy peddlers Diamond and Silk.

Second, boycott Fox�s major advertisers. That helped get Bill O�Reilly off the air.

Third: leverage your power. Correct Fox�s lies when you see them. Share this video with Fox News viewers you care about.�

You might just save a life.�

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

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- The RSN Team

+2 # Abigail 2012-12-27 09:59

What a waste of time.

0 # jtatu 2012-12-27 10:42

Truly.

+27 # shagar 2012-12-27 15:55

curious? why is abigail getting thumbs up,
and jtatu thumbs down for agreeing??

+3 # Pickwicky 2012-12-27 20:25

Shagar--and why are you getting so many thumbs up for mentioning such a curiosity? Some crazy stuff. I'll get thumbs down for this post.

+51 # FactsFirst 2012-12-27 10:37

A waste of time only if you do not enjoy laughing....lik e Ayn Rand.

+12 # Scott479 2012-12-28 12:20

Quoting FactsFirst:

A waste of time only if you do not enjoy laughing....like Ayn Rand.

Good point-take a look at most any candid photo of Rand disciple Alan Greenspan and you'll see the very similar expressions of a miserable human.

-1 # barbaparee 2012-12-27 10:48

+6 # MidwestDick 2012-12-30 11:15

Matt has in this last year done important work exposing the crimes of banksters.
In this piece he is lightening up, but he is also stimulating an actual conversation between writer and reader. Call it a Fan Club, or better yet a "community", it is all part of constructing a public intellectual persona. And that edifice is a really important one (if a bit awry and gaudy in the HST tradition) in the progressive intellectual cityscape.
Can I get honourable mention for this post?

+27 # alnbarthel 2012-12-27 11:22

The article, while a fun read on a snowy morning, does not live up to its title "The 10 Most Pretentious Moments in History" unless you mean by "history" that which coincides with your lifetime.

+18 # Glen 2012-12-27 12:12

Hyperbole is part of the joke, alnbarthel. Obviously this stuff is recent. Posters above were far too critical of the article. Not everything offered on RSN is required to be straight news.

-23 # Deboldt 2012-12-27 12:13

I waited in anticipation for some mention of Obama, as in: anything Obama has said on the campaign trail, although these could more accurately be classified as lies. His joking about drones would have to top Ted Kennedy--NO?

Sorry I found out about this too late to participate.

-4 # jtatu 2012-12-28 11:16

Obama: "I am the One we have been waiting for."
How could this NOT be on the list?

+27 # vicnada 2012-12-27 12:38

Anyone who disses Dostoevsky deserves top spot on his own pretension list.

+11 # tm7devils 2012-12-27 13:00

I guess small minds make small statements...
Yeh, the earth is falling apart...but now and then we need to get off the beaten path and see the World as it really is...and not as it appears to be...or we wish it to be.

+11 # beachboy 2012-12-27 13:01

An honorable mention must go to to Ayn Rand
for most appalling fashion sense and hair style...iconic indeed! God help us all!

+18 # david d 2012-12-27 13:05

well, I can see how these articles do not fall into the category of weighty "objective" news articles and are not of the same significance as pcs about us drone warfare or ndaa re-enactment or a host of other disturbing items in the news today. It kind of reminds me of the fascination with one sport or another many of us hold so dear in the us of a. My grandma used to use the term "crazy but harmless". And I imagine Matt Taibbi himself ENJOYED this interplay with his reading audience and they enjoyed having the opportunity to participate in this selection process. Because I have appreciated Matt's keen insight in several of the articles I have read by him in RSN and print and other online articles, I read this and enjoyed several of the video clipped I had never seen before. Phil H. grilling Ayn Rand was especially amusing. It is OK for articles in RSN to be foremost "amusing" and only "informative" secondarily at times. We are all free to read any specific article or pass it by.

+25 # Smokey 2012-12-27 13:27

It's a wonderful list. Worth keeping.

Ayn Rand? Her ghost haunts American politics and she continues to move the big money that supports the Tea Party.
Big irony: Rand was the most popular and influential atheist in American history.... When atheism appears on the political left, it's "Godless Communism," according to Fox News.... When atheism develops on the political right, it's "Objectivity." Huh?

David Brooks? His book "Bobos in Paradise" describes the aging yuppies who have made Brooks "the most popular conservative among liberals." Brooks has built his career with bobo money and support. Bit of irony: Brooks has very little support among the conservatives who voted for Romney. Without the bobos, Brooks would vanish from your television screen.

+14 # Pickwicky 2012-12-27 20:30

Smokey--a footnote: Ayn Rand was kicked down the stairs by every good Philosophy Department years ago--and excellent Philosophy Departments never let her in the door.

+7 # RHytonen 2012-12-29 10:50

Quoting Pickwicky:

Smokey--a footnote: Ayn Rand was kicked down the stairs by every good Philosophy Department years ago--and excellent Philosophy Departments never let her in the door.

I remember that as true when I went to college (early 1960's.)
Everyone had read her, in good faith, and everyone branded her as dangerous a charlatan as Aleister Crowley - except for the Philosophy departments, which simply asked the valid question, "why in God's name would anyone take a "hack"(-English /Lit. Dept's assessment) science fiction writer for a philosopher, even a bad one?"

+3 # Pickwicky 2012-12-29 16:21

"why in God's name would anyone take a "hack"(-English /Lit. Dept's assessment) science fiction writer for a philosopher, even a bad one?"

Ah, RHytonen--ya made ma day!

+3 # MidwestDick 2012-12-30 11:20

What about L Ron Hubbard? Carlos Castaneda. SSDD.

+4 # Smokey 2012-12-30 03:21

[quote name="Pickwicky "]"Smokey--a footnote: Ayn Rand was kicked down the stairs by every good Philosophy Department years ago--and excellent Philosophy Departments never let her in the door."

Philosophy departments in Europe laughed at Hitler and his associates during the 1920s. After 1932, they no longer laughed.... With Ayn Rand, the question is not, "Is she acceptable in academic circles? Is she an original thinker?" Instead, the question that matters is, "Is her work influential in American culture and politics?"

Ayn Rand is still a powerful force in a lot of places. Too many places.

+12 # DaveM 2012-12-27 13:41

Calling Ayn Rand pretentious is an understatement. She wanted to be one of her own characters and made no secret of it.

And calling Oprah(tm) pretentious is a redundancy.

I can't help but be reminded of the punch line of an old joke: "pretentious... .moi?"

+7 # dyannne 2012-12-27 13:57

The funniest part of this whole article to me are the James Lipton spoofs. Nailed him flat. Got to admit I do rather enjoy him even in his pompousness. I rather liked what Martin Amis was saying about reason or was it rational? It's what the Republicans are all about now. Anything that smacks of reason they want nothing to do with. They should, not just a few of them, as in Newt and Bennett, have been as a body on this list. Oh, and the Sting thing was a hoot too.

+19 # DevinMacGregor 2012-12-27 14:09

Ayn Rand? How does Ayn explain Standard Oil which in 1906 achieved a monopoly. The US Govt came in using Anti Trust laws to break her up into what became known as the Seven Sisters. Standard Oil achieved its monopoly by "sweating out" its competition. That is in areas where she was the only one selling gasoline she raised her prices to offset the lowering of prices in areas where she had competition. She sold her gas at below her costs in those areas. When her competition went bankrupt she bought them out. This was before Communism took her Families money in Russia and before she went on a lifetime crusade over hating govt. No Govt was involved in Standard Oil buying out other oil companies. We had no social safety nets then. That should had been Donohue's question to her. Do not pose anything post Roosevelt to her but in a time long before we used Keynes economics. And in short there is no such thing as a "free" market other than no govt intervention. People like to attach free in front of things and think this grants us freedoms. Just because the market is free from govt intervention which includes protection does not mean we are free.

0 # Beth Carter 2012-12-27 23:38

You may want to check out Zeitgeist: Moving Forward as an expert interviewee has thoughts very similar to your own about the "free market".

+3 # shagar 2012-12-27 14:30

Dang! call me crazy...not to wax too pretentious muhself but is it possible Matt is just stretching out a little too far with this one? i watched all the videos and read the column, and i can't see what holds it together except matt's own biases, most deeply against what used to be called "englishness", the curse of being too articulate for one's own social good. Its particularly an american thing, (like anti americanism is for the rest of mankind), that has echoes in Amis's final comments about reason and it's rejection. sure lets all giggle at Sting and Oprah and Mailer but there are ideas in most of the others that are worthy of debate at least. anyway, by any objective standard, surely william f buckley and gore vidal deserved some mention if only for preserving balance on the list.

+9 # beeyl 2012-12-27 14:32

I don't want to risk nominating myself to next year's list, but I think the final video clip had Amis calling Hitler a "frightful BOOR," not "bore."

But he's still the most pretentious asshole I've seen in a while, no matter which word you hear.

+20 # brainchild 2012-12-27 16:07

It's a pity that this tally was made before La Pierre's speech on behalf of the NRA. I feel sure that would have made the top ten.

-1 # Skyelav 2012-12-27 17:08

Actually, this is the first time I can say I agree with Ayn Rand about anything. Yes, altruistic giving is USUALLY what we in the addictions field call, Co-dependence. That is, giving while holding the expectation of some kind of kudo or reward which is really what torments Co-Ds and drives them into recovery. Selfless giving is almost impossible to achieve. Even Mother Theresa said she worked with Lepers so she could be close to Christ. But there is such a thing as Healthy Giving... which is hard to teach and hard to learn. Unfortunately Ayn Rand didn't stop there, she just went on and on and on and became the guru of the right. Nothing they propose is healthy..

+12 # Pickwicky 2012-12-27 20:23

The correct term is 'self-referenti al altruism.' Some philosophers consider all altruism self-referentia l and some find that hogwash. I'm in the 'hogwash' group.
Anonymous donors exist.

+5 # Beth Carter 2012-12-27 23:45

The Dalai Lama discussed "wise self-interest" during his last tour through Seattle when he met local Native Elders right alongside Governor Gregoire. Wise self-interest is the acknowledgement that we are all interwoven, interdependent upon everything and everyone else. Altruism, for me, in its' true sense is includes self and others, but to do something for someone in expectation of reward, now or later, is our fouled attempt at wisdom and compassion. The point is, whether or not return is realized, when genuine contentment is achieved by one it nourishes all

+13 # Texan 4 Peace 2012-12-27 17:08

As an anthropologist, I find the fact of Bennet even MENTIONING cultural anthropology as an inspiration for his "philosophy" laughable. About as laughable as equating a "book of virtues" with a book on "being a man." Never mind that half of the human species who AREN'T men.

+3 # elmont 2012-12-27 18:36

As usual, Matt made my day.

+4 # Chris S. 2012-12-28 08:46

If one enjoys wasting time it's not realy wasted .!

+3 # moby doug 2012-12-28 09:36

For an especially gaseous example of Mailer post 1960, try his Egyptian epic, Ancient Evenings. Holy buggering pharoahs, Batman! But when he wasn't stabbing his wife or taunting feminists, Norman also managed some really good books after 1960, including The Executioner's Song and Why Are We in Vietnam?

0 # wleming 2012-12-28 13:10

amis picks up on sontag's neo liberal line: the bolsheviks were just nazi's who spoke russian. thereby deep sixing world war two, and hitler's death as the russians hit berlin. po mo media demands a reductio ad absurdum, and the tui's , like amis, are always there to add confusion to the lies and obfuscations. see brecht on intellectuals.

+3 # Swift 2012-12-28 16:09

Of all these, I still have affection for Norma post-1960, because in 1960 I was 14, and I couldn't tell how pretentious he was. Today, "The White Negro" is pretentious. In 1960, to me, it was a revelation that this white boy wasn't really aware of. So he lost power in later years. Most authors do. He surprised me back then, when I was young and stupid.

+2 # skycorner 2012-12-29 13:49

How about Dionne Warwick Telling a radio interviewer in Rio de Janeiro that Burt Bacharach was the real creater of bossa nova.

+1 # NAVYVET 2012-12-31 22:01

Have mercy on us! So much irritating TV! I abandoned cable in the 80s when I began to turn off its shoddily researched documentaries; gave up on-air programs with commercials in the 90s when the ads and the so-called "news" became unbearable; PBS in the 2000's when I learned that one of the Koch Brothers sponsors NOVA. In 2011 I moved, and now must abandon a local independent public channel that actually carries some intelligent programming now and then. With the new bandwidth technology, even with a converter box, it doesn't come in at all.

I fondly remember Ernie Kovacs, Studio One and Omnibus from my teen years; Twilight Zone, the Young People's Concerts and Bullwinkle in my 20s; later the Watergate hearings, The Prisoner, the Smothers Brothers, I Claudius, Deep Space Nine, and a few others worth watching. Since then I've sampled a few programs now and then, like Downton Abbey which I quickly shut off. Surely it's one of the Top 10 pretentious soap operas of all time. I really am skeptical of old age nostalgia, and am sure there never was a "golden age" of TV. Maybe I was an idiot ever to watch it at all, but it seemed to me there used to be creative stuff on the Box (not interviews, not infotainment, not "reality" shows) which made some of it worthwhile.

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