The Deadly FOX News-Trump Syndicate

Deny, promote quack remedies, attack the experts, blame others, and change the subject to "freedom"

SOURCE:  , 2020-06-10

  • Author Robert Reich, is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. The author of many books, including the best-sellers Aftershock, The Work of Nations, Beyond Outrage and, Saving Capitalism. He is also a founding editor of The American Prospect magazine, Chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." Reich's newest book is The Common Good. He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.

  • Robert Reich, is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century.

    As 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:

    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.

    Watch:

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